Hoover Dam

A detailed Summary of Hoover Dam

The Hoover Dam, which stands at 726 feet, was the world's tallest dam at the time of it completion in 1935. It took just four years (1931-1935) to build this massive structure. Although larger dams have been built it still ranks as one of the tallest. The dam is located between Nevada and Arizona along the Colorado River. This massive dam was the idea of President Herbert Hoover. The structure's name was changed from Boulder Dam to the Hoover Dam in honor of him.

The need for a dam had been seen for over two decades, so in the early 1920's site testing began for this great project. Many thought that by controlling the Colorado River they could provide hydroelectric power to many areas out west. This added power was needed due to the extreme growth of Las Vegas and Southern California. Many bids were made on the price of the dam, but in the end it was the Six Companies Inc. who won the project. They estimated the dam to cost $48,890,955. Although they were anxious to start construction it could not be done until transportation to and from the site was established. Thus the first project was to lay roads and railroads to transport the many materials to the site. The next step was to reroute the

The Hoover Dam serves many purposes, such as: flood control, improvement of navigation and regulation of the Colorado River, and hydroelectric power production. The dam also helps in irrigating more than one million acres of land in the United States and almost half a million in Mexico. Because of the dam many people in the southwestern states receive water. The Hoover Dam generates more than 4 billion kilowatt-hours a year, which is enough power to serve 1.3 million people. Hoover is still today one of the country's largest power suppliers.

The men chosen for this job came from all different types of backgrounds, but all had the same thing in common: they were agile and unafraid to swing out over empty space with only a slender rope holding them up. This work was some of the hardest and most dangerous work on the project. The men would descend into the canyon with only small tools and a water bag. Next jackhammers, that weighed 44 pounds, would be lowered to them. They would then take the jackhammer drill a hole in the side of the canyon, load the hole up with dynamite, and move to the next spot. After enough holes were drilled the dynamite was blown. The men would usually have to go back down with a crowbar to loosen some of the broken rocks.

Even though the work was hard and dangerous the workers tried to have some "fun". When the

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Approximate Word count = 914
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: History

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Hoover Dam

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