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Picture of the day -
January 18, 2006
Hoover Dam
Today's picture features massive Hoover Dam, one of the modern world's most
impressive feats of engineering. Thousands of visitors descend upon the states
of Arizona and
Nevada each year to enjoy the beauty and recreational
opportunities provided by Lake Mead, but the awesome Hoover Dam itself is just as popular!
The story of Hoover Dam's construction is one of legend. Prior to its
construction, the wild Colorado River flooded virtually every year, leaving
plenty of destruction behind after the waters receded. The 1930's also saw the
country in the midst of the Great Depression, and unemployment was commonplace.
The construction of Hoover Dam helped solve both problems.
In 1931, thousands of able-bodied but unemployed workers came to the desolate
Arizona / Nevada border region known as Black Canyon to fill jobs on the Hoover
Dam project, and many of them brought their families along with them. Jobs were
scarce, and they were very grateful to have the opportunity to earn a good
living even if the living conditions were less than ideal.
 The
task of actually building the huge dam was quite difficult indeed. Before they
could even begin working at the construction site they had to completely divert
the raging river away from it by blasting tunnels through the walls of the
canyon. After that enormous task was complete, roughly 8,000 people toiled for
five long years, finally ending up in 1936 with a massive curved gravity dam
that stands 726 feet high and 660 feet thick at the base!
Today, Hoover Dam still holds back the waters of Lake Mead, making it possible
for thousands of visitors to spend their vacations boating, waterskiing,
swimming, fishing and lots, lots more. It also generates enough electric power
to serve almost 1.5 million people. The cost to build Hoover Dam was immense but
it was money well spent.
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