Hoover Dam History- Las Vegas Tours, Hoover Dam History

Hoover Dam History

Hoover Dam was started in 1931, completed in 1935. The Hoover Dam is located between the border of Arizona and Nevada. It is the 35-th largest hydroelectric generating station. It is named after President Herbert Hoover. The dam and the power plant are operated by the Bureau of Reclamation of the U.S. Department of the Interior. Hoover Dam is listed as a National Historic Landmark. Make Mead is the reservoir created behind the dam. Hoover Dam impounds the Colorado River, which creates Lake Mead. The dam is located in the Nevada-Arizona border. It is maintained by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. The Length is 1244ft, Height is 726.4 ft.

Hoover Dam history - early planning.

Herbert Hoover, then secretary of Commerce under President Warren Harding, met with the representatives of Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming to work out an arrangement for apportioning the waters of the Colorado River. The resulting Colorado River Compact, signed on November 24, 1922 divided the waters of the Colorado river into upper and lower half's for the states respective use. In December 1928, both the House and the Senate finally approved the bill and sent it to the President for approval. On December 21, 1928, President Calvin Coolidge signed the bill approving the Boulder Canyon Project. Construction of the dam started in 1930, time in which Hoover was president.

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Hoover Dam, By Any Other Name…

Can you imagine the world famous Hoover Dam being called anything else? Surprisingly, the Hoover Dam was originally and almost officially named Boulder Canyon Dam (or Boulder Dam).
Named for America’s 31st President, Mr. Herbert Hoover, the Hoover Dam was a result of the Boulder Canyon Project Act, which resolved a 25-year old controversy, allocating the waters of the river system between the upper and lower Colorado River Basin.
As President, Herbert Hoover took an active part in settling the engineering problems and location of the dam in Black Canyon. He acquired the power and water contracts to assure the approximate $200,000,000 in revenues needed before construction began, and he settled the difficult and controversial questions involved in the allocation of the dam’s power.
After his Presidency, the name of the dam unofficially reverted to Boulder Canyon Dam, but finally, under the Presidency of Harry S. Truman, Hoover finally received the recognition for his hard work when he signed a resolution on April 30, 1947, restoring the name of the dam to Hoover Dam, in honor of a man, who was an engineer, a conservationist, a fisherman, a humanitarian and a politician.
When you visit the Hoover Dam, you’ll share in Hoover’s wonder and awe at this world wonder. And, just think, this engineering marvel that he helped to create almost didn’t bear his name.

Hoover Dam: Contractors

The hoover dam was constructed by six companies who joined together to form a joint venture for the project. The CEO of the project was Frank Crowe, inventor of many of the techniques which created the dam.

Hoover Dam Information: The Power Plant.

The construction of Hoover dam was done by six companies inc. This company was a joint venture of :

1. Morrison Knedsen,
2. Utah Construction Company,
3. Pacific Bridge Company,
4. Henry J. Kaiser & W. A,
5. MacDonald & Kahn Ltd, and
6. J.F. Shea Company.

The CEO of Six Companies Inc was Frank Crowe, who invented many of the techniques used to build the dam.

Loose rock on the canyon walls needed to be removed before the construction of the Dam began. The arch and gravity type is the name associated with the construction type used to build Hoover Dam. The Gravity and mass of the dam is what resist the load of the water., and the dam pressing against and into the side walls of Black Canyon. Therefore, the two vertical foundations for each of the arch walls (the Nevada side and Arizona side) had to be founded on sound rock.

Hours of Operation:

Note: All times are for the Pacific Time Zone.

Parking Garage: Open 8:00 a.m. -- Close 6:00 p.m. Parking fee: $7.00 (cash only)

Visitor Center: Open 9:00 a.m. -- Close 6:00 p.m. Tickets sold until 5:15 p.m.

Tours: Summer: first tour is at 9:15 a.m.; last tour is at 5:15 p.m.
(NOTE: We are presently operating under the summer hours schedule.)
Winter: first tour is at 9:15 a.m.; last tour is at 4:15 p.m.

The Hoover Dam Visitor Center is open every day of the year except for Thanksgiving and Christmas days.

Hoover Dam information above from hoover dam las vegas tours.

The Dam's Hoover Power plant began transmission of electricity from the Colorado River to Los Angeles, California 266 miles (428 km) away on October 26, 1936. Additional generating units were added through 1961.

Water flowing from Lake Mead through the gradually-narrowing penstocks to the powerhouse reaches a speed of about 85 miles per hour (137 km/h).The spillways are rarely used. The entire flow of the Colorado River passes through the turbines.

Hydroelectric power plants have the ability to vary the amount of power generated, depending on the demand. Steam turbine power plants are not as easily "throttled" because of the amount of thermodynamic inertia contained in their systems.

The initial plans for the look of the dam was considered too plain and unremarkable for such a grand project, so Los Angeles-based architect Gordon B. Kaufmann was brought in to redesign the exteriors. Kaufmann greatly streamlined the buildings, and applied an Art Deco style to the entire project, with sculptured turrets rising from the dam face and clock faces on the intake towers set for Nevada and Arizona time.

The original planned location for the dam was in Boulder Canyon, but it was relocated to Black Canyon for better impoundment.Yet it was still known as the Boulder Dam project. Work on the project started on July 7, 1930. At the official beginning of the project on September 17, 1930, President Hoover's Secretary of the Interior Ray L. Wilbur, announced that the new dam on the Colorado River would be named Hoover Dam to honor the then President of the United States.

Wilbur followed a tradition of naming important dams after the President who was in office when they were constructed, such as:

Theodore Roosevelt Dam
Wilson Dam
Coolidge Dam

Furthermore, Hoover was already campaigning for re-election in the face of the Depression and he sought credit for creating jobs. A Congressional Act of February 14, 1931, made the name "Hoover Dam" official.

Contact hoover dam las vegas tours and we can help you and your party arrange a tour of this monument.