The Hoover Dam, built over sixty years ago, still stands today as one of the world's most outstanding engineering achievements. It has successfully tamed the wild Colorado River by spanning from the Nevada wall to the Arizona wall. As soon as approval was given to begin work on the Boulder Canyon project, people across America knew that completion of the Hoover Dam would be a milestone in construction history. The Hoover Dam has greatly influenced the construction industry today. Innovative ideas were required for construction at the Boulder Canyon project; from a small city being built for workers, to the way multiple contractors managed the project. Construction of the Hoover Dam set new standards for the building world in numerous ways, so it is no wonder why it is still considered an amazing achievement.
             Construction of the Hoover Dam was the first step in controlling the powerful Colorado River. Before the Hoover Dam, the river would flood every spring and dry up in the fall (Doherty, 1995). The only way to maintain the river's level would be to build a dam greater than any built prior in history, so in 1930, that is what congress and senate planned to do. At the time of the dam's completion in 1935, Hoover Dam was the largest dam in the world at an impressive height of 726.4 feet. It is 660 feet thick at its base and 45 feet thick at its top. The top of the concrete, thick-arch dam spans a length of 1,244 feet and the whole dam weighs approximately 6.6 million tons. Building the actual dam took four and a half years and during that time, 112 people were killed during investigation and construction phases.
             In 1930, after many years of petitioning by the congress and the senate, the Secretary of the Interior announced a dam to be built in Black Canyon. After approval was given to build the dam, the serious problem as to who was going to actually construct the dam had to be solved.
             A contract ...