Hoover Dam spans the Colorado River in Black Canyon among Arizona and Nevada, a few 30 miles southeast of Las Vegas Nevada. From its source in the Rocky Mountains of north-central Colorado, the powerful Colorado River travels southwest additional than 1,400 miles to the Gulf of California, combination with other water sources (including the Green River and the Little Colorado River) and carving out the majestic Grand Canyon along its way.
Beginning in the late 19th century, effort was made to harness the natural power of the Colorado in order to provide irrigation and allow for resolution in the dry Southwest. In 1905, huge flooding caused by melting snow from high in the Rocky Mountains broke during the existing canals built just a few years earlier, totally immerse nearby farms. By the early 1920s, it had become obvious that the Colorado would need to be forbidden in order to prevent springtime flooding and channel the water where it was needed for irrigation, as well as present hydroelectric power for people living in the region.
Arthur Powell Davis, head of the U.S. Bureau of recovery (the federal agency given accountability for irrigation in the West) drew up plans for a determined dam-building project in 1922. Black Canyon was chosen out of two possible locations for the dam; the other was Boulder Canyon, and for some cause the planners sustained to call the project Boulder Dam.
By the time structure of Boulder Dam began in 1930, thousands of potential workers had flooded the province, many of whom had lost their jobs during first years of the Great despair. A total of 21,000 men worked on edifice the dam over the course of its construction (around 5,000 at any one time) and the region's growing populace turned Las Vegas from a drowsy town to a bustling city.
Some 12,000 people are present at the ceremony on September 30, 1935, when leader Franklin D. Roosevelt enthusiastic Boulder Dam. (Twelve years later, the dam would be renamed for Hoover in honor of his efforts on behalf of the project.) At 726 feet (221 m) high–twice the tallness of the Statue of Liberty–and 1,244 feet (379 m) long, the dam consider more than 6.6 million tons.
