William Flangas was born in Ely, Nevada, in 1927. He attended grade school through high school in White Pine County. In his junior year, he left school to join the Navy. After the war, he enrolled at UNR on the G.I. Bill, and graduated with a degree in metallurgical engineering. In 1951, Bill worked for Kennecott in a 'deep root' project, spent a summer in Chile working in a smelter, and then went back to work for Kennecott in underground operations. On the basis of this experience, he wrote a thesis and earned an EM degree (Engineer of Mines). Bill was approached in 1958 by Mr. Reynolds of the Reynolds Electric/Engineering Company with a request that he come help them out at the Nevada Test Site. He refused at first, but after a second call and a visit to the tunnel site, he accepted the job, pulled together a first-rate group of experienced miners, and stayed on to enjoy a 40 year career concurrent with the job at the test site, Bill was appointed to the State Planning Board, later renamed the State Public Works Board. The function of the board was to list public buildings in order of priority. In 1984, the College of Engineering at UNLV made the priority list. Bill helped set up three point contact among the university personnel, the architectural firm, and the Public Works Board. This was to ensure that the building met the needs of the engineers but did not go over budget.

This photograph has three images. The first one (0272_0081) is upside-down and reads, "Record pour. Graveyard crew on No. 7 cableway. 240 8 cu. buckets. 8 hour shift, Boulder Dam. 12-18-34" There is a list on the back: "1. high-line operator 2. Bell boys hi-trussel and on dam. Andy 3. Donkey operators 4. Hook tenders 5. shifter, of crew (Colette) 6. Night Supt. Car Colette 7. Regular crew 8. Me. Returned to help crew for this record from form-raising crew. "All worked on No. 7 line in some capacity, except 8. Kizziar (KI-ZAH) -as a regular. Lots of work that day. Didn't take time for lunch. Run over to grab a bite and jump back. My job was to trip the safety (dog). Bucket was in the pour every two minutes. Just time to wade out of knee deep mud. On top trussel everything was panic. Bellboy sets an empty bucket in crib of flat car (which has three cribs). Hook tender unhooks it and donkey driver will back up to hook on full bucket. Bellboy signals hi-ball -- operator knows how far to take it." The other two images (0272_0082 and 0272_0083) did not have an inscription with the image.