Hoover played a large roll in bringing the nearby states into agreement about water allocations, settling a 25-year controversy. The dam has also been called Boulder Canyon Dam or Boulder Dam because, allegedly, after Hoover left office the new secretary of the interior did not like Hoover. Hoover Dam was reinstated as the official name by Congress in 1947. Today Hoover Dam is the highest concrete dam in the Western Hemisphere, standing at 725 feet above the river. It has 17, seven-story high generators that produce 4 billion kilowatts of electricity a year from water travelling through large turbines.
Visitors can take a guided tour through the turbine room and to the base of the dam.
Another tour that offers a more in-depth view of the dam takes visitors, who are required to wear hard hats, through the generator shaft gallery and the seepage gallary. For more information, see the official Hoover Dam website . To see these videos you will need to download the QuickTime plug-in for your browser. Read our policy on privacy and cookies.