Hoover Dam Information for Kids
Hoover Dam is located on the Colorado River between Arizona and Nevada. At 725 feet, it is the tallest concrete dam in the Western Hemisphere. It is a National Historic Landmark and one of the country's largest hydroelectric power facilities: It has 17 generators that produce 4 billion kilowatts of electricity each year.
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How It Was Named
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The dam is named after America's 31st president, Herbert Hoover. He helped settle a 25-year controversy by convincing the region's states to agree on water allocations and conservation. Hoover Dam was declared the official name in 1947 by Congress; the dam was previously known as Boulder Canyon Dam and and Boulder Dam.
Construction and Cost
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Construction began on Hoover Dam in 1930. Even though workers had a difficult time due to the dam's isolated location and harsh working conditions, it was completed in less than five years--ahead of schedule and under budget.
The cost to build the dam was about $165 million. It contains 4.36 million yards of concrete. About 21,000 people worked on the project, with about 3,500 people working at the site each day.
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Why Was it Built?
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Hoover Dam was designed and built to control floods. It was also created to store water for irrigation, municipal and industrial use, and to generate hydroelectric power.
The reservoir created by the dam was named Lake Mead. It covers 247 square miles and holds approximately 46 trillion yards of water.
Interesting Facts
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Hoover Dam weighs more than 6.6 million tons. It is a concrete arch-gravity dam. This means the water load is borne by gravity action and horizontal arch action.
The maximum water pressure at the base of the dam is 45,000 pounds per square foot. There is enough concrete in the dam to cover a highway 16 feet wide from San Francisco to New York City.
Workers embedded more than 582 miles of 1-inch steel pipe in the construction of the dam. The steel pipes circulate water from a refrigeration plant to cool the concrete.
Tour Information
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The visitor center at Hoover Dam is open daily, with the exception of Thanksgiving and Christmas. The hours are from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. The latest you can purchase a ticket to tour the dam is 5 p.m. It costs $30 per person. Children under the age of 8 are not allowed to tour the dam, and it is not accessible to wheelchairs or people on crutches.
Due to heightened security, all vehicles attempting to cross the dam are subject to inspection. Trailers, motor homes and rental trucks will be automatically inspected.
For more information on security and road conditions, call (888) 248-1259.
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References
- Photo Credit Photo by Pamela McCreight:
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