I visited Hoover Dam in high school, but I have to say that seeing it now, after learning more about dams and engineering in general, it really takes on a whole new life. I can't even imagine what it was like for the workers back in the day during the Great Depression who came out to Black Canyon to build what was the largest dam in the world at the time. There weren't any roads, houses, electricity, homes, etc. In fact, the first summer was so brutal that many workers died. That is when the government stepped up and developed what today is known as Boulder City. It's still the only city in Nevada that does not have legal gambling.
Seeing the sheer size of the dam gave me chills. The dam architecture is Art Deco style, which you can see in the intake structures, the powerhouse, and even the elevator shafts. It's unfortunate that we don't seem to put in the same artistic detail on projects today. We also wouldn't be able to build such a dam today due to cost and environmental red tape. Hoover Dam cost a mere $48 million.
Here's a picture of me standing on the dam. We parked on the Arizona side (where it's free!) and walked across to the Visitor's Center, which is on the Nevada side.
This dedication sign also gave me chills. The scroll reads "They died to make the desert bloom" which really is true. It sounds like such an absurd reason to die, but it's truly heroic. Without this dam, it is possible that the City of Las Vegas and many other cities in Southern California may not be as prosperous as they have become because there wouldn't be a reliable source of water. The Hoover Dam project was conceived to store water from the Colorado River, which was highly unreliable. The volume of water in the river is dependent upon the snowpack in the Colorado Rockies and it was known to vary widely from year to year. Therefore, the dam was installed to create Lake Mead, the largest man-made reservoir in the United States.
This brings me to another sad fact. Lake Mead is currently at 47% of normal capacity, which further highlights the need for water conservation and other sources of water. You can see how low the lake is in this photo. The white ring is the rock that is now exposed that used to be underwater.
One of the more dangerous types of job on the dam was that of the High Scaler. The High Scaler would rapel down the side of the canyon carrying a 40-pound pneumatic drill and dynamite. He would drill a hole, stuff it with dynamite, light it, and then jump away when it exploded. The point was to break down the rock to more solid rock that would be suitable for placing concrete. Coincidentally, this is also when the hardhat was invented. Workers below were tired of being pelted with rocks, so they took two baseball caps, put them together front to back, and dipped them over and over in hot oil to harden them. They worked so well that that contractor who built Hoover Dam (Six Companies) started making them for all their workers.
This is a statue to salute the High Scaler.
I have tons of pictures and could keep going on and on, but I will end this post with one more photo looking down stream. You can see on the sides that they are currently building a bypass bridge over the canyon. I heard a rumor that once that is done, they won't allow traffic on the dam. That makes sense, but would also be sort of sad. So, if you have the chance, go to Hoover Dam now!
