Hoover Dam

The Hoover Dam is a concrete arch-gravity dam in the Black Canyon[?] on the Colorado River, about 48 kilometres (30 miles) southeast of Las Vegas, Nevada, and named after President Herbert Hoover.

Built during the Great Depression from April 20, 1931, to March 1, 1936, at a cost of $165 million, it is 221.4 m high (726.4 ft) and contains 3.64 million m³ (4.36 million yards³) of concrete. The dam was designed to control floods; to store water for irrigation, municipal, and industrial use; and to generate hydroelectric power.

The reservoir created was named Lake Mead[?]. It covers 637 km² (247 square miles), and holds approximately 35,200,000,000 m³ (46,000,000,000 yd³) of water.

The hydroelectric power is generated at the Hoover Powerplant which was completed in 1961. This powerhouse contains seventeen main turbines and generates 2,074 megawatts.

The dam and powerplant are operated by the Bureau of Reclamation[?]. In addition its economic and engineering reknown, Hoover Dam is accounted a masterpiece of Art Deco design.

The naming controversy

The dam had originally been planned for a location in Boulder Canyon to Black Canyon for better impoundment, but was still known as the Boulder Dam project. At the official beginning of the project on September 17, 1930, President Hoover's Secretary of the Interior[?] Ray L. Wilbur[?], announced the name as Hoover Dam. Hoover was already campaigning for re-election in the face of the Depression and sought credit for creating jobs.

Hoover did not win, and on May 8, 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Secretary of the Interior, Harold Ickes[?], renamed the dam Boulder Dam. The intent was to deny Hoover credit, though the dam had been begun in his administration. Finally, on April 30, 1947, President Harry S. Truman signed legislation restoring the name Hoover Dam.

External links

• Hoover Dam's official website (http://www.usbr.gov/lc/hooverdam/)
• Hoover Dam page (http://www.sunsetcities.com/hoover-dam.html)