7-7-1930

[953 nut 55,021]

                                           7-7-1930

        Building of Hoover Dam begins

On this day in 1930, construction of the Hoover Dam begins. Over the next five years, a total of 21,000 men would work ceaselessly to produce what would be the largest dam of its time, as well as one of the largest manmade structures in the world.

Although the dam would take only five years to build, its construction was nearly 30 years in the making. Arthur Powell Davis, an engineer from the Bureau of Reclamation, originally had his vision for the Hoover Dam back in 1902, and his engineering report on the topic became the guiding document when plans were finally made to begin the dam in 1922.

Herbert Hoover, the 31st president of the United States and a committed conservationist, played a crucial role in making Davis’ vision a reality. As secretary of commerce in 1921, Hoover devoted himself to the erection of a high dam in Boulder Canyon, Colorado. The dam would provide essential flood control, which would prevent damage to downstream farming communities that suffered each year when snow from the Rocky Mountains melted and joined the Colorado River. Further, the dam would allow the expansion of irrigated farming in the desert, and would provide a dependable supply of water for Los Angeles and other southern California communities.

Even with Hoover’s exuberant backing and a regional consensus around the need to build the dam, Congressional approval and individual state cooperation were slow in coming. For many years, water rights had been a source of contention among the western states that had claims on the Colorado River. To address this issue, Hoover negotiated the Colorado River Compact, which broke the river basin into two regions with the water divided between them. Hoover then had to introduce and re-introduce the bill to build the dam several times over the next few years before the House and Senate finally approved the bill in 1928.

In 1929, Hoover, now president, signed the Colorado River Compact into law, claiming it was “the most extensive action ever taken by a group of states under the provisions of the Constitution permitting compacts between states.”

Once preparations were made, the Hoover Dam’s construction sprinted forward: The contractors finished their work two years ahead of schedule and millions of dollars under budget. Today, the Hoover Dam is the second highest dam in the country and the 18th highest in the world. It generates enough energy each year to serve over a million people, and stands, in Hoover Dam artist Oskar Hansen’s words, as “a monument to collective genius exerting itself in community efforts around a common need or ideal.”

[SylvanLakeWH 25,485]

29 minutes ago, 953 nut said:

                                           7-7-1930

 

        Building of Hoover Dam begins

 

 

 

Oh for the days before OSHA....

 

Or as the bumper sticker says: If you think OSHA is a small town in Wisconsin, you are in trouble...

 

[JC 1965 1,530]

I saw a documentary on the History channel how some of the work was done on the Hover Dam. It is amazing to me how they ever finished it. They didn't have all the modern machinery back then like they do now. They did have some very smart people though and very hard workers, guess that makes all the difference. Thanks for sharing the photos.     

[russellmc301 600]

thats neat i saw a show on history where they have sniper huts on the hills, during world war II they where afraid of it geting bomed.

its neat that you do this every day.

thanks

[RedRanger 1,468]

I've been there twice in the past 8 years on vacations.  Going back to Vegas next spring I believe and will most likely visit again.  Awesome experience.

Done the tour inside the dam and the power plant as well as walked inside the old abandoned sniper huts.  Something very well worth visiting.

 

Here are a few pictures from spring of 2015.  Notice how low the water in the lake is.  It was a good 50+ feet higher back in about 2008 when I was first there.  Drought and over consumption are draining the lake.

 

From the top of the dam looking over the lower river.  Notice the new 4 lane bypass bridge.  Local car traffic is no longer allowed on the dam, for security reasons.

 

Looking backwards over Lake Mead.  The following three pictures are panoramic if you line them up next to each other.

The structure in the background that looks like a dam is the over flow for Lake Mead.  The towers are the water intakes for the power plant.

The over flow.  Notice the cat walks to give you some scale.  The rusty steel are actually gates that raise and lower to adjust water level on the lake.

Bypass tunnel for the over flow.  I'd guess maybe 100 feet in diameter.  Standing here, you could feel a cold wind blowing OUT of the hole.  Kind of creepy.

Backside of the dam.

Museum and parking garage.

[Ed Kennell 37,998]

Thanks Richard.... Brings back a lot of memories of my 50 years with Allis Chalmers and Voith  Hydro. 

  Hoover is one of several hundred large hydro plants I have done R & D lab testing for replacement runners and upgrades.

 

And the Grand Coulee turbines....nearly 1,000,000 HP each.

 

 

[WHX?? 48,749]

Great pics Red ..thanks