Hoover Dam United States
This huge dam on the Colorado River provides power to Arizona, California, and Nevada.
Photo by Kate Headley
Built during the Great Depression from 1931 to 1936, Hoover Dam stands 726 ft tall and spans the Colorado River where Nevada meets Arizona. It tamed the river, formed Lake Mead, and brought electricity and water to farms and cities in three states.
More than 5,000 workers, housed in camps and a new town called Boulder City, labored through scorching heat—some topping 120 °F. Their goal was huge: pour over 3.25 million cubic yards of concrete using block-by-block cooling to avoid cracks. The dam held enough concrete to pave a road from San Francisco to New York.
Sadly, more than 100 workers lost their lives during construction. But ahead of schedule, Hoover Dam was dedicated in September 1935 by President Roosevelt. The official name bounced between Boulder Dam and Hoover Dam, finally settling back on the latter in 1947.
It quickly became the world’s tallest dam and largest producer of hydroelectric power until later projects surpassed it . Today it still produces about 2,080 MW—enough to power over a million homes.
Passing across the dam is a thrill. The top is a 45-ft-wide road that once carried US‑93. Since 2010, most traffic uses the bypass bridge downstream.
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