There were 112 deaths associated with the construction of the dam.^[10][13] There are different accounts as to how many people died while working on the dam and who was the first and last to die. A popular story holds that the first person to die in the construction of Hoover Dam was J. G. Tierney, a surveyor who drowned while looking for an ideal spot for the dam. Coincidentally, his son, Patrick W. Tierney, was the last man to die working on the dam, 13 years to the day later.^[10][13] 96 of the deaths occurred during construction at the site. However, another surveyor died prior while surveying a potential location for the dam and these statistics do not include other incidental and coincidental (heat stroke, heart failure, etc) deaths during construction. ^[10]

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Power plant

The hydroelectric generators at Hoover dam

The seventeen turbine-generators at this powerhouse generate a maximum of 2,074 megawatts of hydroelectric power.

Excavation for the powerhouse was carried out simultaneously with the excavation for the dam foundation and abutments. Excavation for the U-shaped structure located at the downstream toe of the dam was completed in late 1933 with the first concrete placed in November 1933.

Generators at the Dam's Hoover Powerplant began transmission of electricity from the Colorado River to Los Angeles, California 266 miles (428 km) away on October 26, 1936. Additional generating units were added through 1961.

Water flowing from Lake Mead through the gradually-narrowing penstocks to the powerhouse reaches a speed of about 85 miles per hour (137 km/h) by the time it reaches the turbines. The entire flow of the Colorado River passes through the turbines. The spillways are rarely used.

Hydroelectric power plants have the ability to vary the amount of power generated, depending on the demand. Steam turbine power plants are not as easily "throttled" because of the amount of thermodynamic inertia contained in their systems.

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Architectural style

The dam crosses the border between two time zones, the Pacific Time Zone and the Mountain Time Zone

The initial plans for the finished facade of both the dam and the power plant consisted of a simple, unadorned wall of concrete topped with a Gothic-inspired balustrade and a powerhouse that looked like little more than an industrial warehouse. This initial design was criticized by many as being too plain and unremarkable for a project of such immense scale, so Los Angeles-based architect Gordon B. Kaufmann was brought in to redesign the exteriors. Kaufmann greatly streamlined the buildings, and applied an elegant Art Deco style to the entire project, with sculptured turrets rising seamlessly from the dam face and clock faces on the intake towers set for Nevada and Arizona time, in the Pacific and Mountain time zones respectively (although because Arizona does not observe daylight saving time, the two clocks show the same time throughout much of the year).

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Use for road transport

U.S. Highway 93 on Hoover Dam

Hoover Dam serves as a crossing for U.S. Route 93. The two lane section of road approaching the dam is narrow, has several dangerous hairpin turns, and is subject to rock slides.

Additionally, in the wake of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks there are significant security concerns. Because of the attack the Hoover Dam Bypass project was expedited. The Hoover Dam Bypass is scheduled to be completed in 2010 and will divert US 93 traffic 1,500 feet downstream of the dam.^[14] The bypass will include a composite steel and concrete arch bridge, tentatively named the Mike O'Callaghan-Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge.

Traffic across Hoover Dam is now restricted. Some types of vehicles are inspected prior to crossing the dam while semi-trailer trucks, buses carrying luggage, and enclosed-box trucks over 40 feet are not allowed on the bridge at all.^[15] This traffic is diverted south to a Colorado River crossing close to Laughlin, Nevada.

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Power distribution

One of two "Winged Figures of the Republic" by Oskar J.W. Hansen, part of the monument of dedication on the Nevada side of the dam.^[16]

The Bureau of Reclamation reports that the energy generated is allocated as follows:^[17]

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Statistics

Downstream from Hoover Dam, showing the river, power stations, and power lines.

Aerial shot of Lake Mead and Hoover Dam showing the high-water mark of the 1983 flood season along the shore

• Construction period: April 20, 1931 – March 1, 1936
• Construction cost: $49 million ($676 million adjusted for inflation)
• Deaths attributed to construction: 112; 96 of them at the construction site^[10][13][18]
• Dam height: 726.4 ft (221.4 m), second highest dam in the United States. (Only the Oroville Dam is taller)
• Dam length: 1244 ft (379.2 m)
• Dam thickness: 660 ft (200 m) at its base; 45 ft (15 m) thick at its crest.
• Concrete: 4.36 million yd³ (3.33 million m³)
• Electric Power produced by the water turbines: 2,080 megawatts
• Traffic across the dam: 13,000 to 16,000 people each day, according to the Federal Highway Administration
• Lake Mead (full pool)^[19]
  • area: 157,900 acres (639 km²), backing up 110 miles (177 km) behind the dam.
  • volume: 28,537,000 acre feet (35.200 km³) at an elevation of 1,221.4 feet (372.3 m) .
• With 8 to 10 million visitors each year, including visitors to Hoover Dam but not all traffic across the dam, the Lake Mead National Recreation Area is the fifth busiest U.S. national park.

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The naming controversy

The dam, originally planned for a location in Boulder Canyon, was relocated to Black Canyon for better impoundment, but was still known as the Boulder Dam project. Work on the project started on July 7, 1930. At the official beginning of the project on September 17, 1930, President Hoover's Secretary of the Interior Ray L. Wilbur, announced that the new dam on the Colorado River would be named Hoover Dam to honor the then President of the United States. Wilbur followed a long-standing tradition of naming important dams after the President who was in office when they were constructed, such as Wilson Dam and Coolidge Dam. Furthermore, Hoover was already campaigning for re-election in the face of the Depression and sought credit for creating jobs. A Congressional Act of February 14, 1931, made the name "Hoover Dam" official.

In 1932, Hoover lost his bid for reelection to Franklin Delano Roosevelt. In his memoirs, Hoover writes of stopping to inspect progress on the dam, by night, on November 12, 1932 on his way back to Washington from Palo Alto after his defeat. He commented, "It does give me extraordinary pleasure to see the great dream I have so long held taking form in actual reality of stone and cement. It is now ten years since I became chairman of the Colorado River Commission.... This dam is the greatest engineering work of its character ever attempted by the hand of man." He went on to list its purposes, concluding, "I hope to be present at its final completion as a bystander. Even so I shall feel a special personal satisfaction." (Hoover adds a footnote to this, see below.) ^[20]

When Roosevelt took office on March 4, 1933, he brought Harold Ickes with him to replace Ray Lyman Wilbur as Secretary of the Interior. Ickes wasted no time removing Hoover’s name from the Boulder Canyon Project. On May 8, 1933, Ickes issued a memorandum to the Bureau of Reclamation, which was in charge of the dam, stating, "I have your reference to the text for the pamphlet descriptive of the Boulder Canyon Project for use at the Century of Progress Exposition. I would be glad if you will refer to the dam as 'Boulder Dam' in this pamphlet as well as in correspondence and other references to the dam as you may have occasion to make in the future."

This did not happen immediately, but over the following several years all references to "Hoover" Dam in official sources, as well as tourist and other promotional materials, vanished in favor of "Boulder" Dam.

Roosevelt died in 1945 and Harold Ickes retired in 1946. On March 4, 1947 California Republican Congressman Jack Anderson submitted House Resolution 140 to "restore" the name Hoover Dam. Anderson’s resolution passed the House on March 6; a companion resolution passed the Senate on April 23, and on April 30, 1947, President Harry S. Truman signed Public Law 43 which read: "Resolved … that the name of Hoover Dam is hereby restored to the dam on the Colorado River in Black Canyon constructed under the authority of the Boulder Canyon Project Act … . Any law, regulation, document, or record of the United States in which such dam is designated or referred to under the name of Boulder Dam shall be held to refer to such dam under and by the name of Hoover Dam."

Hoover writes this footnote to his comments of November 12, 1932: "Responding to a suggestion from Hiram Johnson, and with his characteristic attitude, Secretary Ickes changed the name of the dam. The hint in the above address that I should like to be present did not secure me an invitation to the dedication ceremonies conducted by President Roosevelt. I have never regarded the name as important. The important thing is a gigantic engineering accomplishment that will bring happiness to millions of people. In 1947, the Congress, by practically unanimous action, restored the name Hoover Dam — to Mr. Ickes intense indignation." ^[21]

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References

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External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Hoover Dam

• Hoover Dam's official website
• Official State of Nevada Tourism Site
• Hoover Dam: Lonely Lands Made Fruitful
• Historic Construction Company Project - Hoover Dam
• Hoover Dam in the Structurae database
• BBC - Hoover Dam, industrial and social history
• Hoover Dam page
• Dams of the Lower Colorado River - Hoover Dam
• Frank Crowe - Builder of Hoover Dam
• "Boulder Dam" – Part I and Parts III and IV, documentary films from the Prelinger Archives at the Internet Archive.
• Construction of diversion tunnel #4 and spillway tunnel which drops sharply to enter diversion tunnel
• Las Vegas and Water in the West The planning and construction of Hoover Dam is the central focus of this digital library. UNLV Special Collections houses the largest collection of primary materials relating to Hoover Dam.
• PBS American experience - Hoover Dam

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