THE WRECK OF MORRISON KNUDSEN

IN ITS GLORY DAYS, THE MORRISON Knudsen company helped create the very fabric of America by building such megastructures as the Hoover Dam, the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge and the Trans-Alaska pipeline. By last week, however, the 83-year-old construction firm, based in Boise, Idaho, was struggling to survive a devastating corporate crackup. Just six weeks after directors ousted the charismatic William Agee as chairman and chief executive officer, the company was frantically seeking $125 million in new bank loans needed by the end of this week to avert a bankruptcy filing. And with losses mounting, shareholders suing and directors resigning, the...