It’s not too high, too big or too expensive, it’s not demanding the most victims, but it’s a myth. Located 50 miles south of Las Vegas on the Colorado River, the 220-meter-high Hoover Dam is not only an amazing technological work, it was also one of the building blocks of the economic crisis of the 1930s. One of the symbols of the United States was issued 85 years ago, on March 1, 1936.
The dam was built primarily to control the mighty Colorado River. Not only did it serve as a flood protection, it was also the largest reservoir of drinking water, and the built hydroelectric plant was the most powerful in the world at that time. Construction of the dam was originally the responsibility of the Boulder Dam, then Herbert Hoover, then Secretary of Commerce and future President of the United States, and was renamed in 1947.
Construction of the dam began in 1931, unique not only in size but also in its Art Deco design. The plan was not too long ago to attract thousands of unemployed to the Nevada and Arizona borders. conditions. An advanced Rocktown camp and later the modern city of Boulder City was built for workers and their families, and the construction of the dam was behind the rise of nearby Las Vegas. A total of 20,000 people took part in the construction of the dam, one hundred of whom died during construction.
The first project to find the dam was Boulder Canyon. Therefore, the project was named the Boulder Canyon Project, and it was eventually decided to build a dam in the Black Canyon. At one point, the Colorado River had to be diverted into several mines.
The dam is 221 meters high, 198 meters wide at the foundations and 13 meters thick at the top. It was built of three and a half million cubic meters of concrete, with eight million tons of rock removed. In front of the dam, the Mead Reservoir was created, which is the largest dam reservoir in the United States and one of the largest in the world. Lake Mead stretches for 185 kilometers.
The dam is a tourist destination. Hoover Dam has been a national monument since 1985, and when terrorists invaded the United States in September 2001, Hoover Dam became one of the most protected sites in the United States. Due to safety and congestion, Route 93, which connects the state of Nevada with neighboring Arizona, was closed to traffic. Therefore, a large road bridge was built not far from the dam as part of the new motorway, and the dam road itself serves only visitors. The dam climbed into books and appeared in many films and songs.