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Boulder City Magazine® August 2010 Issue
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Boulder City History
by Shirl Naegle, Manager
Boulder City/Hoover Dam Museum
Monument to Boulder Dam Hotel
On June 19th, members of the Queho Posse Chapter of the ancient and honorable order of E Clampus Vitus dedicated a monument honoring the history of the Boulder Dam Hotel. |
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The organization is a men’s fraternal historical group which has dedicated hundreds of historical monuments throughout the western states. The Boulder Dam Hotel’s significance in the history of Boulder City and Southern Nevada led the group to request permission to place a monument at the hotel so visitors can learn about its history.
E Clampus Vitus was organized first in the 1840s as a burlesque of mainline fraternal organizations by Squire Ephraim Bee of Virginia. With the California Gold Rush, the order was brought west, and chapters were founded throughout California and later Nevada. It was revived in California in 1931 by Leon Whitsell, George Ezra Dane and Carl Wheat, well-known western historians. Members are known as Clampers, and are distinctive for their red shirts, a nod to the early miners and their red long underwear.
The Queho Posse Chapter was chartered in Southern Nevada in 2000 and named in honor of the many posses that tried unsuccessfully to capture the renegade Indian, Queho, between 1910 and 1935. Clampers are known for their humor in all areas except history. The motto of the order is “Credo Quia Absurdum” or “I Believe Because it is Absurd.”
Chapters gather for “doins,” which includes the initiation of prospective new members, known as Poor Blind Candidates. After the PBCs have successfully survived the Hall of Comparative Ovations, a monument to an historically significant event, person, building, etc. is dedicated. In Boulder City, this is the third monument placed by the chapter, the other two being at Bootleg Canyon and the Elks Lodge/TWA Terminal Building.
Queho Posse “Mystic” Dick Turgeon dedicated the plaque at the hotel, with Clamphistorian Mark “The Expert” Hall-Patton speaking on the history of the hotel. 45 members of the organization were in attendance, and heard a short history of the hotel and its significance in Boulder City history. The reinforced concrete and granite monument is a gift from the chapter to the historical association and hotel.
On behalf of the Boulder City Museum and Historical Association. |
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