Hoover Dam

[[File:Hoover Dam (aerial view) - 30 April 2009.jpg|thumb|right|200px|The Hoover Dam in 2009]]{{conspiracynav}}
The '''Hoover Dam''' is a concrete dam and hydro-electric power plant built between 1931 and 1936 on the Colorado River on the border of [[Nevada]] and [[Arizona]].

The dam itself is enormously impressive. Behind it lies {{wpl|Lake Mead||,}} America's largest reservoir. Its construction lasted about five years, used almost 2.5 million cubic meters of concrete and involved diverting the Colorado River through 4 tunnels in the canyon walls. It generates around 4 billion kilowatt-hours of juicy electricity every year,<ref>[http://www.usbr.gov/lc/hooverdam/faqs/powerfaq.html Power FAQ], Reclamation: Hoover Dam website</ref> water for 18 million people and 400,000 hectares of land. US Route 93 formerly ran along the top of the dam until 2005 and the opening of the {{wpl|Mike O'Callaghan–Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge}} (the second-highest bridge in the U.S.).<ref>[https://www.history.com/articles/7-things-you-might-not-know-about-the-hoover-dam 7 Things You Might Not Know About the Hoover Dam], History.com</ref>

But as if that wasn't cool enough, there are also some [[urban legend]]s and [[conspiracy]] theories about the dam.<ref group=note>Oh wait, that's just everything.</ref>

==Its name==
It is, of course, named after [[Herbert Hoover]], the 
one who did nothing about the [[Great Depression]]
 31st President of the United States. Then, of course, during the Depression the dam was temporarily renamed '''Boulder Dam''' since there were enough people ticked off at him that they made damn sure no damn dam would be named after him, dammit. The name reverted back to Hoover Dam during the [[Dwight D. Eisenhower|Eisenhower]] administration. Some folks today still call it Boulder Dam.<ref group=note>A running joke of the time of the name change suggested that it be named "Whogivesa Dam".</ref>

==Workers buried in the dam?==
[[File:Concreteworkers.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Concrete pouring during construction of Hoover Dam]]
It is rumored that several workers were buried in the dam because they died during construction, fell in the concrete, and couldn't be fished out. However, this myth is rejected by Mark Robison on the basis that concrete was poured in very shallow sections, of between 2 and 6 inches deep, which would probably not be enough to trap a man.<ref name="RGJfactchecker">[https://www.rgj.com/story/news/2015/06/02/fact-checker-a-look-at-nevada-myths-hoover-dam-deaths-union-gold-501-jeans-origin/28325399/ Fact Checker: A look at Nevada myths: Hoover Dam deaths, Union gold, 501 jeans origin], Mark Robison, RGJ.com</ref><ref group=note>The myth was popularized by Jimmy Webb's song ''Highwayman'', which tracks a character through four incarnations. In the third verse, the character dies in the Hoover Dam concrete.</ref> [[Snopes]] suggests that leaving bodies in the dam would create an unacceptable risk of weakening the concrete.  Five to six foot tall goo-filled voids in the superstructure would severely compromise the load bearing ability of the surrounding concrete, so it's almost certain that anybody who fell in was immediately fished out.<ref>[http://www.snopes.com/horrors/freakish/hoover.asp Tomb of the Dammed], Snopes.com, 18 January 2007</ref>

A coincidence that many often point to is the deaths of two men, father and son, 13 years apart. Surveyor J.G. Tierney fell off a barge and drowned on December 20, 1922, while surveying a location for the dam. 13 years to the day on December 20, 1935, J.G. Tierney's son Patrick Tierney, working as an electrician's helper, died after falling from an intake tower.<ref>[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoover_Dam#Construction_deaths Wikipedia: Hoover Dam; Construction deaths]</ref><ref name="RGJfactchecker"/>

According to official figures, 96 people died building the dam, with an additional 16 deaths more distantly connected to its construction.<ref>[http://www.usbr.gov/lc/hooverdam/history/essays/fatal.html Fatalities at Hoover Dam], Reclamation: Hoover Dam website</ref>

==Nazis?==
In [[World War II]], American authorities feared that [[Nazi Germany|German]] saboteurs planned to blow up the Hoover Dam to destroy [[California]]'s industries. The Germans reportedly planned to sail boats up to the intake towers and plant bombs; as a result private boats were banned, nets were placed in Lake Mead, and the army began patrolling the area.<ref>[http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/best-reads/2015/10/01/arizona-wwii-history-hoover-dam/32564733/ The Arizona piece of WWII history you never knew existed: It's hidden in plain sight], Shaun McKinnon, azcentral.com, October 1, 2015</ref> This was probably part of the [[Battle of Los Angeles|wider paranoia]] about German infiltration. It is quite a big dam and would be quite hard to blow up.

==Predicted destruction, 9/11, star gates, missing water, false flags?==
Allegedly the 50-[[United States dollar|dollar]] bill shows the Hoover Dam surrounded by a mystical pattern of obelisks spelling out 11:11, just as the destruction of the World Trade Center was [[U.S. dollar bill folding tricks|predicted on the $20 note]]; other [[occult]] symbols in the dam's design reinforce this prophecy of death.<ref>[http://beforeitsnews.com/conspiracy-theories/2014/01/predicting-the-next-911-at-hoover-dam-2458306.html Predicting the next 9/11 at Hoover Dam], Before It's News, January 9, 2014</ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20210624065341/http://commonsenseconspiracy.com/2015/06/does-the-50-bill-foretell-the-destruction-of-the-hoover-dam-false-flag-of-all-false-flags/ DOES THE $50 BILL FORETELL THE DESTRUCTION OF THE HOOVER DAM? FALSE FLAG OF ALL FALSE FLAGS?], Common Sense Conspiracy</ref> Apparently it will be blown up by the same US government agency that destroyed the twin towers on [[9-11]]. This 
is
 was scheduled for 2012.<ref name=fdr1/><ref name=fdr2/>

The destruction of the dam would be significant for the people living downriver, for other people in the western US who like water, for the farmers who depend on the river for irrigation, and the people who eat the food they grow. But some theorists go further and suggest the water will be used to "lubricate the San Andreas fault"<ref name=fdr1>[https://web.archive.org/web/20141201052748/https://fourthdimensionalrecovery.wordpress.com/2012/04/23/hoover-dam-expected-to-be-the-next-911/ Hoover Dam expected to be the next 9/11], Fourth Dimensional Recovery, 23 April 2012</ref> which sounds a bit worrying. Another earthquake-related theory holds that the dam has been secretly losing water, with 260 billion gallons slipping out in a day &mdash; but a faulty depth gauge was blamed.<ref>[https://www.reviewjournal.com/news/hoover-dam-on-shaky-ground-officials-insist-its-pure-fiction/ Hoover Dam on shaky ground? Officials insist it’s pure fiction], Las Vegas Review-Journal, May 28, 2015</ref>

It has also been linked in various theories involving [[Extraterrestrial|aliens]], stargates, [[Area 51]], [[Project Blue Beam]], etc.<ref name=fdr2>[https://fourthdimensionalrecovery.wordpress.com/2012/06/10/5-28-2012-analysis-of-john-carter/ Search for Project Bluebeam converges at Hoover Dam], Fourth Dimensional Recovery, 10 June 2012</ref> This is in some way connected to claims that the dam contains a stargate<ref name=se>[https://web.archive.org/web/20150701153704/http://www.starshipearththebigpicture.com/2015/06/28/connecting-the-dots-from-transformers-hoover-dam-stargate-pyramids-and-constellations-video/ Connecting the Dots from “Transformers”; Hoover Dam Stargate, Pyramids and Constellations], Starship Earth</ref> and that secret tunnels connect it to Area 51.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20190831025504/http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread195873/pg1 Hoover Dam questions], violet, Above Top Secret, Feb 20, 2006</ref> These [[PIDOOMA]]s are either inspired by or referenced in the Michael Bay movie ''Transformers'' (2007), where the dam is featured as a covert repository for a multi-billion dollar merchandising opportunity. And you thought it was just thousands of Chinese laborers' corpses in there.

==The hard hat was invented during construction of the dam?==
Meh. It was invented well-before dam construction, but it was perhaps the first major construction project in which they were mandated.
==Notes==
{{reflist|group=note}}
==References==
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[[Category:Conspiracy theories]]
[[Category:Urban legends]]

Categories: Conspiracy theories, Urban legends