Hoover Dam is located on the border of Nevada and Arizona in the United States, in the Black Canyon of the Colorado River. It is an arch-gravity concrete dam that was once known as Boulder Dam. Hoover Dam was built during the Great Depression, beginning in 1931 and ending in1936. The power generated from the dam helps support Nevada, California and Arizona. Hoover Dam is also a popular tourist attraction, drawing almost a million visitors every year.
Interesting Hoover Dam Facts
1- The purpose of a dam is to contain the flow of water, and they are often used to help provide power.
2- Other reasons for dams include minimizing the risk of flood, irrigation, providing water for cities and towns, and also for creating recreational areas.
3- Hoover Dam was dedicated by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1935.
4- It took more than 10,000 people to build the dam, and more than 100 people died during its construction.
5- The first man to die was J.G. Tierney. He was a US Bureau of Reclamation employee. He fell into the Colorado River on the December 20th, 1922 and died. On December 20th, 1935, Patrick Tierney, J.G. Tierney’s son, fell from an intake tower and died. He was the last person to die during construction of Hoover Dam.
6- The idea to build the dam came about in approximately the year 1900. It wasn’t until 1928 that the project was approved by Congress.
7- Six Companies won the bid to build the dam.
8- Construction began in 1931 and was finished in 1936. This was two years ahead of schedule.
9- Lake Mead is the name of the reservoir at Hoover Dam. It is the largest (by volume) reservoir in the United States.
10- Boulder City, Nevada was originally built for those who would be working on the dam.
11- Hoover Dam is 726 feet high. It is 650 feet thick at the bottom and 45 feet thick at the top.
12- The dam is 1,244 feet long.
13- The purpose of the Hoover Dam is for power, silt and flood control, irrigation, and water for both industrial and domestic use.
14- When Hoover Dam was finished in 1936 it was the world’s largest hydroelectric power station. It was also the world’s largest concrete structure at the time.
15- Boulder Dam was renamed in 1947 to Hoover Dam, after President Herbert Hoover.
16- With the amount of concrete that was used to build Hoover Dam, a 4000-mile two-lane highway could have been built. It would be able to stretch from San Francisco to New York.
17- Hoover Dam has a power capacity of 1,345 megawatts. In one year it can create 4.2 billion kWh (kilowatt-hours).
18- When Hoover Dam was built it cost $49 million. Today it would cost $811 million to build the same dam.
19- Hoover Dam is an arch-gravity dam. This means that it curves upstream, narrowing so that the majority of the water is then directed against the rock walls of the canyon. This provides the force to compress the dam. This type of dam has both the characteristics of a gravity dam and an arch dam.
