True Facts About the Hoover Dam
The Hoover dam was completed in 1935. It is located in Nevada on the Colorado River, 30 miles southeast of Las Vegas. The Hoover Dam was built for purposes of flood control, irrigation and generation of electricity. It supplies power to a broad area in Nevada, Arizona and Southern California.
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Dam Statistics
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The Hoover dam stands 727 feet high. It is 1,244 feet long and 660 feet thick at the bottom, narrowing to 45 feet thick at the top. It weighs 5 1/2 million tons. The water in Lake Mead, the lake that was created by the dam, is 500 feet deep next to the dam.
How It Works
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The dam was built in a narrow part of the canyon through which the Colorado flows. By arcing the shape of the dam upstream, the force of the water is transferred from the center toward the sides, where the force is distributed along the banks of the canyons. A spillway is located on each side of the dam. These spillways are used to release water downstream and prevent the dam from overflowing. Turbines inside of the dam are turned by the water passing by and create electricity.
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History
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Hoover Dam is named after President Herbert Hoover, who as Secretary of Commerce pushed to have the dam constructed. When it was completed in 1935 it was the world's largest electrical generating station, as well as the world's largest concrete structure. The project employed a work force of approximately 3,500 people for two to three years.
Unions and the Hoover Dam
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Those in charge of the building of the Hoover Dam became known as being vociferously anti-union. Unions were very strong in the 1930s, and there was a lot of conflict between them and the officials behind the dam project. Workers were fired if they were found doing union organizing. Unions were very critical of the pace of work on the dam, which led to the deaths of nearly 100 workers in construction accidents, according to Andrew J. Dunar in his book, "Building Hoover Dam: An Oral History of the Great Depression."
Environmental Impact
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The Hoover Dam has had an immense environmental impact on the surrounding region. Because both plant and animal species evolved in harmony with the natural flooding of the Colorado River, they have been inversely affected by the lack of flooding downstream from the dam, where flows are now controlled by releases from the dam.
The Hoover Dam Today
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Construction continues on and around the dam today, with the building of a new visitor center and a 2,000-foot-long Hoover Dam bypass bridge, which is approaching completion in 2010 after five years of work.
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References
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- Photo Credit the hoover dam image by Darren White from Fotolia.com
