"Will Rogers," photographer, date unknown. Larger.
Government is a sober business, which is why it is given such serious respect by our best journalists and commentators. Of course, there are always exceptions.
Will Rogers once said, "I don't tell jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts." The author of more than 4,000 syndicated newspaper columns, Rogers relied on his cowboy good sense to convey his sly satire through simple understatement, such as in this 1932 election-year piece on Boulder—or is that Hoover?—Dam.
Don't miss seeing the building of Boulder Dam. It's the biggest thing that's ever been done with water since Noah made the flood look foolish. You know how big the Grand Canyon is. Well, they just stop up one end of it, and make the water come out through a drinking fountain.
They have only been bothered by two things: one is silt and the other is Senatorial investigations. They both clog everything up.
It's called "Hoover Dam" now, subject to election returns of November 8.
The dam is entirely between Nevada and Arizona. All California gets out of it is the water.
Will Rogers appeared in wild west shows, the Ziegfeld Follies, and countless Hollywood films. He was one of the most successful celebrities of his time before he died in 1935 in a plane crash in Alaska.
"Will Rogers," photographer unknown, c. 1923. Larger.
To many Californians, it must have seemed that cowboy philosopher and movie actor Will Rogers had everything he ever wanted. It seems, however, that wasn't quite the case.
On an eastern Sierra fishing trip, Will Rogers decided on a new career.
California always did have one custom that they took serious, but it amused the rest of the United States. That is in calling everything a "ranch." Everything big enough to spread a double mattress on is called a "ranch." Well, up here in these mountains where there is lots of fishing, why every house you pass they sell fishing worms, and its called a "worm ranch." Well, I always did want to own a "ranch," so I am in the market for a good worm ranch. I never was so hot as a cowboy, but I believe I would make a good "worm herder." If I can land our Presidents as clients, I could make it sound like England when they sell to the king, "Rogers worm ranch, perveyor to His Excellency, the President.
Will Rogers' column on the California ranch was datelined Bishop, August 30, 1932.
below to hear radio segment.
