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May 29, 1935: Hoover Dam set in concrete

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on May 28, 2008 at 11:00 pm

From Wired Magazine:

Hoover Dam was conceived in the early 1920s as a way of reclaiming California’s flood-prone Imperial Valley, improving water supply to the seven Colorado River-basin states, and generating electric power for Southern California, which was already growing rapidly.

Because the site chosen — on the Colorado River about 30 miles southeast of Las Vegas — was adjacent to Boulder Canyon, the undertaking was christened the Boulder Canyon Dam Project.

It was a formidable project. At the time of its completion, Hoover Dam was the world’s largest concrete structure, a distinction it held until 1942 when the Grand Coulee Dam opened. It was also, at the time, the largest public-works program in U.S. history.

Check out that photo - that is the view of the upstream side of the dam before Lake Mead was there.  You can see more historic photos of Hoover Dam by clicking on the picture.  And you can read the full text of this article from Wired Magazine by clicking here.

May 28, 2008 · Filed Under Water History

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