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Hawthorne Naval Ammunition Depot: Black Beauty Dam (1952)

1952 · Ephemeral film

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Synopsis

Dedication ceremony for a reservoir built to supply water for Hawthorne Ammunition Depot, an isolated naval base in the Nevada desert. Newsreel story. TRANSCRIPT This is a story about the desert and the need for water. And one of the largest vessels in the United States Navy. The U.S.S. Black Beauty is a reservoir but don't a reservoir is a vessel and holds water. Captain Richter, his aide, and Beverly officiate as the Hawthorne Naval Ammunition Depot's Black Beauty is christened in real…

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Reviews on the Internet Archive

★★★ · Damn this dam! · Spuzz · 2004-10-23

Just a minor newsreel story about a dam at an ammunition depot!! Of all things that should be covered, this is just as important as people crossing the street. After the dam is christened (not on the dam itself) we then get exciting imagage of water... trickling down. I am STILL confused as to how big this dam was, or why they even built it..

★★ · HISTORICAL CONTEXT · MPMolyneaux · 2005-08-07

As is typical of newsreels of the time, this is almost 100% Context Free. I know that area, and what's confusing is that this isn't a film about a dam, it's a film about the Black Beauty reservoir costructed a few miles from the dam seen in the film (the dam's in a canyon, the reservoir is in a valley). In a nutshell, the reservoir was built to store water from dam seen in the canyon. I believe that damn was built by the CCC during the 1930s.

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