[45], On the morning of the 9th, Crowe met with the committee and told them that management refused their demands, was stopping all work, and was laying off the entire work force, except for a few office workers and carpenters. [40] The site of Hoover Dam endures extremely hot weather, and the summer of 1931 was especially torrid, with the daytime high averaging 119.9 °F (48.8 °C). The 1927 Mississippi flood made Midwestern and Southern congressmen and senators more sympathetic toward the dam project. Built during the Great Depression, between 1931 and 1936, the Hoover Dam—then known as the Boulder Dam—was one of the biggest construction projects of the era. Hansen designed many of the sculptures on and around the dam. [22] The Boulder Canyon Project Act[23] appropriated $165 million for the Hoover Dam along with the downstream Imperial Dam and All-American Canal, a replacement for Beatty's canal entirely on the U.S. side of the border. To put such large bronzes into place without marring the highly polished bronze surface, they were placed on ice and guided into position as the ice melted. Edison allowed land options it held on the river to lapse—including an option for what became the site of Hoover Dam. [25], Even before Congress approved the Boulder Canyon Project, the Bureau of Reclamation was considering what kind of dam should be used. The concrete lining is 3 feet (1 m) thick, reducing the finished tunnel diameter to 50 ft (15 m). The final generator was not placed in service until 1961, bringing the maximum generating capacity to 1,345 megawatts at the time. On this day in 1930, construction of the Hoover Dam begins. In 1922, representatives of seven states met with then-Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover. The Boulder Dam worker of 1953 is a national type of … The Board cautioned: "To avoid such possibilities, the proposed dam should be constructed on conservative if not ultra-conservative lines. [101], Lake Mead and downstream releases from the dam also provide water for both municipal and irrigation uses. Holes were driven into the walls and base of the canyon, as deep as 150 feet (46 m) into the rock, and any cavities encountered were to be filled with grout. It found that the work had been incompletely done, and was based on less than a full understanding of the canyon's geology. Although the dam would take only five years to build, its construction was nearly 30 years in the making. The heavily traveled U.S. Route 93 (US 93) ran along the dam's crest until October 2010, when the Hoover Dam Bypass opened. Shea Company of Portland, Oregon. 127-50 Northern Blvd Flushing, NY 11368 p: 718.446.7000 f: 718.446.6072 The smaller generators were used to serve smaller communities at a time when the output of each generator was dedicated to a single municipality, before the dam's total power output was placed on the grid and made arbitrarily distributable. Fortune Magazine - September 1933 (continued) ARTHUR POWELL DAVIS is the chief unsung hero of Boulder Dam. [6] The dam is located near Boulder City, Nevada, a municipality originally constructed for workers on the construction project, about 30 mi (48 km) southeast of Las Vegas, Nevada. All in all, Hoover Dam stood 725 feet high, is 1244 feet wide, 660 feet thick at the base, tapering to a thickness of 45 feet at the top. [62], The first concrete was poured into the dam on June 6, 1933, 18 months ahead of schedule. His works include the monument of dedication plaza, a plaque to memorialize the workers killed and the bas-reliefs on the elevator towers. [3] The annual generation of Hoover Dam varies. [66], A total of 3,250,000 cubic yards (2,480,000 cubic metres) of concrete was used in the dam before concrete pouring ceased on May 29, 1935. [56], The men who removed this rock were called "high scalers". [118], The changes in water flow and use caused by Hoover Dam's construction and operation have had a large impact on the Colorado River Delta. "[133] Ickes, who was by then a private citizen, opposed the change, stating, "I didn't know Hoover was that small a man to take credit for something he had nothing to do with. [54] Shovels for the excavation came from the Marion Power Shovel Company. This was done by exploding a temporary cofferdam protecting the Arizona tunnels while at the same time dumping rubble into the river until its natural course was blocked. Six Companies, Inc. was a joint venture of construction companies that was formed to build the Hoover Dam on the Colorado River in Nevada and Arizona. The maximum net generation was 10.348 TWh in 1984, and the minimum since 1940 was 2.648 TWh in 1956. [49], Before the dam could be built, the Colorado River needed to be diverted away from the construction site. [59], The cleared, underlying rock foundation of the dam site was reinforced with grout, forming a grout curtain. [119] The construction of the dam has been implicated in causing the decline of this estuarine ecosystem. [73][89] The 30-foot-high (9.1 m) bronze figures, dubbed "Winged Figures of the Republic", were both formed in a continuous pour. Work on the foundation excavations was completed in June 1933. The first death happened in 1922 during one of several geological survey missions along the Colorado River. Las Vegas grew considerably and Six Companies Inc. built Boulder City, Nevada to house the workers. [51] The contract required these tunnels to be completed by October 1, 1933, with a $3,000-per-day fine to be assessed for any delay. From Spanish missionaries to American entrepreneurs, the Colorado had offered a challenge. In total, water from Lake Mead serves 18 million people in Arizona, Nevada and California and supplies the irrigation of over 1,000,000 acres (400,000 ha) of land. Gantry cranes, running on rails through the entire length of each tunnel were used to place the concrete. An enormous concrete arched structure, measuring over 725 feet high and 1,244 feet long, the dam cost 49 million dollars to complete and was responsible for over 100 … Concerned that a violent confrontation was imminent, most workers took their paychecks and left for Las Vegas to await developments. Instead, the ground where the dam would rise was marked with rectangles, and concrete blocks in columns were poured, some as large as 50 ft square (15 m) and 5 feet (1.5 m) high. [91] The powerhouse was one of the projects uncompleted at the time of the formal dedication on September 30, 1935; a crew of 500 men remained to finish it and other structures. Constructed between 1930 and 1936, it is the highest concrete arch dam in the United States. The Colorado River Board found the project feasible, but warned that should the dam fail, every downstream Colorado River community would be destroyed, and that the river might change course and empty into the Salton Sea. Six Companies was not required to complete work on one item, a concrete plug for one of the bypass tunnels, as the tunnel had to be used to take in irrigation water until the powerhouse went into operation. The dam eliminated the natural flooding, threatening many species adapted to the flooding, including both plants and animals. As the required grade of aggregate in the concrete differed depending on placement in the dam (from pea-sized gravel to 9 inches (230 mm) stones), it was vital that the bucket be maneuvered to the proper column. An initial attempt at diverting the river for irrigation purposes occurred in the late 1890s, when land speculator William Beatty built the Alamo Canal just north of the Mexican border; the canal dipped into Mexico before running to a desolate area Beatty named the Imperial Valley. Las Vegas, then a small city of some 5,000, saw between 10,000 and 20,000 unemployed descend on it. It contained 650,000 cubic yards (500,000 m3) of material. Each gate weighs 5,000,000 pounds (2,300 metric tons) and can be operated manually or automatically. During this excavation, approximately 1,500,000 cu yd (1,100,000 m3) of material was removed. The upper cofferdam was 96 ft (29 m) high, and 750 feet (230 m) thick at its base, thicker than the dam itself. The Hoover Dam is one of the most phenomenal structures in modern history. The Hoover Dam: The History and Construction of America’s Most Famous Engineering Project. [44] On August 7, 1931, the company cut wages for all tunnel workers. [54] The cofferdams were designed to protect against the possibility of the river's flooding a site at which two thousand men might be at work, and their specifications were covered in the bid documents in nearly as much detail as the dam itself. Reviewed in the United States on June 11, 2016. Railcars carried the fresh concrete for the dam in 4 by 8 cubic-yard buckets with overhead cableways lowering the concrete to the dam forms. In 1922, after considering it for several years, the Reclamation Service finally rejected the proposal, citing doubts about the unproven technique and questions as to whether it would, in fact, save money. In 1902, the Edison Electric Company of Los Angeles surveyed the river in the hope of building a 40-foot (12 m) rock dam which could generate 10,000 horsepower (7,500 kW). [112] In the wake of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, authorities expressed security concerns and the Hoover Dam Bypass project was expedited. Falling objects were the most common cause of death on the dam site; the high scalers' work thus helped ensure worker safety. At the height of construction, a bucket arrived every 78 seconds. The Service investigated Black Canyon and found it ideal; a railway could be laid from the railhead in Las Vegas to the top of the dam site. [3] The average power generated was 4.2 TWh/year for 1947–2008. Construction of a rail line joining Las Vegas and the dam site began in September 1930. [11], In 1922, the Reclamation Service presented a report calling for the development of a dam on the Colorado River for flood control and electric power generation. The construction site had, even then, become a magnet for tourists; the high scalers were prime attractions and showed off for the watchers. [13] Though the Fall-Davis report called for a dam "at or near Boulder Canyon", the Reclamation Service (which was renamed the Bureau of Reclamation the following year) found that canyon unsuitable. Construction of the dam, powerhouse, and related structures required a total of 4,400,000 cubic yards of concrete, 45,000,000 pounds of reinforcing steel. "[73], Excavation for the powerhouse was carried out simultaneously with the excavation for the dam foundation and abutments. J. G. Tierney was assessing the canyon when he fell into the river … [51] The river was diverted into the two Arizona tunnels on November 13, 1932; the Nevada tunnels were kept in reserve for high water. Instead, Wilbur announced in early 1930 that a model city was to be built in the desert near the dam site. The dam was described in minute detail, covering 100 pages of text and 76 drawings. Living conditions began to improve as the first residents moved into Boulder City in late 1931. [130] Further, he suggested that if the dam were to be named after any one person, it should be for California Senator Hiram Johnson, a lead sponsor of the authorizing legislation. Hoover Dam 75th Anniversary - Photographs, a video, and media coverage of the September 30, 2010 event at the dam. The new arrangement began on October 1, 2017. Its construction echoed that of the Hoover Dam during the Great Depression; like the dam, it became a concrete sign of resilience, rising against the odds of both nature and the economy with what Mr. Stillings calls “Mad Max-ian massiveness.” James Stillings. Although the workers sent the organizers away, not wanting to be associated with the "Wobblies", they formed a committee to represent them with the company. Both times, when inspecting the tunnels after the spillways were used, engineers found major damage to the concrete linings and underlying rock. The Hoover Reservoir was built on Big Walnut Creek in the early 1950s in the Westerville area and spans Franklin and Delaware counties. True's design scheme incorporated motifs of the Navajo and Pueblo tribes of the region. The Hoover Dam was built by a construction company called Six Companies Inc, which was actually a consortium of several commercial construction companies: Morrison-Knudsen Co., Utah Construction Co., J. F. Shea Co., Pacific Bridge Co., MacDonald &Kahn Ltd. and a joint venture of W. A. Bechtel Co., Henry J. Kaiser, … [108] Today, nearly a million people per year take the tours of the dam offered by the Bureau of Reclamation. For the dam to rest on solid rock, it was necessary to remove accumulated erosion soils and other loose materials in the riverbed until sound bedrock was reached. This complex spillway entrance arrangement combined with the approximate 700-foot (210 m) elevation drop from the top of the reservoir to the river below was a difficult engineering problem and posed numerous design challenges. This was done to stabilize the rock, to prevent water from seeping past the dam through the canyon rock, and to limit "uplift"—upward pressure from water seeping under the dam. The buckets were then suspended from aerial cableways which were used to deliver the bucket to a specific column. [117] Visitors can only purchase tickets on-site and have the options of a guided tour of the whole facility or only the power plant area. [109], Water flowing over the spillways falls dramatically into 600-foot-long (180 m), 50-foot-wide (15 m) spillway tunnels before connecting to the outer diversion tunnels, and reentering the main river channel below the dam. It was the highest dam in the world when it was completed in 1935. [38] The company built bunkhouses, attached to the canyon wall, to house 480 single men at what became known as River Camp. The Story of Hoover Dam - Articles. [65], The concrete was delivered in huge steel buckets 7 feet high (2.1 m) and almost 7 feet in diameter; Crowe was awarded two patents for their design. The BCPA merely allows the government to "construct, operate, and maintain a dam and incidental works in the main stream of the Colorado River at Black Canyon or Boulder Canyon".

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