The Hoover Dam
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Hoover Dam Facts: Fast Fact Sheet for kids
Fast, fun facts and Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ's)
about the Hoover Dam
and the Hoover Dam Bridge.
Where is the Hoover Dam ? The Hoover Dam
is located within the Black Canyon on the
Colorado River, in Nevada, 35 miles from Las
Vegas.
When was the Hoover Dam built? The Hoover Dam was
built during the Great Depression.
Construction work began in 1931 and it was
completed in 1936. The exact start date was
April 20, 1931 and the completion date was
March 11, 1936
Why is the Hoover Dam important?
The Hoover Dam is important because of the
many benefits it provided:
●
Irrigation, dependable water supplies
and water storage
●
Colorado River Flood Control
●
The production of Hydroelectric Power
●
The improvement of navigation along the
Colorado River
● A
by-product of the Hoover Dam was the
creation of many recreational facilities
and its role as a tourist attraction
Hoover
Dam
Facts for kids
The following fact
sheet contains interesting facts and information on Hoover Dam
Facts
about the Hoover Dam for kids
Hoover Dam Facts - 1:
The Boulder Canyon
Project Act was approved on December 21, 1928. It was
described as an Act to provide for the construction of
works for the protection and development of the Colorado
River Basin and other purposes
Hoover Dam Facts -
2: U.S. Congress
agreed to fund the project on July 7, 1930. This was in
the midst of the
Great Depression when 25% of Americans
were unemployed.
Hoover Dam Facts -
3: The contract to construct the dam was
awarded to a consortium of Six Companies, Inc.,
Hoover Dam Facts - 4:
The planned location was at Boulder
Canyon. However, geologists then determined that Black
Canyon, about 8 miles downstream, was a more suitable
place to build the dam.
Hoover Dam Facts - 5:
Work began on the 'Hoover Dam' in
1931 under the instruction of President Herbert Hoover
and then handed over to Hoover's successor, Franklin D.
Roosevelt, in 1936. President Hoover was blamed for many
of the disastrous effects of the Great Depression and
the feat of engineering was immediately referred to as
the 'Boulder Dam'. It was not until 1947, long after the
animosity had ended that it was renamed the Hoover Dam.
Hoover Dam Facts -
6: What type of dam is is it? The Hoover
Dam is a concrete
arch-gravity type, in which the water load is carried by
both gravity action and horizontal arch action.
Hoover Dam Facts - 7:
Over 21,000
unemployed men found work building the Hoover Dam together with
the construction of a town, called Boulder City, to house 15,000 workers.
Hoover Dam Facts - 8:
Many of the
unemployed, poverty stricken and homeless construction
men brought their wives and children with them to the
Hoover Dam construction site. Houses
had not yet built and, like so many others during the
Great Recession, they were forced to live in tents or
makeshift lean-tos. Their camp was nicknamed 'Rag Town'.
There was no sanitation and their shelters were
inadequate for the extreme weather conditions. The
picture shows a typical lean-to that refugees from the
Dust Bowl lived in.
Hoover Dam Facts -
9: Hoover Dam Deaths: The construction
work on the Hoover Dam took its toll and 96 men were killed in on-site
industrial accidents. Others died from the heat or
carbon monoxide poisoning incurred whilst working. As
many as 100 other people, including wives and children,
of the workers, died from heat, polluted water or
disease.
Hoover Dam Facts -
10: Hoover Dam was the most expensive
engineering project in U.S. history at the time of its
construction. The project was completed two years
ahead of schedule and cost less than the original budget
of $49 million.
Hoover Dam Facts -
11: The construction
of the Hoover Dam virtually ended the possibility of
destructive floods striking the region. Prior to
construction of the project communities along the lower
Colorado River were often devastated by terrible floods.
The unpredictable and rampant flows of the Colorado
river made it difficult to maintain a sustainable and
prosperous community.
Hoover Dam Facts -
12: Impact and Benefits: The Hoover Dam
provided many benefits to the surrounding areas:
● The Colorado River was
controlled and regulated for the first time in
history
● Farmers in Nevada, Arizona,
and California received a dependable supply of water
and irrigation creating improved agricultural land
● Irrigated lands supply large
amounts of produce for America's markets
● Water is supplied to than 16
million people in the arid desert of the southwest
● It provided for flood control
of the Colorado River
● Cities such as Los Angeles,
San Diego, and Phoenix were provided by the Hoover
Dam with an
inexpensive source of electricity which improved
industrial development
Hoover Dam Facts - 13:
The building of
Hoover Dam blocked the Colorado River and flooded the
Mojave Desert creating Lake Mead, the largest man-made
reservoir in the United States of America. Lake Mead
provides 550 miles of coastline and is 110 miles long
with a depth of 500 feet. The by-product of the Hoover
Dam the creation of a large site for outdoor recreation,
and a massive boost to tourism in the area. Tourists and
residents come to Lake Mead for boating, swimming,
fishing, camping, picnicking, water skiing and hunting.
Hoover Dam Facts -
14: Before
construction work could even start on the Hoover Dam, the Colorado river
had to be diverted. This difficult a task was achieved
by drilling four huge tunnels through the solid rock
walls and cliff faces of the Black Canyon. The largest
of these tunnels was 3 miles long and had a diameter of
50 feet.
Hoover Dam Facts -
15: More than 8.5
million pounds of dynamite was used to blast the
foundation for the Hoover Dam and 8 miles of tunnels through
the Black Canyon walls.
Hoover Dam Facts -
16: Digging the
foundations was a major factor in ensuring the overall
integrity of the Hoover Dam. The mud and muck at the river
bottom had to be removed. Workers, with the help of
power shovels, sometimes had to dig down over 40 feet
(12 meters) below. They excavated over 382,300 cubic
meters (500,000 cubic yards) of muck and mud in order to
reach the bedrock
Hoover Dam Facts - 17:
Workers called "high scalers" had the
extremely dangerous task of blasting the walls to create
a smooth joining surface for the Hoover Dam.
Hoover Dam Facts -
18: The Hoover Dam was
built in vertical columns or blocks that varied in size
from about 60 feet square at the upstream face to 25
feet square at the downstream face.
Hoover Dam Facts - 19:
Stats and Facts about the Hoover Dam:
● Height: 726.4 feet (221.3
meters)
● Weight: Over 6,600,000 tons
● Crest length: 1244 feet
(379.2 meters)
● Crest width: 45 feet (13.7
meters)
● Base width: 660 feet (201.2
meters)
● Volume of concrete: 4.25
million cubic yards (3.24 million cubic meters)
Hoover Dam Facts -
20: How much cement was required for the
construction of the Hoover Dam? More than 5 million barrels of concrete.
The daily demand for concrete during construction was
from 7,500 to 10,800 barrels per day.
Hoover Dam Facts - 21:
To prevent the concrete from
overheating, then contracting and then crumbling, steel
tubes were inserted and pumped with chilled water from a
specially-built refrigeration plant. The pipes were
later filled with grout and remain part of the
structure of the Hoover Dam.
Hoover Dam Facts -
22: Stats and Facts about the Materials
used in the construction of the Hoover Dam:
● Reinforcement steel:
45,000,000 pounds
● Gates and valves: 21,670,000
pounds
● Plate steel and outlet pipes:
88,000,000 pounds
● Pipe and fittings, 6,700,000
pounds (840 miles)
● Structural steel: 18,000,000
pounds
● Other metal work: 5,300,000
pounds.
Continued...
Facts
about the Hoover Dam for kids
Facts
about the Hoover Dam for kids
The following fact
sheet continues with facts about Hoover Dam for kids.
Facts
about the Hoover Dam
Hoover Dam Facts -
23: The Colorado River
is more than 1,400 miles long and supplies water to Los
Angeles, Phoenix and San Diego. Las Vegas receives
almost all its water from Lake Mead.
Hoover Dam Facts -
24: Lake Mead is
located by Hoover Dam in Boulder City, Nevada. It is on
the Colorado River about 24 mi from the Strip southeast
of Las Vegas, Nevada
Hoover Dam Facts -
25: The lake was named
after Elwood Mead (January 16, 1858 – January 26, 1936),
who was the commissioner of the U.S. Bureau of
Reclamation from 1924 to 1936 during the Boulder Canyon
Project
Hoover Dam Facts -
26: Stats and Facts about Lake Mead:
● Shoreline: 550 miles (885
kilometers)
● Surface Area: 162,916 acres
● Length when full: 110 miles
(177 kilometers)
● Capacity: 27,620,000
acre-feet (34.1 billion cubic meters)
● Maximum depth: 500 feet (152
meters)
Hoover Dam Facts -
27: Hoover Dam is one
of the world's largest producers of hydroelectric power.
The power generated by the powerplant helps to serve the
need of people in California, Arizona and Nevada. The
approximate percentage of power delivered to each state
by the Hoover Damis as follows:
● Nevada: 23.4 %
● Arizona: 19 %
● California:
57.6 %
Hoover Dam Facts -
28: Stats and Facts about the Hoover Dam Powerplant:
● The U-shape powerplant
structure is located at the base of the dam
● Each powerplant wing is 299
feet (nearly 20 stories) above the powerplant
foundation
● There are 10 acres of floor
space the powerplant galleries
● Length (each wing): 650 feet
(198 meters)
● Width (each wing): 55 feet
(16.8 meters)
● Height (each wing): 75 feet
(22.8 meters)
● Commercial generating units:
17 main turbines
● Each of the 17 generators can
supply electricity to 100,000 households
● Number of Station service
units: 2 (to run dam and powerplant)
● Nameplate capacity: 2080
megawatts (including station service)
● Water reaches the turbines
via four pressure penstocks (water pipes) ,
two on each side of the river
● Shutoff gates control water
delivery to the units
● Each of the 30 ft. wide
penstocks can carry enough water in just 1 second to
fill 900 bath tubs
Hoover Dam Facts -
29: The initial design of the
Hoover Dam concentrated on the functionality of the dam rather than
the aesthetics. The dam was therefore initially adorned with eagle
statues with Gothic style inspired railings.
Hoover Dam Facts -
30: Architect Gordon B. Kaufmann
was then appointed to redesign the exteriors. His aim was to create
some elegant designs, in the Art Deco style, for the exterior of the
dam. Gordon B. Kaufmann was responsible for streamlining the
buildings and designing the sculptured turrets tand the clock faces
on the towers which feature the time zones in Arizona and Nevada
(Pacific and Mountain time zones).
Hoover Dam Facts -
31: Gordon B. Kaufmann
then brought in architect Allen Tupper True to design
the floors and the walls. Allen Tupper True based his
designs on original motifs of the Navajo and Pueblo
Native American tribes who had inhabited the region for
so many years. The colors and the images were based on
the characteristic landform of stepped mesas of the
Southwestern landscape together with the Navajo and
Pueblo representations of local wildlife, water, clouds,
lightning and rain.
Hoover Dam Facts -
32: The design themes,
colors and patterns used by Allen Tupper True and Gordon
B. Kaufmann are continued throughout the walkways and
the interior halls
Hoover Dam Facts -
33: American sculptor, Oskar J.W.
Hansen, produced many of the sculptures at the Hoover Dam and the
concrete bas-reliefs found on the elevator towers. The
bas-reliefs shows the multipurpose benefits of Hoover Dam: Flood
control, Navigation, Irrigation, Water storage and Power.
Hoover Dam Facts -
34: The
five bas-reliefs on the Nevada elevator tower shows the multipurpose benefits of Hoover Dam: Flood
control, Navigation, Irrigation, Water storage and Power.
Hoover Dam Facts -
35: The
five bas-reliefs on the Arizona elevator tower depict "the visages
of those Indian tribes who have inhabited mountains and plains from
ages distant."
Hoover Dam Facts -
36: The beautiful terrazzo floor featuring a star map,
or celestial map,
was also designed by Oskar J. W. Hansen. The unique star map,
calculated by astronomers, shows the Northern Hemisphere sky
preserving the accurate date of when President Franklin D. Roosevelt
dedicated the Hoover Dam on September 30, 1935 for future
generations.
Hoover Dam Facts -
37: Hansen's principal work is the
monument of dedication on the Nevada side of the Hoover dam. A
142-foot flagpole rises from a black, polished base that is flanked
by two winged figures. The statues, called the Winged Figures of the
Republic, are 30 feet high. The Winged Figures of the Republic
express "the immutable calm of intellectual resolution, and the
enormous power of trained physical strength, equally enthroned in
placid triumph of scientific accomplishment." The Monument of
Dedication Inscription reads as follows:
Hoover Dam Facts -
38: Another unique aspect of the design
of the Hoover Dam is that all the pipes and machinery
are color-coded.
Hoover Dam Facts -
39: The Memorial plaque on the plaza, dedicated to
the 96 construction workers that lost their lives during the construction project,
was designed by Oskar J.W. Hansen. The inscription on the Hoover Dam
memorial plaque reads as follows:
Hoover Dam Facts -
40: There is also another memorial
to a Black Labrador called 'Mix'. The Labrador was the mascot dog
and favorite pet of the construction workers. Mix was killed in an
accident when he was 10 years old. His grave, which was jack
hammered into the solid rock cliff, is on the Nevada side of the
dam. A plaque above his grave has the following inscription, "On
February 21, 1941, the life of this devoted animal came to an end
when a truck under which he was sleeping rolled over him. The grave
below was completed by workers later that same day."
Hoover Dam Facts -
41: Guided Tours: Guided Tours by
Bureau of Reclamation guides are conducted daily (except Christmas
and Thanksgiving Day). Opening hours are from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
(Pacific Time)
● The visitor center offers interactive
multi-media exhibits and audiovisual presentations
● An overlook on top of the visitor center
provides an awe inspiring view of the Hoover Dam, Lake Mead and
the Black Canyon
Facts
about the Hoover Dam
Facts
about
Hoover Dam for kids
For visitors interested in the history of
this period in American history refer to the following articles:
Hoover Dam for kids - President Herbert Hoover Video
The article on the Hoover Dam provides detailed facts and a summary of one of the important events during his presidential term in office. The following
Herbert Hoover video will
give you additional important facts and dates about the political events experienced by the 31st American President whose presidency spanned from March 4, 1929 to March 4, 1933.
Hoover Dam
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Interesting Facts about Hoover Dam for kids and schools
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Summary of the Hoover Dam in US history
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The Hoover Dam , a major
event in US history
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Herbert Hoover from March 4, 1929 to March 4, 1933
●
Fast, fun facts about the Hoover Dam
●
Foreign & Domestic
policies of President Herbert Hoover
●
Herbert Hoover Presidency and
Hoover Dam for schools,
homework, kids and children
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