[78], Ninety-six of the deaths occurred during construction at the site. A decade in pictures: Iconic stories, photos and covers of the 1990s, In memoriam: Remembering the famous figures we lost in 2020, Winter fun: Stars enjoy the colder weather, A decade in pictures: Iconic stories, photos and covers of the 1980s, 25 New Year’s resolutions that are actually achievable, A decade in pictures: Iconic stories, photos and covers of the 1950s, Sneak peek at the 'Coming 2 America' movie. They formed a joint venture to bid for the project with Pacific Bridge Company of Portland, Oregon; Henry J. Kaiser & W. A. Bechtel Company of San Francisco; MacDonald & Kahn Ltd. of Los Angeles; and the J.F. [127] Unknown to the general public, Attorney General Homer Cummings informed Ickes that Congress had indeed used the name "Hoover Dam" in five different bills appropriating money for construction of the dam. After the war, it reopened September 2, 1945, and by 1953, annual attendance had risen to 448,081. Each spillway's capacity of 200,000 cu ft/s (5,700 m3/s) was empirically verified in post-construction tests in 1941. In 1902, the Edison Electric Company of Los Angeles surveyed the river in the hope of building a 40-foot (12 m) rock dam which could generate 10,000 horsepower (7,500 kW). [50], To protect the construction site from the Colorado River and to facilitate the river's diversion, two cofferdams were constructed. [66], A total of 3,250,000 cubic yards (2,480,000 cubic metres) of concrete was used in the dam before concrete pouring ceased on May 29, 1935. The new arrangement began on October 1, 2017. The Nevada Southern Railway is the last remaining stretch of the historic train tracks used to build the Hoover Dam. Hoover Dam was constructed between 1931 and 1936. The concrete lining is 3 feet (1 m) thick, reducing the finished tunnel diameter to 50 ft (15 m). Hoover Dam is a colossal hydroelectric dam on the Colorado River, on the border between Nevada and Arizona. Quail Lakes & Coal: Energy for Wildlife ... and the World, 2013, page 60, Bureau of Reclamation: Lower Colorado Region - Hoover Dam, U.S. National Register of Historic Places, Article I of the United States Constitution, Chinese benevolent association in the city, Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, Mike O'Callaghan–Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge, List of dams in the Colorado River system, List of largest hydroelectric power stations, List of largest hydroelectric power stations in the United States, List of National Historic Landmarks in Arizona, List of National Historic Landmarks in Nevada, "Sharing Colorado River Water: History, Public Policy and the Colorado River Compact", "Impacts of the 1928 St. Francis Dam Failure on Geology, Civil Engineering, and America", "Lower Colorado Bureau of Reclamation: Hoover Dam, Facts and Figures", "Hoover Dam: Grout Curtain Failure and Lessons Learned in Site Characterization", American Heritage's Invention & Technology, "OPERATION PLAN FOR COLORADO RIVER SYSTEM RESERVOIRS", "Lake Mead Drops to its Lowest-Ever Level", "Drought Diminishes Hydropower Capacity in Western U.S.", "Receding Lake Mead poses challenges to Hoover Dam's power output", "Los Angeles considers $3B pumped storage project at Hoover Dam", "City Of Los Angeles Wants To Turn Hoover Dam Into World's Largest Pumped Energy Storage Facility", "President signs Hoover Dam Power Allocation Act", "House, after stiff debate, backs cheap power for 3 Western states", "Crossing Hoover Dam: A Guide for Motorists", "The Hoover Dam – Everything You Need to Know About Visiting", "Upper Colorado River Endangered Fish Recovery Program", "Resurrecting the Dammed: A Look at Colorado River Restoration", 10.1641/0006-3568(2001)051[0998:RTDALA]2.0.CO;2, "A Conservation Plan for Native Fishes of the Lower Colorado River", 10.1641/0006-3568(2003)053[0219:ACPFNF]2.0.CO;2, "Macrofaunal and isotopic estimates of the former extent of the Colorado River estuary, upper Gulf of California, México", "Science and Values in River Restoration in the Grand Canyon", Historic Construction Company Project – Hoover Dam, Hoover Dam, Spanning Colorado River at Route 93, Boulder City, Clark County, NV, Boulder City/Hoover Dam Museum official site, Brownstone Canyon Archaeological District, Gold Strike Canyon-Sugarloaf Mountain Traditional Cultural Property, Grapevine Canyon Petroglyphs (AZ:F:14:98 ASM), Las Vegas High School Academic Building and Gymnasium, Las Vegas High School Neighborhood Historic District, Old Spanish Trail/Mormon Road Historic District, Sheep Mountain Range Archeological District, National Register of Historic Places listings in Nevada, Birthplace and childhood home National Historic Site, Presidential Library, Museum, and gravesite, International Boundary and Water Commission, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hoover_Dam&oldid=996579848, Buildings and monuments honoring American Presidents in the United States, Buildings and structures in Clark County, Nevada, Buildings and structures in Mohave County, Arizona, Dams on the National Register of Historic Places in Nevada, Energy infrastructure on the National Register of Historic Places, Historic American Engineering Record in Arizona, Historic American Engineering Record in Nevada, Industrial buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Arizona, National Register of Historic Places in Mohave County, Arizona, Tourist attractions in Clark County, Nevada, Tourist attractions in Mohave County, Arizona, Short description is different from Wikidata, Wikipedia indefinitely move-protected pages, Wikipedia pending changes protected pages, All Wikipedia articles written in American English, Wikipedia articles with WORLDCATID identifiers, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, Power, flood control, water storage, regulation, recreation, Wellton-Mohawk Irrigation and Drainage District, Sulphur Springs Valley Electric Cooperative, This page was last edited on 27 December 2020, at 13:17. This is an amazing video. The resulting Colorado River Compact was signed on November 24, 1922. [69], Most work had been completed by the dedication, and Six Companies negotiated with the government through late 1935 and early 1936 to settle all claims and arrange for the formal transfer of the dam to the Federal Government. Known as McKeeversville, the camp was home to men hoping for work on the project, together with their families. [52], Tunneling began at the lower portals of the Nevada tunnels in May 1931. First the base, or invert, was poured. The dam is an arch gravity structure rising 726 feet above bedrock. [57] One high scaler was able to save a life in a more direct manner: when a government inspector lost his grip on a safety line and began tumbling down a slope towards almost certain death, a high scaler was able to intercept him and pull him into the air. The Hoover Dam: The History and Construction of America’s Most Famous Engineering Project. The workers were given until 5 p.m. to vacate the premises. "[21], On December 21, 1928, President Coolidge signed the bill authorizing the dam. By September 1939, four more generators were operating, and the dam's power plant became the largest hydroelectricity facility in the world. [108] Today, nearly a million people per year take the tours of the dam offered by the Bureau of Reclamation. "[73], Excavation for the powerhouse was carried out simultaneously with the excavation for the dam foundation and abutments. This town became known as Boulder City, Nevada. Kindle $0.00 $ 0. [42], The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW or "Wobblies"), though much-reduced from their heyday as militant labor organizers in the early years of the century, hoped to unionize the Six Companies workers by capitalizing on their discontent. [70] To mark the occasion, a three-cent stamp was issued by the United States Post Office Department—bearing the name "Boulder Dam", the official name of the dam between 1933 and 1947. To put such large bronzes into place without marring the highly polished bronze surface, they were placed on ice and guided into position as the ice melted. [49], Before the dam could be built, the Colorado River needed to be diverted away from the construction site. [121], The Colorado River had experienced natural flooding before the construction of the Hoover Dam. Power generation has allowed the dam project to be self-sustaining: proceeds from the sale of power repaid the 50-year construction loan, and those revenues also finance the multimillion-dollar yearly maintenance budget. Hoover Dam, formerly called Boulder Dam, dam in Black Canyon on the Colorado River, at the Arizona - Nevada border, U.S. 3.9 out of 5 stars 44. The high scalers received considerable media attention, with one worker dubbed the "Human Pendulum" for swinging co-workers (and, at other times, cases of dynamite) across the canyon. Therefore, the side-walls were excavated too, to reach virgin rock, as weathered rock might provide pathways for water seepage. [119] The construction of the dam has been implicated in causing the decline of this estuarine ecosystem. The dam was described in minute detail, covering 100 pages of text and 76 drawings. The torrid summer weather and lack of facilities near the site also presented difficulties. [110] Tests at Grand Coulee Dam showed that the technique worked, in principle. Work on the foundation excavations was completed in June 1933. The Colorado River Board found the project feasible, but warned that should the dam fail, every downstream Colorado River community would be destroyed, and that the river might change course and empty into the Salton Sea. [25], Even before Congress approved the Boulder Canyon Project, the Bureau of Reclamation was considering what kind of dam should be used. [63] Since concrete heats and contracts as it cures, the potential for uneven cooling and contraction of the concrete posed a serious problem. After Hoover's election defeat in 1932 and the accession of the Roosevelt administration, Secretary Ickes ordered on May 13, 1933, that the dam be referred to as "Boulder Dam". [46] Two days later, the remainder were talked into leaving by law enforcement. [71] Roosevelt also referred to the dam as Boulder Dam,[92] and the Republican-leaning Los Angeles Times, which at the time of Ickes' name change had run an editorial cartoon showing Ickes ineffectively chipping away at an enormous sign "HOOVER DAM," reran it showing Roosevelt reinforcing Ickes, but having no greater success. Six Companies, Inc. was a joint venture of construction companies that was formed to build the Hoover Dam on the Colorado River in Nevada and Arizona. On this day in 1930, construction of the Hoover Dam begins. To lower the minimum power pool elevation from 1,050 to 950 feet (320 to 290 m), five wide-head turbines, designed to work efficiently with less flow, were installed. [96], The amount of electricity generated by Hoover Dam has been decreasing along with the falling water level in Lake Mead due to the prolonged drought in the 2010s and high demand for the Colorado River's water. When workers wearing such headgear were struck hard enough to inflict broken jaws, they sustained no skull damage. Some types of vehicles were inspected prior to crossing the dam while semi-trailer trucks, buses carrying luggage, and enclosed-box trucks over 40 ft (12 m) long were not allowed on the dam at all, and were diverted to U.S. Route 95 or Nevada State Routes 163/68. [47] While the workers received none of their demands, the company guaranteed there would be no further reductions in wages. Construction of Hoover Dam . [3], Before water from Lake Mead reaches the turbines, it enters the intake towers and then four gradually narrowing penstocks which funnel the water down towards the powerhouse. [6] The dam is located near Boulder City, Nevada, a municipality originally constructed for workers on the construction project, about 30 mi (48 km) southeast of Las Vegas, Nevada. [86], With the agreement of Kaufmann and the engineers, True also devised for the pipes and machinery an innovative color-coding which was implemented throughout all BOR projects. Please SUPPORT my work on Patreon: https://bit.ly/2LT6opZ Visit my 2ND CHANNEL: https://bit.ly/2ILbyX8 Facebook: … Hansen designed many of the sculptures on and around the dam. Built during the Great Depression, between 1931 and 1936, the Hoover Dam—then known as the Boulder Dam—was one of the biggest construction projects of the era. [119] For six years after the construction of the dam, while Lake Mead filled, virtually no water reached the mouth of the river. On July 7, 1930, construction of the Hoover Dam, originally called the Boulder Dam, began in Black Canyon on the Colorado River on the border of Nevada and Arizona. The heavily traveled U.S. Route 93 (US 93) ran along the dam's crest until October 2010, when the Hoover Dam Bypass opened. [55], When the cofferdams were in place and the construction site was drained of water, excavation for the dam foundation began. Although the dam would take only five years to build, its construction was nearly 30 years in the making. A total of 112 deaths are attributed to the Hoover Dam’s construction, several of which occurred during pre-construction surveys of the area. In addition, 1,110,000 cu yd (850,000 m3) were used in the power plant and other works. [74] The official list's final death occurred on December 20, 1935, when Patrick Tierney, electrician's helper and the son of J.G. The construction of the Hoover Dam was the culmination of years of attempts to harness the power of the Colorado River. Widths of the blocks varied from … This complex spillway entrance arrangement combined with the approximate 700-foot (210 m) elevation drop from the top of the reservoir to the river below was a difficult engineering problem and posed numerous design challenges. [44] On August 7, 1931, the company cut wages for all tunnel workers. New holes were drilled from inspection galleries inside the dam into the surrounding bedrock. Shortly afterward, work began on two similar tunnels in the Arizona canyon wall. [109], The large spillway tunnels have only been used twice, for testing in 1941 and because of flooding in 1983. An initial attempt at diverting the river for irrigation purposes occurred in the late 1890s, when land speculator William Beatty built the Alamo Canal just north of the Mexican border; the canal dipped into Mexico before running to a desolate area Beatty named the Imperial Valley. Tierney, fell from one of the two Arizona-side intake towers. I am not sure what hotel to stay with a bunch of ladies. [7] Though water from the Imperial Canal allowed for the widespread settlement of the valley, the canal proved expensive to operate. True's design scheme incorporated motifs of the Navajo and Pueblo tribes of the region. Gary M. The others are the men who sweat out their days, and many of their nights, in Black Canyon. Finally, using pneumatic guns, the overheads were filled in. Hoover Dam was an audacious and courageous undertaking. "[133] Ickes, who was by then a private citizen, opposed the change, stating, "I didn't know Hoover was that small a man to take credit for something he had nothing to do with. [91][94] Original plans called for 16 large generators, eight on each side of the river, but two smaller generators were installed instead of one large one on the Arizona side for a total of 17. [113] The four-lane Hoover Dam Bypass opened on October 19, 2010. His works include the monument of dedication plaza, a plaque to memorialize the workers killed and the bas-reliefs on the elevator towers. As the United States developed the Southwest, the Colorado River was seen as a potential source of irrigation water. In 1922, representatives of seven states met with then-Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover. [50] The inner tunnels' outlets are equipped with gates that can be closed to drain the tunnels for maintenance. These buckets, which weighed 20 short tons (18 t) when full, were filled at two massive concrete plants on the Nevada side, and were delivered to the site in special railcars. The report was principally authored by Davis, and was called the Fall-Davis report after Interior Secretary Albert Fall. "[71] At one point in the speech, he spoke the words "Boulder Dam" five times within thirty seconds. [54] Shovels for the excavation came from the Marion Power Shovel Company. At the height of construction, a bucket arrived every 78 seconds. [111] The spillways were modified in 1947 by adding flip buckets, which both slow the water and decrease the spillway's effective capacity, in an attempt to eliminate conditions thought to have contributed to the 1941 damage. [61] It took nine years (1938–47) under relative secrecy to complete the supplemental grout curtain. [19], Legislation to authorize the dam was introduced repeatedly by two California Republicans, Representative Phil Swing and Senator Hiram Johnson, but representatives from other parts of the country considered the project as hugely expensive and one that would mostly benefit California. [101], Lake Mead and downstream releases from the dam also provide water for both municipal and irrigation uses. [12] The river would carry off the smaller pieces of debris, and a dam would be built incorporating the remaining rubble. On July 7, 1930, construction of the Hoover Dam, originally called the Boulder Dam, began in Black Canyon on the Colorado River on the border of Nevada and Arizona. [56], The men who removed this rock were called "high scalers". [99] Water levels were maintained at over 1,075 feet (328 m) in 2018 and 2019. [38] The company built bunkhouses, attached to the canyon wall, to house 480 single men at what became known as River Camp. Prior to constructing the dam, the Colorado River had to be diverted from Black … The Hoover Dam is one of the most phenomenal structures in modern history. [59], The cleared, underlying rock foundation of the dam site was reinforced with grout, forming a grout curtain. Each gate weighs 5,000,000 pounds (2,300 metric tons) and can be operated manually or automatically. Hoover Dam is as tall as a 60-story building. Hoover Dam, one of the tallest dams in the United States and a National Historic Landmark that draws tourists from across the globe, is a key reservoir providing flood control, water storage and irrigation along the lower Colorado River.It also is one of the nation’s largest hydroelectric facilities, … [127] One writer complained in response that "the Great Engineer had quickly drained, ditched, and dammed the country."[127]. Known as McKeeversville, the camp was home to … 00. Since the dam was an arch-gravity type, the side-walls of the canyon would bear the force of the impounded lake. As a result, few of True's decorations can now be seen by visitors. [80] A total of 42 workers were recorded as having died from pneumonia and were not included in the above total; none were listed as having died from carbon monoxide poisoning. He was noncommittal. Since about 1900, the Black Canyon and nearby Boulder Canyon had been investigated for their potential to support a dam that would control floods, provide irrigation water and produce hydroelectric power. The name was descriptive and was an inside joke among the San Franciscans in the bid, where "Six Companies" was also a Chinese benevolent association in the city. Hoover Dam 75th Anniversary - Photographs, a video, and media coverage of the September 30, 2010 event at the dam. [101][102], In 2018, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) proposed a $3 billion pumped hydro storage project—a "battery" of sorts—that would use wind and solar power to recirculate water back up to Lake Mead from a pumping station 20 miles (32 km) downriver. by Charles River Editors | Dec 11, 2014. Included in the fatality list are three workers who took their own lives on site, one in 1932 and two in 1933. This was done to stabilize the rock, to prevent water from seeping past the dam through the canyon rock, and to limit "uplift"—upward pressure from water seeping under the dam. Although there are myths that men were caught in the pour and are entombed in the dam to this day, each bucket deepened the concrete in a form by only 1 inch (25 mm), and Six Companies engineers would not have permitted a flaw caused by the presence of a human body. Overall, there is enough concrete in the dam to pave a two-lane highway from San Francisco to New York. He designed sculpted turrets rising seamlessly from the dam face and clock faces on the intake towers set for the time in Nevada and Arizona—both states are in different time zones, but since Arizona does not observe daylight saving time, the clocks display the same time for more than half the year. [110] The 1941 damage was attributed to a slight misalignment of the tunnel invert (or base), which caused cavitation, a phenomenon in fast-flowing liquids in which vapor bubbles collapse with explosive force. The Fall-Davis report cited use of the Colorado River as a federal concern because the river's basin covered several states, and the river eventually entered Mexico. The Story of Hoover Dam - Articles. Holes were driven into the walls and base of the canyon, as deep as 150 feet (46 m) into the rock, and any cavities encountered were to be filled with grout. [3] The annual generation of Hoover Dam varies. The bas-relief on the Arizona elevator depicts, in his words, "the visages of those Indian tribes who have inhabited mountains and plains from ages distant. [62], The first concrete was poured into the dam on June 6, 1933, 18 months ahead of schedule. It is 660 feet thick at its base, 45 feet thick at its crest, and stretches 1,244 feet across Black Canyon. [50] Concrete cores were removed from the dam for testing in 1995; they showed that "Hoover Dam's concrete has continued to slowly gain strength" and the dam is composed of a "durable concrete having a compressive strength exceeding the range typically found in normal mass concrete". As that dam was a curved-gravity type,[20] similar in design to the arch-gravity as was proposed for the Black Canyon dam, opponents claimed that the Black Canyon dam's safety could not be guaranteed. Built during the Great Depression, the dam would tame the flood-prone Colorado River southeast of Las Vegas―protecting cities and farms, generating cheap electricity to supply power to homes and industry, and providing work for thousands who desperately needed jobs. The maximum net generation was 10.348 TWh in 1984, and the minimum since 1940 was 2.648 TWh in 1956. Workers alleged that this diagnosis was a cover for death from carbon monoxide poisoning (brought on by the use of gasoline-fueled vehicles in the diversion tunnels), and a classification used by Six Companies to avoid paying compensation claims. The curving arch of the dam would transmit the water's force into the abutments, in this case the rock walls of the canyon. [87] True's consulting artist job lasted through 1942; it was extended so he could complete design work for the Parker, Shasta and Grand Coulee dams and power plants. It cost a total of $165 million to build and was completed in four and a half years. Complementing Kaufmann and True's work, sculptor Oskar J.W. No deaths of non-workers from pneumonia were recorded in Boulder City during the construction period. The construction site had, even then, become a magnet for tourists; the high scalers were prime attractions and showed off for the watchers. Travelling and Safety: Crossing Hoover Dam: A Traveler's Guide … This is intended to help future astronomers, if necessary, calculate the exact date of dedication. [83] Although some were initially opposed to these designs, True was given the go-ahead and was officially appointed consulting artist. Helpful. More than 582 miles (937 km) of cooling pipes were placed within the concrete. [100], Control of water was the primary concern in the building of the dam. [85] The images and colors are based on Native American visions of rain, lightning, water, clouds, and local animals—lizards, serpents, birds—and on the Southwestern landscape of stepped mesas. During this excavation, approximately 1,500,000 cu yd (1,100,000 m3) of material was removed. When the bottom of the bucket opened up, disgorging 8 cu yd (6.1 m3) of concrete, a team of men worked it throughout the form. [5], Dam in Clark County, Nevada and Mohave County, Arizona, US, "Boulder Dam" redirects here. Hoover Dam Historical Collection - A collection of museum items, historic photographs, and news clippings related to Hoover Dam. [82], At Kaufmann's request, Denver artist Allen Tupper True[81] was hired to handle the design and decoration of the walls and floors of the new dam. The massive construction that employed 21,000 men throughout the project took place during the Great Depression. [51] The contract required these tunnels to be completed by October 1, 1933, with a $3,000-per-day fine to be assessed for any delay. Edison allowed land options it held on the river to lapse—including an option for what became the site of Hoover Dam. To accomplish this, four diversion tunnels were driven through the canyon walls, two on the Nevada side and two on the Arizona side. The wedge-shaped dam would be 660 ft (200 m) thick at the bottom, narrowing to 45 ft (14 m) at the top, leaving room for a highway connecting Nevada and Arizona. The Board cautioned: "To avoid such possibilities, the proposed dam should be constructed on conservative if not ultra-conservative lines. Memories of the Great Depression faded, and Hoover to some extent rehabilitated himself through good works during and after World War II. Emboldened by Crowe's reversal of the lunch decree, workers raised their demands to include a $1-per-day raise.