Boulder Dam or Hoover Dam? | UNLV Libraries Digital Collections UNLV Libraries Digital Collections Boulder Dam or Hoover Dam? Boulder Canyon Project When the initial surveys were done to determine the placement of the dam, most agreed that Boulder Canyon would be ideal because of its granite foundation. It was thought that the narrower pass of Black Canyon, made from volcanic deposits, wasn't nearly as strong. However, too many faults were discovered in Boulder Canyon and Black Canyon was eventually chosen for the construction of the dam. Unfortunately, it was too late to disassociate the name Boulder Canyon from the project, and it stuck, even though the dam was built in Black Canyon. Boulder Dam vs. Hoover Dam Boulder Dam became the unofficial name of the dam because of the name of the project. When work on the dam began in 1930 with the completion of the railroad connecting Black Canyon to Las Vegas, Secretary of the Interior Ray Lyman Wilbur officially named the dam after President Hoover. It was clearly a political move, however, and most people in the area continued to call it Boulder Dam. Before the completion of the dam, a new president was in office.

Franklin Roosevelt’s Secretary of the Interior, Harold Ickes, changed the name back to Boulder Dam, a direct affront to Herbert Hoover by the Roosevelt administration. Popular support for the name Boulder Dam was strong. Not only had residents and workers grown accustomed to it, but the name Hoover also had many negative connotations because his administration coincided with the onset of the Depression. This was not the end of the competition between Hoover Dam and Boulder Dam. The name Boulder Dam stuck until 1947 when Harry Truman approved a congressional act to rename it, once again, Hoover Dam. The Dam Today It is not surprising that the name Boulder Dam lives on. The name of the worker’s city is Boulder City and the highway leading from Las Vegas to Boulder City is called Boulder Highway. Former dam workers often refer to it as Boulder Dam and the occasional tourist has been known to say, "I’ve seen Hoover Dam. But where is this Boulder Dam I keep hearing about?" Browse Topics Hoover Dam | Bureau of Reclamation The Story of Hoover Dam - Articles The Grand Dam by Julian Rhinehart When Hoover Dam was built in the 1930s, the great dam was known for its engineering superlatives.

It was the highest dam ever built, the costliest water project, home of the largest power plant of its time. Today, as Hoover celebrates its 60th anniversary, we can see that the dam is not only an engineering wonder. It also is a work of art. Few structures in America display the diversity of design and craftsmanship that you see at Hoover Dam. It is a showcase of seldom-seen skills of artists and artisans--beautifully presented terrazzo tiles, sculpture, metalwork, and even military emplacements. The dam's architectural design varies a great deal from its initial plans. Bureau of Reclamation engineers, more concerned with flood control than appearance, simply wanted to embellish the dam with eagles, cornices, and other ornamentation. The more streamlined look of the completed project was influenced by two men who were not engineers: architect Gordon B. Kaufmann, known for his design of the Los Angeles Times Building, and artist Allen True, whose murals are prominent in the Colorado State Capitol in Denver. Kaufmann was a native of London, England, who lived in Southern California. He had been enlisted to help design the Administration Building in Boulder City, the federal town being built to house dam workers.

After he was asked to comment on the aesthetics of the dam's proposed design, Kaufmann became totally involved in the project. Richard Guy Wilson, architecture professor at the University of Virginia and a student of the dam, notes that the architect apparently was retained to counterbalance the engineers' focus on "functionality rather than aesthetics." Kaufmann simplified the dam's design and replaced ornamentation with the flowing lines of Modernism and Art Deco. The four areas where his influence is most visible are the power plant, dam crest, intake towers, and spillways. He transformed the power plant with color and facades. He blended four protruding towers on the crest into the face of the structure. He smoothed the upper portions of the four intake towers and reworked the two spillways to accent Art Deco elements. "There was never any desire or attempt to create an architectural effect or style," he later explained, "but rather to take each problem and integrate it to the whole in order to secure a system of plain surfaces relieved by shadows here and there." The architect later produced progressively simplified designs for downstream Parker Dam and for Shasta Dam in Northern California. Allen True, the Denver artist, assisted Kaufmann with interior designs and color.

True was responsible for one of the dam's most distinctive motifs--the Southwestern Indian designs in the terrazzo floors. Using such sources as an Acoma bowl and Pima basket, True linked Native American geometric concepts with Art Deco design. Many of the Indian designs were based on centrifugal themes, which related to the turbines in the power plant. True's colors were truly striking. He used black, white, green and dull-red ochre chips in the terrazzo floors to contrast with the black-marble walls. True also specified the red color for the generator shells in the power plant, a sight that still commands visitors' attention. You can see the power plant and terrazzo work during a tour of the dam. Following an elevator descent of 530 feet, you emerge into seemingly endless galleries. There you find gleaming terrazzo floors imbedded with the Southwestern Indian patterns adapted by True from baskets, pottery, and sand paintings. Two Italian immigrant brothers, Joseph and John Martina, installed the terrazzo floors in 1936-37 with the help of 30 countrymen. John served as contractor for the job and worked with Reclamation officials.

Joe, barely able to speak English when they bid on the job, was in charge of laying the floors. The Martina brothers contracted to install the terrazzo for 48 cents per square foot, for a total of only $51,718. Costs today would exceed $20 per square foot. To create the terrazzo, the workers imbedded marble chips in cement, separating them with brass or aluminum divider strips to make a tiled pattern. After the mosaic hardened, they used large finishing machines to polish the surfaces. The result was a lustrous terrazzo. On top of the dam, two "Winged Figures of the Republic" dominate the Nevada approach, They are the work of sculptor Oskar J.W. Hansen, a Norwegian immigrant who was appointed a consulting sculptor by Secretary of the Interior Harold L. Ickes following a national competition. Hansen said the 30-foot bronzed statues represented "that eternal vigilance which is the price of liberty." Perched on six-foot-tall cues of gleaming black diorite, Hansen's figures flank a 142-foot flagpole.

In front of this array he placed a terrazzo star map depicting the celestial alignment from that site on the evening of September 30, 1935, the day President Franklin D. Roosevelt dedicated what was then called Boulder Dam. Hansen also created the nearby bronze plaque memorializing the 96 workers who died during construction of the dam. An inscription proclaims, "They died to make the desert bloom." You can see more of Hansen's work on the two elevator towers. Each displays five bas-reliefs that tell a story. The Arizona tower has a tribute to Native American tribes and their Great Spirit of the ranges and the plains. The five Nevada panels portray the dam's main purposes -- flood control, navigation, irrigation, water storage, and power. Away from the tour route, and off-limits to the public, are two unique forms of craftsmanship that appeared after the dam's completion in 1935. The first is found in the power plant's "gold room," where solid-copper cabinetry surrounds heavy copper bars carrying electricity from generators to transformers.

Fred Johnson, electrical engineer at Hoover Dam, says the name "gold room" probably derived from the bright finishes of the copper cabinets, but rumors persist that the metal has a high gold content. The other curiosity stands above the dam. If you look on the Arizona (eastern) side of Lake Mead, you will see a cubical silhouette. This is a gun emplacement built during World War II. As a major source of electrical power for the defense industry, Hoover Dam was considered a primary military target. Of several bunkers that guarded the dam in wartime, this one is the last survivor. The pillbox, constructed of steel and concrete and veneered with local rock, is 24 feet long and has six gun ports. It was built by a military police battalion soon after the attack on Pearl Harbor, according to Lincoln Clark of Las Vegas. A retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel, Clark was a first lieutenant when stationed at the dam in 1942. He and his fellow soldiers guarded the dam and escorted civilian vehicles across it. One soldier was always inside in the bunker, Clark recalls, and a squad of riflemen was scattered in the rocks 24 hours a day.

Thus the soldiers demonstrated the "eternal vigilance" that Oskar Hansen sought to portray in his handsome winged figures, seen by all who cross the dam. Hansen, an intensely creative sculptor, showed his sense of humor one day at the dam. While he was working on the sculptures, a woman asked him how he began such an endeavor. "Madam," Hansen replied, "when you peel an orange, do you begin by sticking your thumb into its center?" He meant that a sculptor must take all parts of a work into consideration before "peeling" away the unused material. Today we can admire the way Hansen and other artists and craftsmen peeled away Hoover Dam to create a structure of beauty as well as utility. Last Updated: 3/13/15 Building Boulder City . Hoover Dam . WGBH American Experience | PBS Other General Articles For citizens shaken by the tumultuous effects of the Great Depression , the Hoover Dam project provided two essentials that were in short supply: work and housing. At the project’s start, those who were lucky enough to be hired on as laborers were forced to hunker down, families and all, in a dry and barren spot called Ragtown.

Ila Clements-Davey, the daughter of a dam worker, recalls the place: “There was just nothing. There was no facility. Nothing. There was nothing green around here. Everything was baked, hot, and brown.” By 1932, however, dam workers’ living conditions improved as Boulder City, located on a broad ridge above Hemenway Wash, neared completion. Boulder City was essentially a government reservation, constructed under the jurisdiction of the Reclamation Service. It had large dormitories for single men, and one-, two-, and three-room cottages for families. An enormous mess hall served 6000 meals a day. Every week, 12 tons of fruit and vegetables were shipped in along with five tons of meat and two-and-a-half tons of eggs. For $1.50 a day, a man received three square, all-you-can-eat meals. As the construction project wore on, Boulder City expanded. Its landscape was said to have changed so rapidly that it was common for a man to come home after his shift and walk into the wrong house. Despite providing the valued comforts of shelter and sustenance, there was no mistaking Boulder City for anything less than a fortified camp.

The security gate at its entrance, erected during a period of labor unrest in 1931, was there to remind all who entered that there were rules to be followed. Banned was any hint of the gambling, drinking, or prostitution that flourished down the highway in Las Vegas. Overseeing the operation of this model town was a 69-year-old former newspaper editor and Justice Department employee named Sims Ely. Ely possessed all legal, moral, and judicial power in Boulder City. He was both known and feared as an “iron-fisted gentleman.” Boulder City resident Mary Ann Merrill remembered Ely as “a hard man.” “I guess he was fair in a lot of ways, but he had his own ideas and he put them into practice. And you had to go by his rules. He thought of it as his town,” Merrill went on to say. While Boulder City provided plenty of order, it lacked any formal education system or adequate health care. The U.S. government provided no funds to set up schools within the town, and the small amount of money donated by Six Companies was only enough to set up makeshift schoolhouses.

Six Companies did underwrite a hospital, which opened in 1932, but it provided care only for dam workers. Their spouses and children were left to fend for themselves. Such exclusion was not unheard of in Boulder City. Despite the emergence of an interdependent civic life, complete with a library and church, Boulder City’s sense of community excluded minorities . African American, Native American, and Hispanic dam workers were not allowed to live within the gates of this makeshift desert oasis. Men Who Built Hoover Dam | Ragtown | Facts Men, Women & Children of Hoover Dam Lest We Never Forget After almost 70 years, Hoover Dam is still considered an engineering wonder. It rose from the almost impossible to a resounding success that dramatically enhanced the quality of life for millions and millions upon millions more in future lifetimes. The unharnessed power of the Colorado River became mastered. Much needed water was funneled to fertile but arid lands. Agricultural production suddenly blossomed and will flourish for infinite generations. Hydroelectric power is an economical source that will supply ample demands for lifetimes. And a scenic by-product of Hoover Dam is Lake Mead a water-lovers spectacle that is enjoyed by millions every year.

But the real story behind Hoover Dam is the thousands who built it and the families that endured the living hell to bring it all to realty. In particular those that died on the job or resulting from the harsh conditions. Construction of Hoover Dam would not begin until April of 1931, but men and families began drifting into Las Vegas (30 miles from the dam site) in early 1929 in hopes of dam construction employment. After the Stock Market Crash of 1929 and the Great Depression, an avalanche of unemployed poured in for a limited number of Hoover Dam construction jobs.. Many came with life’s possessions, wives, children and little to no money. In those days, Las Vegas was a small desert outpost and not nearly prepared for the thousands of “new residents” that had no choice but to live in squalid, tightly compacted tent cities. Dam construction was months away. There was no guarantee of employment, but many had nowhere else to go and those that did had no money to get there. Through the benevolence of many citizens of Las Vegas that provided food, care and clothing, the migrants managed to survive very tough conditions.

Prompted by the Depression and mounting stress on future dam workers and the town of Las Vegas, the government pushed the construction to begin six months early. Although the federal government had begun planning for housing and human welfare infrastructure, the quickened construction schedule left no time for barracks or housing to be built. Living conditions compared to Las Vegas would become worse for many workers. Since most people equated being close to the dam site with the success of getting a job, most decided to live at the job site. Some who had transportation stayed in Las Vegas to make the daily commute through 30 miles of the dusty and bumpy Boulder road. The infamous community of “Ragtown” on the floor of Black Canyon next to the Colorado River was born. The makeshift shantytown consisted of tents, cardboard boxes, tin scraps and anything else that could serve as shelter against the scalding heat of summer and freezing nights of winter. Ragtown swelled to 1400 people and ballooned to 5,000 men, women and children. The first summer of 1931 in Ragtown was beyond harsh, it was devastating.

With average July temperatures of 116 degrees and approaching 130 degrees on the floor of Black Canyon combined with swirling dust and no natural shade, over 25 men, women and children died in that first June-July period of heat conditions. Although clouded with sediment, the ever flowing water from the Colorado River was sufficient for bathing. The women would drape wet cloth over baby cradles to cool them. Fresh milk was no option and canned food was the only way to avoid spoilage. A man by the name of Murl Emery and his family provided compassionate relief. They opened a store in Ragtown for dam workers and families with food and supplies trucked from Las Vegas. With low hourly labor rates of 50 cents an hour, Murl Emery permitted Ragtown residents to pay what they could afford. Credit was issued on the honor system and only one person ever failed to pay his debt. That was because the customer had died. With no help from the government or the contracted dam building firm, it was Murl Emery and family that provided some relief in form of food and tangible needs. Times were tough and harsh on everyone, but especially on the blacks.

In the 1930s racism and segregation was rampant and the attitude of the Six Companies, Inc. who had been awarded the building contract of Hoover Dam was no exception. Many blacks came to Las Vegas and Black Canyon with hopes of finding dam building jobs and most were turned away because of racism. The federal government mandated that Six Companies, Inc. hire more black workers but made only a token effort by hiring less than 30 blacks. They were given only the demeaning jobs such as debris cleanup and other labor functions undesired by white workers. To compound the difficulty facing the black workers, they weren’t permitted to live in Ragtown and had to commute daily from Las Vegas. Six Companies, Inc. also had employment practices that expressly restricted the hiring of “chinamen”. In spite of an abundance of Native Americans in the region just a few were ever hired. All of them were given the most dangerous of jobs, which was “high scaling” dangling precariously on the canyon walls while clearing obstructions for the eventual joining of dam ends to those canyon cliffs. However, they were paid a higher hourly rate versus general laborers and were permitted to live in Ragtown and eventually in Boulder that became a town for dam workers.

The federal government had already begun plans to build a dam workers town on federal land above and close by Black Canyon where Hoover Dam would stand. They pushed forward to quickly achieve workers relief with barracks, housing, stores and general public welfare with churches and schools for the children. That town which became Boulder City, Nevada was completed in 1932. Boulder City thrives today as a quiet town that overlooks Lake Mead and rides high above Hoover Dam. Some that worked in those horrid conditions of Ragtown still reside in Boulder City and many of the “Ragtown Children” are actively involved in the community that provides some of the most rewarding quality of life in America. Photos compliments of: When the Hoover Dam was built, this worker had the dirtiest job - LA Times When the Hoover Dam was built, this worker had the dirtiest job Steve Liguori John M. Glionna / Los Angeles Times During the building of Hoover Dam, workers' latrines were cleaned by a one-man sanitation crew who went by the nickname Alabam. Sculptor Steven Liguori memorialized him in bronze.

During the building of Hoover Dam, workers' latrines were cleaned by a one-man sanitation crew who went by the nickname Alabam. Sculptor Steven Liguori memorialized him in bronze. (John M. Glionna / Los Angeles Times) John M. Glionna He cleaned latrines for the Hoover Dam's builders. Now he's immortalized in bronze Nobody could recall his real name. Instead, he was known simply as Alabam, probably a riff off his Southern roots. But they all knew him, the old man who played a gritty and all-but-thankless role in the Depression-era building of Hoover Dam. Alabam cleaned latrines. As far as historians can tell, he was a one-man sanitation crew for the 7,000 workers who labored to shore up a rock-walled canyon and build what was then almost unthinkable — a dam that would eventually provide water to a swath of Western states. Probably in his 70s back then, Alabam is long gone. But he's far from forgotten.

On the main drag of this tiny community of 15,000 residents, not far from the shores of Lake Mead, he stands in an immortal pose, 8 feet tall with his wide-brimmed sun hat, long-sticked broom slung over his shoulder — all in bronze, right down to the garland of spare toilet paper rolls around his neck. Alabam's is one of several statues erected around this former federal company town to memorialize Hoover Dam workers and their families. The work crews included "high-scalers" who hung suspended from flimsy guide ropes; "powder-monkeys," named for the dynamite they planted; cable operators who kept the concrete buckets moving around the clock; not to mention the wives and children who set up camp not far away, making a life out of what was then a bleak desert wilderness. Here was a simple sanitation engineer ... even when temperatures hit 120 degrees, he climbed inside those tin latrine boxes. Now he's the unofficial greeter to the entire town. — Sculptor Steven Liguori But there out front, the first of the statues to greet visitors on their way into Boulder City's old town area, stands Alabam.

"Here was a simple sanitation engineer whose job was so bad — even when temperatures hit 120 degrees, he climbed inside those tin latrine boxes," said Steven Liguori, the Las Vegas sculptor who created the piece. "Now he's the unofficial greeter to the entire town. What an incredible thing." The statues are part of what Nevada State Museum Director Dennis McBride calls "an amazing public arts program" for a community that decided to honor its mammoth past. "It's something that any town can do," he said, "but most don't." The project started a decade ago when officials allocated $75,000 a year for five years to promote the role of the city and its residents in erecting the dam. How can you question the spirit of a guy, as old as he was, coming to the Hoover Dam project seeking work? In those times they were looking for young, virile men, not old-timers. — Nevada State Museum Director Dennis McBride "Most tourists spend a short period of time here," said former City Manager Vicki Mayes. "We wanted a way to help them feel the city's unique character." The place is indeed unique: Gambling is outlawed here.

Because it was settled as a federal camp for dam workers, officials wanted to avoid the addictive side of gambling. When the city incorporated in 1959, the ban continued. McBride, a historian who has written on Boulder City and Hoover Dam, joined a committee to pick character types to memorialize. His first thought was Alabam. While he was doing oral histories for a book, stories of the old worker surfaced again and again. "Everybody remembered the old guy in his 70s," he said. "Maybe the tales were apocryphal, but people retold them. Like the time someone saw Alabam fishing inside a latrine with a stick. He explained he was trying to get his jacket. When told it would probably be ruined, he supposedly said he didn't care about the jacket, but his lunch was in the pocket." McBride suggested that Alabam's statue should be the first work commissioned. "How can you question the spirit of a guy, as old as he was, coming to the Hoover Dam project seeking work? In those times they were looking for young, virile men, not old-timers," he said.

"Out of all the characters that deserved to be remembered, he was the one most people I spoke to had a soft spot for." Liguori, who had already done a series of bronzes of Hoover Dam workers, one of which is on permanent display there, got the job. He took a 1930s photograph of the old sanitation man, the only one known to exist, and went to work. The project took him two weeks. Just after dawn on a recent day, as the morning sun reflected off Alabam's face, the 52-year-old Liguori addressed the statue like a friend. He described how he scrounged some old copper cable left over from building the dam to mix with the bronze, to make Alabam really part of his old haunts, and they part of him. Over several days, Liguori asked his 14-year-old daughter, Cristina, to pose for him in a pair of overalls, so he could perfect the crease and heavy hang of the work pants. "Here was a sculpture of a sanitation worker being created in a bathroom," he said.

When the dedication ceremony took place in 2007, Liguori added another flourish: tissue rolls with the worker's image and history. He called it "original Alabam toilet paper." A plaque distinguishes workers like the toilet paper man from the planners and engineers who took credit for the dam. "There were muckers who shoveled mud out of the tunnels, truck drivers who hauled rock up and down the river or, like the man you see here, those who swept the outhouses and kept them well supplied with paper. Alabam." The project includes bronze statues by other sculptors. One shows a worker with his boots off, sandwich in hand, looking up at a workmate, telling a story. There's the figure of two children on a tricycle, and the wife of a worker holding her hat against a stiff wind. Money for the project ran out in 2008 and another entity, the Boulder City Public Art Scape, has added more modern statues around town. Still, Liguori is proud his creation adds to the legacy of so many dam workers here. "One hundred years from now, people won't remember these figures," he said.

"We need to capture them now and record their contributions." Nowadays, each time he drives past Alabam, the sculptor smiles. "He played such a simple role in building the dam, a guy who was happy about doing it," he said. "It doesn't get more down-to-earth than that." Hoover Dam - Facts & Summary - HISTORY.com Google At the turn of the 20th century, farmers sought to divert the Colorado River to budding Southwestern communities via a series of canals. When the Colorado broke through the canals in 1905, creating the inland Salton Sea, the job of controlling the raging river fell to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. Bureau director Arthur Powell Davis in 1922 outlined a plan before Congress for a multipurpose dam in Black Canyon, located on the Arizona- Nevada border. Named the Boulder Canyon project, after the original proposed site, the dam would not only control flooding and irrigation, it would generate and sell hydroelectric power to recoup its costs.

Still, the proposed $165 price tag concerned some lawmakers, while representatives of six of the seven states in the river drainage area—Colorado, Wyoming , Utah , New Mexico , Arizona and Nevada —worried that the water would primarily go to California . Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover brokered the 1922 Colorado River Compact to divide the water proportionally among the seven states, but the legal wrangling continued until outgoing President Calvin Coolidge authorized the Boulder Canyon Project in December 1928. In honor of the new president’s contributions, Secretary of the Interior Ray L. Wilbur announced the structure would be called Hoover Dam at a 1930 dedication ceremony, though the name didn’t become official until 1947. As the Great Depression unfolded, hopeful laborers descended on Las Vegas and set up camp in the surrounding desert for the chance to work on the project. Those who were hired eventually moved to Boulder City, a community specifically built six miles from the work site to house its employees. Meanwhile, the U.S. government set about finding a contractor to build the proposed 60-story arch dam.

The contract was awarded in March 1931 to Six Companies, a group of construction firms that had pooled its resources to meet the steep $5 million performance bond. The first difficult step of construction involved blasting the canyon walls to create four diversion tunnels for the water. Facing strict time deadlines, workers toiled in 140-degree tunnels choked with carbon monoxide and dust, conditions that prompted a six-day strike in August 1931. When two of the tunnels were complete, the excavated rock was used to form a temporary coffer dam that successfully rechanneled the river’s path in November 1932. The second step of involved the clearing of the walls that would contain the dam. Suspended from heights of up to 800 feet above the canyon floor, high scalers wielded 44-pound jackhammers and metal poles to knock loose material, a treacherous task that resulted in casualties from falling workers, equipment and rocks. Meanwhile, the dried riverbed allowed for construction to begin on the powerplant, four intake towers and the dam itself.

Cement was mixed onsite and hoisted across the canyon on one of five 20-ton cableways, a fresh bucket capable of reaching the crews below every 78 seconds. Offsetting the heat generated by cooling concrete, nearly 600 miles of pipe loops were embedded to circulate water through the poured blocks, with workers continually spraying the concrete to keep it moist. As the dam rose, block by block, from the canyon floor, the visual renderings of architect Gordon Kaufmann took form. Electing to emphasize the imposing mass of the structure, Kaufmann kept the smooth, curved face free of adornment. The powerplant was given a futuristic touch with horizontal aluminum fins for windows, while its interior was designed to pay homage to Native American cultures. With the body of water that would become Lake Mead already beginning to swell behind the dam, the final block of concrete was poured and topped off at 726 feet above the canyon floor in 1935. On September 30, a crowd of 20,000 people watched President Franklin Roosevelt commemorate the magnificent structure’s completion.

Approximately 5 million barrels of cement and 45 million pounds of reinforcement steel had gone into what was then the tallest dam in the world, its 6.6 million tons of concrete enough to pave a road from San Francisco to New York City. Altogether, some 21,000 workers contributed to its construction. Hoover Dam fulfilled the goal of disseminating the one-wild Colorado River through the parched Southwest landscape, fueling the development of such major cities as Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Phoenix. Capable of irrigating 2 million acres, its 17 turbines generate enough electricity to power 1.3 million homes. The dam was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1985 and one of America’s Seven Modern Civil Engineering Wonders in 1994. It receives some 7 million visitors annually, while Lake Mead, the world’s largest reservoir, hosts another 10 million as a popular recreation area. Tags Building Hoover Dam: A wonder of engineering Building Hoover Dam: A wonder of engineering Updated 6:33 AM ET, Thu September 17, 2015 Chat with us in Facebook Messenger.

Find out what's happening in the world as it unfolds. Photos: Building Hoover Dam: A wonder of engineering Eighty years ago this month, President Franklin D. Roosevelt dedicated the massive Hoover Dam, a marvel of modern engineering when it was completed in a remote, unforgiving desert during the Great Depression. By harnessing the mighty Colorado River, the concrete structure on the Arizona-Nevada border provided electricity to the Southwest, helped irrigate 2 million acres and fueled the development of Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Phoenix. Here's a look at the dam and its construction. Hide Caption 1 of 11 Photos: Building Hoover Dam: A wonder of engineering This image shows Black Canyon on the Colorado River before work started. During construction, the water was diverted around the dam site through four 50 feet in diameter tunnels, drilled through the canyon walls on each side of the river. Damming of the river created Lake Mead, now a popular recreation spot for boaters. Hide Caption 2 of 11 Photos: Building Hoover Dam: A wonder of engineering A man stands inside part of one of the dam's enormous turbines. Construction of the dam took less than five years and was completed in 1936.

The American Society of Civil Engineers named Hoover Dam one of "Seven Modern Civil Engineering Wonders" in 1955, along with such landmarks as the Empire State Building and the Panama Canal. Hide Caption 3 of 11 Photos: Building Hoover Dam: A wonder of engineering The dam was built in vertical columns of blocks that varied in size from about 60 feet square at the upstream face of the dam to about 25 feet square at the downstream face. An estimated 215 blocks make up the dam. Adjacent columns were locked together, like a giant Lego set, by a system of keys. Hide Caption 4 of 11 Photos: Building Hoover Dam: A wonder of engineering A Union Pacific Railroad train, carrying sections of the dam's steel gates, pulls out of Los Angeles en route to the dam site. Each gate section weighed about 36 tons, and when an entire gate was assembled it weighed 2,880 tons. Hide Caption 5 of 11 Photos: Building Hoover Dam: A wonder of engineering Workers in 1932 construct a retaining wall to support the road leading over the top of the dam.

Before the dam could be built, the government had to create a town, Boulder City, to house construction workers; build a seven-mile paved highway from Boulder City to the dam site; and construct 33 miles of railroad from the Union Pacific main line in Las Vegas. Hide Caption 6 of 11 Photos: Building Hoover Dam: A wonder of engineering When Hoover Dam was finished, it was the tallest dam in the world at 726 feet, although that record has since been eclipsed. The dam weighs more than 6.6 million tons and contains enough concrete to build a two-lane road from Seattle to Miami. Hide Caption 7 of 11 Photos: Building Hoover Dam: A wonder of engineering In its planning stages the dam was known as Boulder Dam after its original location, Boulder Canyon. But at a ceremony in 1930, Secretary of the Interior Ray Wilbur called it Hoover Dam, citing a tradition of naming dams after U.S. presidents. Many Americans used both names interchangeably until 1947, when Congress passed legislation officially restoring the name to Hoover Dam. Hide Caption 8 of 11 Photos: Building Hoover Dam: A wonder of engineering President Franklin D.

Roosevelt views the dam for the first time at its dedication on September 30, 1935. At left is Walker Young, who was in charge of the project for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. At right is a military aide to the president. Hide Caption 9 of 11 Photos: Building Hoover Dam: A wonder of engineering Workers rappel down a rock face during construction, which was often hazardous. A total of 21,000 men worked on the dam. Of those, 96 died at the dam site from falls, drowning, blasting, falling rocks, being struck by heavy equipment, truck accidents and other causes, according to the Bureau of Reclamation. Hide Caption Hoover Dam Encyclopedia > Places > United States, Canada, and Greenland > U.S. Physical Geography Hoover Dam Hoover Dam, 726 ft (221 m) high and 1,244 ft (379 m) long, on the Colorado River between Nev. and Ariz.; one of the world's largest dams. Built between 1931 and 1936 by the U.S.

Bureau of Reclamation, the dam is named for President Herbert Hoover ; from 1933 to 1947 it was known as Boulder Dam. A key unit on the Colorado , the dam is a major supplier of hydroelectric power and provides for flood control, river regulation, and improved navigation. Hoover Dam impounds Lake Mead , the largest reservoir in the United States; water is used to irrigate more than 650,000 acres (263,000 hectares) in S California and Arizona, and c.400,000 acres (162,000 hectares) in Mexico. The nearby O'Callaghan-Tillman Memorial Bridge (2010), with the longest concrete arch, 1,079 ft (329 m), in the United States, crosses the river below the dam. Hoover Dam is part of Lake Mead National Recreation Area (see National Parks and Monuments , table). Boulder City , Nev., was built to house workers on the project. See J. E. Stevens, Hoover Dam (1988). The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed.

Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. Hoover Dam | Bureau of Reclamation Frequently Asked Questions and Answers The Dam Where is Hoover Dam? In Black Canyon spanning the Colorado River between Arizona and Nevada, about 30 miles southeast of Las Vegas, Nevada. How tall is Hoover Dam? It is 726.4 feet from foundation rock to the roadway on the crest of the dam. The towers and ornaments on the parapet rise 40 feet above the crest. How much does Hoover Dam weigh? More than 6,600,000 tons. What type of dam is Hoover? A concrete arch-gravity type, in which the water load is carried by both gravity action and horizontal arch action. What is the maximum water pressure at the base of the dam? 45,000 pounds per square foot. How much concrete is in the dam? Three and one-quarter million cubic yards. There are 4,360,000 cubic yards of concrete in the dam, powerplant and appurtenant works.

This much concrete would build a monument 100 feet square and 2-1/2 miles high; would rise higher than the 1,250-foot-tall Empire State Building if placed on an ordinary city block; or would pave a standard highway 16 feet wide, from San Francisco to New York City. The first concrete for the dam was placed on June 6, 1933, and the last on May 29, 1935. Approximately 160,000 cubic yards of concrete were placed in the dam per month. Peak placements were 10,462 cubic yards in one day (including some concrete placed in the intake towers and powerplant), and slightly over 275,000 cubic yards in one month. How much cement was required? More than 5,000,000 barrels. The daily demand during construction of the dam was from 7,500 to 10,800 barrels. Reclamation had used only 5,862,000 barrels in its 27 years of construction activity preceding June 30, 1932.

How was chemical heat caused by setting concrete in the dam dissipated? By embedding more than 582 miles of 1-inch steel pipe in the concrete and circulating ice water through it from a refrigeration plant could produce 1,000 tons of ice in 24 hours. Cooling was completed in March 1935. What was an unusual feature of Hoover Dam's construction? The dam was built in vertical columns of blocks that varied in size from about 60 feet square at the upstream face of the dam to about 25 feet square at the downstream face. An estimated 215 blocks make up the dam. Adjacent columns were locked together by a system of vertical keys on the radial joints and horizontal keys on the circumferential joints (think "giant Lego set"). Concrete placement in any one block was limited to five feet in 72 hours. After the concrete was cooled, a cement and water mixture called grout was forced into the spaces created between the columns by the contraction of the cooled concrete to form a monolithic (one-piece) structure. What were the principal items of work?

More than 5,500,000 cubic yards of material were excavated, and another 1,000,000 cubic yards of earth and rock fill placed. By feature, this included: Excavation: for the diversion tunnels, 1,500,000 cubic yards; for the foundation of the dam, powerplant, and cofferdams 1,760,000 cubic yards; for the spillways and inclined tunnels, 750,000 cubic yards; for the valve houses and intake towers, 410,000 cubic yards; earth and rock fill for the cofferdams, 1,000,000 cubic yards. In addition, 4,400,000 cubic yards of concrete were placed, 410,000 linear feet of grout and drainage holes were drilled, and 422,000 cubic feet of grout were placed under pressure. What were the quantities of principal materials used in the dam?

The principal materials, all of which were purchased by the federal government, were: reinforcement steel, 45,000,000 pounds; gates and valves, 21,670,000 pounds; plate steel and outlet pipes, 88,000,000 pounds; pipe and fittings, 6,700,000 pounds or 840 miles; structural steel, 18,000,000 pounds; miscellaneous metal work 5,300,000 pounds. What are the geologic conditions at the dam site? The foundation and abutments are rock of volcanic origin geologically called "andesite breccia." The rock is hard and very durable. What were the excavation depths from the river's low-water surface to foundation rock? In the upstream cutoff trench, it was 139 feet. The remaining excavation depths average 110 to 130 feet. How long did it take to build the dam, powerplant, and appurtenant works? Five years.

The contractors were allowed seven years from April 20, 1931, but concrete placement in the dam was completed May 29, 1935, and all features were completed by March 1, 1936. How many men were employed during the dam's construction? A total of 21,000 men worked on the dam with an average of 3,500 and a maximum of 5,218 daily, which occurred in June 1934. The average monthly payroll was $500,000. What construction work was necessary before operations started at the dam site? Construction of Boulder City to house both government and contractor employees; construction of seven miles of 22-foot-wide, asphalt-surfaced highway from Boulder City to the dam site; construction of 22.7 miles of standard-gauge railroad from the Union Pacific main line in Las Vegas to Boulder City and an additional 10 miles from Boulder City to the dam site; and construction of a 222-mile-long power transmission line from San Bernardino, California, to the dam site to supply energy for construction. Workers' Strike at Hoover Dam . Hoover Dam .

WGBH American Experience | PBS Other General Articles Even under the best of conditions, dam building was tough, dangerous work. Those working on the construction of Hoover Dam had to contend with other factors that made their work more risky and trying. One was the searing, relentless heat. The temperature at the work site would routinely soar to above 120 degrees during the summer and plummet to well below freezing in the winter. An added pressure felt by the workers was the insistence of supervisors and managers to finish the job in record time. Millions of dollars were at stake. Six Companies , the outfit building the dam, had agreed to a rigid government deadline—two and a half years to divert the river or face steep fines for every day they ran late. In the rush to meet their deadline, Six Companies often sacrificed safety for speed. Working seven days a week, dam workers were exposed to all manner of dangers: carbon monoxide poisoning, dehydration, heat prostration, and electrocution from carelessly placed electrical lines. To top it off, workers knew they had little leverage to lobby for changes. With a quarter of the nation’s work force idle, the workers at Hoover Dam knew they were expendable.

Frank Anderson, a professional organizer for the radical labor union, the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), had been dispatched to Las Vegas to recruit members and stir up demands for better working conditions and higher pay. Workers regarded Anderson and the IWW with suspicion and contempt. They knew any affiliation with a labor group could result in their having no job to complain about. Meanwhile, Six Companies, along with officials in Las Vegas and elements within the Reclamation Service, made concerted efforts to discredit and drive out the IWW. Frank Anderson was jailed on trumped up vagrancy charges. Workers reached a breakpoint during the summer of 1931, however. On August 7, Six Companies reassigned a number of diversion tunnel workers to lower paying jobs. Within hours, the entire work force went out on strike. Six Companies contended that only 30 muckers, unskilled laborers who loaded broken rocks into trucks, would be affected by the pay reduction. Workers decided that the time was ripe, not just to protest the pay cut, but to list their grievances and issue demands.

Among them: that clean water and flush toilets be provided, that ice water be readily available to workers, and that Six Companies obey all mining laws issued by the States of Nevada and Arizona. Significantly, the striking mine workers also voted to disassociate themselves from the IWW. Upon reviewing the workers’ demands, job supervisor Frank Crowe echoed the feelings of his bosses in rejecting every one of them. The strikers made a last-ditch appeal to the U.S. Secretary of Labor, William Doak, to intervene on their behalf. He refused. Knowing they were beaten, and worried they might not get their jobs back, the strikers voted to return to the dam site. Six Companies stood by its pay cut, but pledged it would be the last. Additionally, efforts were made to improve work conditions as additional lighting and water were made available, and construction of living quarters in Boulder City was sped up.

Question: What is the name of the city that was built to house workers on the Hoover Dam?
Answer: Boulder City