Hoover Dam Information and Facts

The Hoover Dam was originally called Boulder Dam. It wasn't until President Truman signed into resolution naming the Boulder Dam the Hoover Dam in 1947 that the dam became well-known for the name it holds today. The dam project employed over 20,000 men before it was completed, which spanned over five years and was dedicated by President Roosevelt on September 30, 1935.

Statistics of Hoover Dam

The dam is 726.4 feet high and 1,244 feet wide. At the base of the Hoover Dam, it is 660 feet thick and at the top, it is 45 feet thick. The amount of concrete used to construct the dam was 4.4 million yards. The total cost of the project was $165 million. The power generated by the dam is used to supply 56% of the power to California, 25% of the power to Nevada and 19% of the power to Arizona. The dam can produce over four billion kilowatt hours in one year.

Colorado River

The construction of the Hoover Dam meant that the Colorado River needed to be diverted and the sediment and silt had to be removed. After the removal of the sediment and silt, the bedrock foundation was revealed. The diversion of the river included digging tunnels through the walls of the cannon so that the river would flow through and meet the Colorado River that was farther downstream. Because there were no roads, all of the equipment was brought on boats until catwalks and roads were built.

Curing the Concrete

It could have taken up to 100 years to cure the concrete used to build Hoover Dam, but engineers used one inch steel pipes inserted inside the concrete blocks and ran ice water through the pipes to cure the concrete quickly. There was over 582 miles of pipe used.

Interesting Facts

Workers were paid 50 cents an hour on the low side and on the high side workers received $1.25 an hour. Instead of hard hats, the workers used cloth hats coated with coal tar. Some of the workers that scaled the walls of the canyon to place dynamite and drill holes with jackhammers were acrobats in a circus.

Top Three Reasons to Build the Dam

The Hoover Dam construction was warranted to stop flooding and conserve water in the desert regions. The third reason for the construction was to generate power. In 1939, the seven generators were placed by the dam. After World War II, four more generators were installed. As the need for energy sources grew, more turbines were installed to make the number of turbines at 17. All 17 turbines were replaced from 1986 to 1993 in an upgrading process.