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Nevada- Hoover Dam and Lake Mead

By: Joy Kenzic

The Hoover Dam is an engineering feat that has not been duplicated in recent years. Straddling the boarder between Arizona and Nevada on the Colorado River, the world famous dam serves as the main source of electrical power, irrigation, and flood control for the entire Southwestern United States. In addition to serving the necessary duties of a dam, the Hoover Dam is also a tremendous tourist destination and draws millions of visitors each year!

The dam was named after President Herbert Hoover, to recognize and honor his unstilted support and zeal in making the project a reality. The 31st President of the United States was however, zealous about the project even before he was President. As Secretary of Commerce, he conceived a plan to tame the Colorado River that would provide people of the states of Arizona, Southern California, Nevada cheap electricity and irrigation. To facilitate this, the Boulder Canyon Project Act was passed in the year 1928.

The Hoover Dam was completed in a record five years; work being started in the year 1930. At the time of its completion, the dam was the largest in the entire world. To expedite the project, engineers developed a technique that cooled and hardened the concrete quickly. In this way, the project time was cut from ten years to five. The cost of the dam was a mere $ 49,000,000 while the Boulder Canyon Project, comprising of Hoover Dam, Imperial Dam, and the American Canal had a cost of $ 165,000,000.

There are a great many legends involving the workers on the dam. Approximately 16,000 workers—both men and women—had their hand in building the structure. Although some deaths did occur, contrary of popular belief, no one is buried inside the walls of the dam.

Hoover Dam's measurements are absolutely astounding, especially for the early 1930s. More than 4,360,000 cubic yards of pure concrete went into its construction, which made the dam the first edifice to contain more masonry than Egypt's Great Pyramids. Now, the dam ranks as the 18th highest dam in the world, standing 726.4 feet tall and measuring 1,244 feet wide at the top of the structure. The dam weighs an estimated 6.6 million tons!

The purpose of Hoover Dam and the entire Boulder Canyon Project was to attempt to take the wild and often destructive Colorado River. The river often breeched its banks and flooded nearby towns, fields, and homes. With the river’s power harnessed, the residents of Southern California, Nevada, and Arizona could be provided with power. The Hoover Dam is capable of producing 2,000 megawatts of electricity by using its 17 generators.

In the process of producing power and irrigation measures for the Southwest, Hoover Dam also created a fantastic body of water, Lake Mead. Lake Mead is a fantastic destination that spreads over a whopping 146,000 acres and attracts flocks of visitors each year. The warm Nevada sunshine on the lake that is situated a few miles from Sin City itself, Las Vegas is an additional attraction.

Those of you interested to visit the Hoover Dam, should first take a behind the scenes tour of the Dam by checking out the visitor's center that is a sea of interactive information about the building and purpose of the dam. For the walk-"a-holics", it is advisable to take your best walking shoes as you would go the very summit of the dam.

Article Source: http://www.article-voip.com

Joy Kenzic is the owner of F Nevada, the web's premier resource for information about Nevada, For more articles on Nevada visit: www.fornevada.com/articles

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