Hoover Dam

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Hoover Dam

The Hoover Dam, built over sixty years ago, still stands today as one of the most outstanding achievements in civil engineering. “Construction on the Hoover Dam began September 30, 1930. The last concrete was poured in 1935 (Facts)”. The Hoover Dam, often called the “Boulder Dam” because the initial location was at Boulder Canyon about ten miles north up river from where it is located now at Black Canyon. The name “Boulder Dam” came from President Calvin Coolidge in 1928. Coolidge signed an act authorizing the boulder Canyon Project. It was named this because the study originally was at the Boulder Canyon on the Colorado River. July 3, 1930, President Herbert Hoover signed the first appropriation bill for the dam. During dedication ceremonies on September 17, 1930, Secretary Ray L. Wilbur announced that the name of the enormous structure was to be Hoover Dam. However, while Franklin Roosevelt elected for President soon after, continued to use the name Boulder Dam. It wasn’t until 1947 that a resolution of Congress made Hoover Dam the official name. The Hoover Dam is located on the Colorado River at the southern tip of Nevada and the Arizona border. The Hoover Dam had successfully tamed the wild Colorado River by spanning from the Nevada wall to the Arizona wall. “Surveyors investigated seventy sites along the entire river's course and settled on Nevada's Boulder and Black Canyons, both offering a potential reservoir of more than thirty million acre-feet (Construction).
The Hoover Dam is as tall as a sixty story building and its base is as thick as two football fields long. This was the tallest dam built at its time when completed in 1935. The dam had to be big, because it needed to hold back the biggest,...

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...Hoover Dam were many years ahead of their time and without them, we wouldn’t have the knowledge that we do today. The Colorado River is known for the scars it has left, but the Hoover Dam has finally tamed the wild Colorado and still will for many years to come.
Work Cited
National Parks Service. National Parks Service, n.d. Web. 12 Dec. 2013.
"Hoover Dam Construction." Online Nevada Encyclopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Dec. 2013
"Hoover Dam Facts & Frequently Asked Questions and Answers - FAQ's." Hoover Dam Facts & Frequently Asked Questions and Answers - FAQ's. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Dec. 2013.
"History and Interesting Facts of Hoover Dam." Brighthub Engineering. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Dec. 2013.
"Water and Power Associates Informing the Public about Critical Water and Energy Issues Facing Los Angeles and California." Water and Power Associates. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Dec. 2013.

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