Boulder Dam, Hoover Dam & a Giveaway

Photo by Kuczora, Wikimedia Commons

With Nancy J. Farrier

Hoover Dam Site by Lee, W.T.

By the late 1800’s, the Southwest United States saw a great influx of people. The jump in population resulted in a need for more water resources for irrigation and raising crops. At the same time, the Colorado River, an excellent source of water, proved dangerous and unreliable. If homes and farms were too close to the river, they would be lost during flooding. If they were too far, there wasn’t a good way to transport the water for crops.

1921 Sketch of Site

Early attempts to harness the river proved faulty. William Beatty built a canal on the Colorado just north of the Mexico border. However, a flood breached the canal and caused widespread damage. In the early 1900’s, the Southern Pacific Railroad paid to stabilize the river, hoping the government would reimburse them, but that proved ineffective too.

As early as 1902, talk began of building a hydroelectric dam on the Colorado. Edison Electric Company did a survey, but in the early part of the century the range was too limited for that type of power. Edison’s land options were allowed to lapse, which allowed for the later building of Boulder Dam.

1935 View from AZ side. Wikimedia Commons

One of the problems with building a dam on the Colorado River had to do with the number of States involved. There were seven States in all who would be affected: California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, New Mexico, Colorado and Wyoming. Their initial meeting with Secretary of Commerce, Herbert Hoover, ended with no resolution. However, on November 1922, the seven States signed the Colorado River Compact allowing the project to move forward.

In 1928, President Coolidge signed a bill authorizing the dam. There were still many obstacles ahead. One of those was the cost of building the structure. The companies with experience didn’t have the funds to finance the construction. In the end, six companies went together to win a bid from the government.

High scalers setting explosives

Before construction could begin on the dam, the Colorado River had to be diverted to allow workers access to the area. There were four tunnels dug through the canyon walls, two on the Arizona side and two on the Nevada side. The combined length of the tunnels was nearly three miles. Two of the tunnels were sealed after the dam was completed and the other two became part of the spillway for the dam.

Pouring the concrete for the dam began in 1933. They could not do this as a continuous pour because the concrete would take

Columns being filled with concrete

too long to cool. The concrete would not be as stable and would be liable to crack and crumble under pressure. Instead, they devised a way to do the dam in large sections, but also used refrigerated water piped in to cool the concrete and keep it from cracking.

On September 30, 1935, they had a dedication for Boulder Dam. President Franklin D. Roosevelt was in attendance since he was on a tour of the western states. There was still much controversy about the name of the dam since some wanted to name it after Herbert Hoover. Former President Hoover was not invited to the ceremony though and no mention was made of him. The US Post Office made a three-cent Boulder Dam stamp to commemorate the occasion.

There were 112 deaths attributed to the building of the dam. Three were suicides, but many were accidents on the job site. The first, J. G. Tierney,

Workers on Jumbo Rig

drowned while checking for a site for the dam. The last death was Tierney’s some Patrick, who fell from an intake tower. Some people felt there were more than the 112 deaths. Men died of supposed pneumonia, but may have died from carbon monoxide poisoning from the use of gasoline powered vehicles in the diversion tunnels.

There was much controversy over the name of the dam. Early on, the name Boulder Dam or Boulder Canyon Dam was used even though the location changed to Black Canyon. President Hoover’s name was mentioned because in the early years he was the President, and he had been instrumental in working to get the dam started. However, when he lost the election in 1932, there were those who didn’t want his name on the dam. In 1947 Congress voted to restore the name to Hoover Dam instead of Boulder Dam.

1940 Tour Group

I remember visiting Hoover Dam when I was a young girl. We took the tour of the dam and I was fascinated by the size and by the stories that were told. One of those stories had to do with a worker who fell to his death when they were pouring concrete and was never recovered. The idea horrified me. In my research for this blog, I read on the history.com website that there were no workers lost in the concrete like that. I have to wonder which is true. If you have the chance go to this page and read some interesting facts about the dam.

Have you ever visited Hoover Dam? I remember driving across the dam, although now there is a bridge you drive over because of the increase in traffic. Have you ever been to Lake Mead?  Please leave a comment and your email before midnight July 18, 2017 to be entered in a drawing for my new release, Bandolero.

Nancy J Farrier is an award winning author who lives in Southern California in the Mojave Desert. She loves the Southwest with its interesting historical past. Nancy and her husband have five children and two grandsons. When Nancy isn’t writing, she loves to read, do needlecraft, play with her cats, and spend time with her family. Nancy is represented by Tamela Hancock Murray of The Steve Laube Literary Agency. You can read more about Nancy and her books on her website: nancyjfarrier.com.

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