“Remember when Jessica asked if you had worked on the dam?” Laureen said, as we hiked from the furthest parking lot from the Hoover Dam visitor center. “That was funny.”
I smiled. Nope, I didn't recall that question from my daughter, though I do have memories of hanging off the cliffs on a single rope while drilling dynamite holes into the rock face as we began building the Boulder Dam.
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| Not John R Beyer at work, but this is how it was done |
“No,” I replied, “but what was funny was when I dropped the pick hammer and it landed in Joey’s head at the bottom of the canyon. Now, that was funny. Except, Joey did walk and talk a bit differently after that.”
Laureen had arranged for a tour of the Hoover Dam, along with 33 of our closest strangers. She believed it was a total dam tour but as we stood in line with our phones ready to scan at the visitor’s center, we learned it was for the power plant section of the dam only.
“I thought it was for the whole dam,” Laureen said.
“Shouldn’t curse,” I replied.
Hoover Dam is an architectural masterpiece - pure genius, guts, and engineering.
Without going into too much history of why Boulder Dam was built in the first place, there were three major reasons - flood control since the river loved to surprise folks living shoreside with unpredicted floods which wiped out crops and towns, to provide controlled/regulated irrigation for farms which help to feed the population, and produce hydroelectric power for all those people who had moved into California, Arizona, and Nevada.
Seemed the thing to do.
In 1869, John Wesley Powell led a group of adventurers down the raging Colorado River in wooden boats. This river’s path and ferocity was unknown to most people, even the Native Americans who had lived near the flowing water for eons.
Powell managed to make it through the sometimes Class 5 rapids in the Grand Canyon and lived to write about it. He was a strong leader, who had served in the Civil War for the Union side and actually lost half of his arm during the Battle of Shiloh in Tennessee but this did not slow the adventurer down.
It was his final reports after the journey down this magnificent river in the southwest that made folks in the east understand the importance it had to the development of the country. Rich mineral finds, large tracts of vacant lands perfect for farming and grazing, and great weather made the idea of converting this river into a life giving bloodline for pioneers could be crucial for an expanding nation.
And, the pioneers heard the call and moved west.
In 1902, Arthur Powell Davis who worked for the Bureau of Reclamation decided that perhaps a dam should be built, or multiple dams.
It would be 30 years before the construction for such an ambitious project could begin.
Laureen and I wandered along with the tour to visit the power plants that make Hoover Dam so important to millions of people living in the southwest.
Over 7 million guests visit the huge Hoover Dam yearly which borders the states of Nevada and Arizona - there is actually a stamp along the dam where a photo can be snapped showing where a person could stand between both states. I chose Nevada - no personal state income tax.
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| A bridge for vehicles and pedestrians span the Colorado River |
Our guide, Matt, was young and very well versed about the dam and the power plants we were visiting.
“We are now five hundred and thirty-six feet deep into the dam,” Matt said, after we had taken an elevator into the depths of the cement structure.
It was a bit surreal, realizing that on either side of where we were standing there was about a trillion gallons of water pushing against the thick cement walls of the dam.
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| Laureen Beyer deep within Hoover Dam |
“If these walls busted,” I said to Laureen, “we’d be in Mexico in a matter of minutes.”
My lovely wife has a bit of claustrophobia, so I didn’t press the issue.
“Isn’t that weird? We could be at Cabo Wabo within an hour. Margaritas on me,” I continued.
She gripped my hand so tightly that I looked to see if she had changed places with Chuck Norris.
Matt continued with his dialogue about the building of the Hoover Dam and it was awe inspiring.
“We have to remember that the dam was started in nineteen-thirty-one and finished in nineteen-thirty-six, two years earlier than the date promised,” Matt said. “And, this was men working with picks, shovels, drills, dynamite, and sweat. An unbelievable accomplishment, no matter the year.”
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| Drill marks can still be seen near Hoover Dam |
At the time such a construction was thought impossible. A building project as the Boulder Dam (it was later renamed Hoover Dam) had never been done and was the largest manmade endeavor attempted at the time.
But that did not stop the chutzpah of American knowhow.
With the leadership of Chief Engineer Frank Crow starting in 1931, the building of the dam and safety of his crews was most on his mind.
Over 5,000 workers were employed to construct the dam and the pay was not wonderful, generally four dollars per day - of course, those who had more dangerous jobs could earn another dollar. It should be noted though, this was during the Great Depression and lines of men from Las Vegas waited daily for a chance to earn a buck or two for their families.
In the years of the building, less than 100 men died during the construction - any death is a tragedy but for such a mammoth and long term project, it was not unexpected deaths would occur.
“And for those who have heard the rumors,” Matt said. “No one was covered by cement and died. No, the deaths were from men falling off cliffs, blasting accidents, heat exhaustion, drowning, and other causes. Terrible as that is.”
During our tour we learned that the amount of cement used is almost unimaginable. “Over four point three million cubic yards of cement was used,” Matt informed us.
“How much is that?” I asked Laureen, she’s smarter in these matters than me.
She simply rolled her eyes. “A lot.”
Turns out that amount of cement could produce a 16 foot highway from New York City to the city of San Francisco. That is a lot of concrete.
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| South side of Hoover Dam - that's a lot of concrete |
We were hundreds of feet down into the dam, which is over 660 feet wide at the bottom of Boulder Canyon and a narrow 45 feet at the top, where tourists can walk.
“The dam is so wide at the bottom, that twenty percent of the cement is still curing,” Matt told the visitors.
He asked if there were any questions. “How long does the government believe this dam will last,” I asked.
“Good question,” the guide said. “Back in the fifties it was examined and determined it would last one thousand years.”
There was an audible gasp. “But today, we believe it will be closer to four thousand years. Every once in a while core samples are taken from the bottom and studied, that’s how the engineers came up with that last figure.”
In a few minutes we reentered the elevator and traveled upwards about 50 feet to where we were able to view the huge steel turbines stationed within the walls of the dam.
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| Turbines on the Arizona side of Hoover Dam |
“Above us are two cranes needed to lift these turbines,” Matt said. “They are able to lift three hundred tons each.”
Looking across the nearly 650 feet to the other end of the cavernous interior of the dam was amazing. Fork lifts, trucks, and everything needed to keep these turbines which produced ample energy for millions of people looked like toys in comparison to each of the size of the machinery.
There are 17 such turbines in the complex, nine on the Arizona side and eight on the Nevada side. Our guide went into a monologue about the megawatts produced as billions of gallons of water rushed into each turbine spinning its innards like a washing machine - except a whole lot faster.
I was suddenly confused with all the technical talk.
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| Just one of the water pipes within Hoover Dam |
Soon the tour was over and as we walked across the top of the dam, I could only ponder what John Wesley Powell would think about this dam which tamed the mighty Colorado River.
I suspect he would smile.
For more information: Hoover Dam | Bureau of Reclamation (usbr.gov)
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