Hoover Dam

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 com

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A dragline was used to excavate the aggregate and load it into rail cars. Before building the dam, most work was accomplished by hand and animal power. The top of the concrete, thick-arch dam spans a length of 1,244 feet and the whole dam weighs approximately 6. Six Companies had a fast approaching deadline to get the river diverted, and if they missed the deadline, they would have to pay liquidated damages of $3,000 each day past the deadline. This allowed for men to move easily throughout the tunnel and gave them the ability to blast ten to twenty feet of rock at a time. On February 12, the river rose 17 feet and the workers had to be relocated to higher ground.

DIVERSION TUNNELS

Before construction could begin on the actual dam, the Colorado River had to be diverted away from the dam site. As construction went along, engineers realized the need for scaffolding inside the tunnels so drilling and blasting could be done more efficiently.

CONCRETE

The first bucket of concrete was poured at the base of Hoover Dam on June 6, 1933. These hats were not required, but this order was the beginning of hard hats and the requirements that make them mandatory on today’s construction sites. Remaining materials and costs included any temporary structures, equipment, labor and supplies needed to construct the dam. Most of the men who held this position had worked before in a dangerous occupation, since many were sailors or circus performers. Here, the Bureau of Reclamation’s administration building was erected.

Approximate Word count = 2895
Approximate Pages = 12 (250 words per page double spaced)

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