This is the story of hoover dam. A modern Civil Engineering wonder. Build a dam in the wilderness and the world will beat a path to it. For many centuries, this was a lonely canyon unseen and untouched by man, scorched by a desert sun, scolded by an angry river slashing its way to the sea. Now it lies peaceful and silent except for the gentle hum of a hydroelectric power plant, the bubbling up of water, the cheerful sounds of america and the world on the move who see this pioneer multipurpose Reclamation Project man built. In black canyon. Millions come to this spot to see this engineering wonder, to hear the story of hoover dam. Ladies and gentlemen, we are standing on the powerhouse ramp 566 feet below the top of the dam. This is black canyon where. Nevada and arizona meet on the colorado once flowed uncontrolled. This is where man conquered this mighty river. Placing a concrete yoke about its neck to harness its tremendous water and power resources. The water that flows to the canyo
Walls for each blast. Suspended on ropes, they drilled holes in the rock and loaded them with dynamite. After each explosion these daredevils swarmed over the cliffs, prying loose rock and clearing the walls of debris. In november 1932, the Colorado River was diverted. Under control for the first time in its history, the river flowed around and past the site. Men in trucks dumped earthen rock embankment across the canyon below the openings forcing the river from its age old bed through the huge diversion tubes. A second earth and rock dam was thrown across the tunnel downstream keeping water from backing into the foundation area. Isolated and protected from the river by the two copper dams, the site was pumped dry. Men and machines dug 135 feet below the old river level to reach bedrock for the dams foundation, excavating over 2 million yards of rock and sand. As clean up of the dam site exposed the ancient bed of the Colorado River, geologists read the history of what happened ages ag
Ring 30 feet in diameter and 11 feet long. Two of these rings joined, made up a section weighing 150 to 184 tons. A vertical lathe joined the edges. A train passing through one of the 30foot sections reveals their comparative size. When they were ready to receive the pen stock a specially designed trailer hauled them down to the dam site. At the can yom rim a 150 ton cable way relieved the trailer of its burdens, swung the pipe sections out over the gorge and lowered them under absolute control. Trailers waiting at portals of the access tunnels carried the home their permanent connections inside the main tunnels. The pipe sections were hoisted into location with cables, and joined end to end pressure pins to form continuous conduits between the intake towers, turbines and outlet valves. A continuous stream of concrete had been pouring into the dam forms. The structure near its full height of 726 feet, far above the crest of any other dam yet built by man. On may 29th, 1935, two years a
BULLHEAD CITY — Despite the summer heat, hundreds turned out for the official opening ceremony for the Silver Copper Crossing, the newly installed second bridge connecting Laughlin and Bullhead City.