The Dam Builders--Fourth in a Series

Irving Anderson was born Jan. 11, 1906 in Vian, Sequoyah County, Indian Territory and he remembers the date clearly. He went to a small country school through the 5th grade and now lives in a small frame house just off Main Street in Pryor, OK. with Sybil, his wife of 76 years.
“Andy” as he likes to be called, never attended high school but at the age of 17 was foreman over crews operating grading equipment fashionable in those days, two mules and a grader. And he is proud to tell you he was one of the first to learn the operation of heavy equipment, bulldozers and such. He was living in Colorado when news came of a big construction project in northeastern Oklahoma, the Pensacola Dam.

He rushed to the job site and was hired, first to clear timber in the future lake near what would be Sailboat Bridge, pushing it into piles so it could be burned. Trees were cut down about three feet above ground level. It would be another 18 years before they would be seen again, during a drought in the early 50’s..
“I knew how to burn green timber and get rid of it and that’s why they hired me, “ he related.
Later, using a bulldozer and in charge of 44 people, he pushed rocks and dirt backfilling each of the 51 arches supporting the dam between Langley and Disney and gave himself a reward: He was the first person to drive a car across the dam when it was finished. “I always liked to be the first one to use whatever we were building,” he said. “Sort of a thrill,” he added.
After the dam was finished he went to Illinois and Iowa to work on a number of other projects requiring heavy equipment operators, with one of the last projects being a large culvert and canal in Iowa. He eventually came back to Oklahoma to retire. He looks back on his work that helped create Grand Lake with pride and a twinkle in his eye.