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| - My friend and I made a day trip to Hoover Dam from Las Vegas on a gorgeous Saturday in February while our wives spent our hard-earned money in Sin City. There are not enough superlatives to describe this 20th century engineering marvel. Almost as impressive was the view of the ongoing construction of a bypass bridge that is being erected about 1500 ft downstream of the dam and that looms high above it.
The Saturday morning traffic was light and we encountered no delays. We parked at the convenient garage located on the Nevada side right next to the visitor center. The price was a bit steep ($7), but if you object to this, other savvy Yelpers have pointed out you can drive across the dam and park on the Arizona side for free. It's obvious that the United States considers the dam a strategic terrorist target and the security around the place reflects that. After we passed through the metal detector, we had the choice of purchasing $11 tickets for the power plant tour or $30 tickets for a longer tour that goes into the dam itself. We opted for the $11 tickets. For most tourists, this should be sufficient.
Before the tour, we were herded into a theater where we watched an old black and white promotional film that spoke about the project in glowing terms and painted Herbert Hoover as some sort of saint. Most of us remember Hoover as the scapegoat for the great depression. What you may not know is that Hoover was the Secretary of Commerce who brokered a water use agreement between the western states that allowed the dam project to move forward. He became President in 1928 and construction activities began in 1931. Before a single gallon of cement was poured, about two years were spent creating infrastructure and roads for this massive project, raising a new town to house workers, and building huge earthen dams and diversion tunnels to keep the Colorado river away from the site. The actual dam construction took about three years and finished two years ahead of schedule. It remains a great testament to American can-do-ism during trying times.
During the power plant tour, you're taken down a long elevator shaft into the bedrock next to the base of the dam. Walking in tunnels toward the power plant, in some places you can see the natural seepage of water into the rock formation brought on by the incredible water pressure being exerted by Lake Mead. You also get to see one of the bypass tunnels that were used to divert water around the dam site during its construction. Our tour guide was well trained and entertaining. We heard an overabundance of "dam" jokes and other shtick, but when asked serious questions, it was obvious he knew what he was talking about. The huge turbine assemblies in the power plant were fascinating to see.
Afterwards we spent about an hour looking at all the exhibits in the visitor center. It is time well spent. The biggest takeaway message for me was that, if we were to start the project today, it would never happen. First of all you'd never get past the environmental impact assessment hurdle. The dam has significantly impacted the development of the Southwest United States and given millions controlled access to water they wouldn't have otherwise, but it's also drastically changed the ecology of the Colorado river. Second of all, back in the thirties in the midst of the depression, the goal was to get the thing going and built regardless of potential safety consequences to the workers. Hundreds died during its construction in ways that would be completely unacceptable today. One thing should be noted: not a single worker was buried in cement since only 6" were poured at a time to help control the cooling of cement during curing.
We also learned that the dam wasn't officially named Hoover Dam until 1947. There is an interesting story here. It was called Boulder Dam because one of the early proposed locations was in Boulder Canyon; however, the dam was actually built in Black Canyon. What they don't tell you at the Visitor Center was that the reason it took so long to name the dam after Hoover was pure partisan politics. FDR and Hoover hated each other. When FDR entered office, he had his Secretary of Commerce, Harold Ickes, remove Hoover's name from the project. It wasn't until FDR died that Congress passed a resolution restoring Hoover's name.
Regardless of what the dam name is, it is really cool to stroll across. We did that next. I was surprised that there weren't any barriers preventing a suicidal idiot from climbing onto the ledge and tumbling over to his or her death until you got to the middle of the span. There are photographic opportunities in abundance to be found during a walk across the dam and back (both on the downstream and Lake Mead sides). It's hard to imagine how immense it is until you're perched on top, looking over the side. WOW!
We spent a total of about three hours at Hoover Dam and it was a major highlight of my Vegas trip.
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