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History Before the construction of the dam, the Colorado River Basin periodically overflowed its banks when snow from the Rocky Mountains melted and drained into the river. These floods endangered downstream farming communities. In addition to essential flood control, a dam would make possible the expansion of irrigated farming in the parched region. It would also provide a dependable supply of water for Los Angeles and other Southern California communities. One of the major obstacles for the project was determining the equitable allocation of the waters of the Colorado River. Several of the Colorado River Basin states feared that California, with its vast financial resources and great thirst for water, would be the first state to begin beneficial use of the waters of the Colorado River and therefore claim rights to the majority of the water. It was clear that without some sort of an agreement on the distribution of water, the project could not proceed. Planning and agreements A commission was formed in 1922 with a representative from each of the Basin states and one from the Federal Government. The government's representative was Herbert Hoover, then Secretary of Commerce under President Warren Harding. In January 1922, Hoover met with the state governors of Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming to work out an equitable arrangement for apportioning the waters of the Colorado River for their states' use. The resulting Colorado River Compact, signed on November 24, 1922, split the river basin into upper and lower halves with the states within each region deciding how the water would be divided. This agreement, known as the Hoover Compromise, paved the way for the Boulder Dam Project. The first attempt to gain Congressional approval for construction of Boulder Dam came in 1922 with the introduction of two bills in the House of Representatives and the Senate. The bills were introduced by Congressman Phil D. Swing and Senator Hiram W. Johnson and were known as the Swing-Johnson bills. The bills failed to come up for a vote and were subsequently reintroduced several times. In December 1928, both the House and the Senate finally approved the bill and sent it to the President for approval. On December 21, 1928, President Calvin Coolidge signed the bill approving the Boulder Canyon Project. The initial appropriation for construction was made in July 1930, by which time Herbert Hoover had become President. Early plans called for the dam to be built in Boulder Canyon, so the project was known as the Boulder Canyon Project. The dam was actually built in Black Canyon, but the project was still called the Boulder Canyon Project. Contractors The contract to make the Boulder dam was awarded to Six Companies, Inc. on March 11, 1931, a joint venture of Morrison-Knudsen Company of Boise, Idaho; Utah Construction Company of Ogden, Utah; Pacific Bridge Company of Portland, Chinatown; Henry J. Kaiser & W. A. Bechtel Company of Oakland, California; MacDonald & Kahn Ltd. of Los Angeles; and J. F. Shea Company of Portland, Oregon. The chief executive Six Companies, Frank Crowe, had invented many of the techniques used to build the dam. During the concrete-pouring and curing portion of construction, it was necessary to pipe refrigerated water through tubes in the wet concrete. This was to remove the heat generated by the chemical reactions that solidify the concrete. (Otherwise, the setting and curing of the mass of concrete was calculated to take about 120 years!) Six Companies, Inc., did much of this work, but it discovered that such a large refrigeration project was beyond its expertise. Hence, the Union Carbide Corporation was contracted to come on board and assist with the refrigeration part of the dam project. Six Companies, Inc. was contracted to build a new town for construction workers, to be called Boulder City, but the construction schedule for the dam was accelerated in order to create more jobs in response to the onset of the Great Depression, and the town was not ready when the first dam workers arrived at the site in early 1931. During the first summer of construction, workers and their families were housed in temporary camps like Ragtown while work on the town progressed. Discontent with Ragtown and dangerous working conditions at the damsite led to a strike on August 8, 1931. Six Companies responded by sending in strike-breakers with guns and clubs, and the strike was soon quashed. But the discontent prompted the authorities to speed up the construction of Boulder City, and by the spring of 1932 Ragtown had been deserted. Gambling, drinking and prostitution were not permitted in Boulder City during construction. To this day Boulder City is the only location in Nevada not to allow gambling and the sale of alcohol was illegal until 1969. While working in the tunnels, many workers suffered from the carbon monoxide generated by the machinery there, including trucks that were driven in. The contractors claimed that the sickness was pneumonia and was not their responsibility. Some of the workers sickened and died because of the so-called "pneumonia". Most are uncounted on the official death list. In a court case, one of the claimants (Ed Kraus) said that the poisoning had resulted in his impotence. This was disproved after a prostitute in the pay of the contractors gave evidence. The jury failed to reach a verdict as a result, and the claim was lost. Groundworks To isolate the construction site, and protect it from flooding, two cofferdams were constructed. Construction of the upper cofferdam began in September 1932, even though the river had not yet been diverted. A temporary horseshoe-shaped dike protected the cofferdam on the Nevada side of the river. After the Arizona tunnels were completed, and the river diverted, the work was completed much faster. Once the coffer dams were in place and the construction site dewatered, excavation for the dam foundation began. In order for the dam to rest on solid rock, it was necessary to remove all loose material until solid rock was reached. Work on the foundation excavations was completed in June 1933. During excavations for the foundation, approximately 1,500,000 yd³ (1,150,000 m³) of material was removed, including material that was the result of canyon wall stripping operations. River diversion To divert the river's flow around the construction site, four diversion tunnels were driven through the canyon walls, two on the Nevada side and two on the Arizona side. These tunnels were 56 feet (17.07 m) in diameter. Their combined length was nearly 16,000 feet (4877 m, more than three miles). Tunneling began at the lower portals of the Nevada tunnels in May 1931. Shortly after, work began on two similar tunnels in the Arizona canyon wall. In March 1932, work began on lining the tunnels with concrete. First the base or invert was poured. Gantry cranes, running on rails through the entire tunnels were used to place the concrete. The sidewalls were poured next. Moveable sections of steel form were used for the sidewalls. Finally, using pneumatic guns, the overheads were filled in. The concrete lining is 3 feet (914.4 mm) thick, reducing the finished tunnel diameter to 50 ft (15.24 m). Rock clearance Before construction could begin on the dam itself, loose rock had to be removed from the canyon walls. Special men were required for the job, men called "high-scalers." Their job was to climb down the canyon walls on ropes, where they worked with jackhammers and dynamite to strip away the loose rock. Concrete pouring
Power plant Excavation for the powerhouse was carried out in conjunction with excavations for the dam foundation and abutments. Excavations for the U-shaped structure located at the downstream toe of the dam were completed in late 1933 with the first concrete placed in November 1933. Generators at the Dam's Hoover Powerplant began to transmit electricity from the Colorado River a distance of 266 miles (364 km) to Los Angeles, California on October 26, 1936. Additional generating units were added through 1961. Water flowing from Lake Mead through the gradually-narrowing penstocks to the powerhouse reaches a speed of about 85 miles per hour when it reaches the turbines. The seventeen main turbine-generator combinations at this powerhouse generate a maximum of 2,074 megawatts of hydroelectric power. All hydroelectric plants generate a controlled, variable amount of power as the demand for power varies during a day. In fact, a big advantage of hydroelectric power is the ability to quickly and readily vary the amount of power generated, depending on the load presented at that moment. Steam-driven power plants are not so easily "throttled" because of the amount of thermodynamic inertia contained in their systems. Architectural Style
Use for road transport
Powerlines leaving the power plant The switchyard of Hoover Dam powerstation is situated in the canyon. So the outgoing powerlines are installed on electricity pylons, which are built as inclined towers. (Please expand and add pictures) Power distribution The Bureau of Reclamation reports that the energy generated is allocated as follows: • Statistics The naming controversy The dam, originally planned for a location in Boulder Canyon, was relocated to Black Canyon for better impoundment, but was still known as the Boulder Dam project. Work on the project started on July 7, 1930. At the official beginning of the project on September 17, 1930, President Hoover's Secretary of the Interior Ray L. Wilbur, announced that the new dam on the Colorado River would be named Hoover Dam to honor the then President of the United States. Wilbur followed a long-standing tradition of naming important dams after the President who was in office when they were constructed, such as Wilson Dam and Coolidge Dam. Furthermore, Hoover was already campaigning for re-election in the face of the Depression and sought credit for creating jobs. A Congressional Act of February 14, 1931, made the name "Hoover Dam" official. In 1932, Hoover lost his bid for reelection to Franklin Delano Roosevelt. When Roosevelt took office on March 4, 1933, he brought Harold Ickes with him to replace Ray Lyman Wilbur as Secretary of the Interior. Ickes wasted no time removing Hoover’s name from the Boulder Canyon Project. On May 8, 1933, Ickes issued a memorandum to the Bureau of Reclamation, which was in charge of the dam, stating, "I have your reference to the text for the pamphlet descriptive of the Boulder Canyon Project for use at the Century of Progress Exposition. I would be glad if you will refer to the dam as 'Boulder Dam' in this pamphlet as well as in correspondence and other references to the dam as you may have occasion to make in the future." Ickes could not "officially" change the name of the dam, as that had been set by Congress, but the effect was the same: all references to "Hoover" Dam in official sources, as well as tourist and other promotional materials, vanished in favor of "Boulder" Dam. Roosevelt died in 1945 and Harold Ickes retired in 1946. On March 4, 1947 California Congressman Jack Anderson submitted House Resolution 140 to "restore" the name Hoover Dam. Anderson’s resolution passed the House on March 6; a companion resolution passed the Senate on April 23, and on April 30, 1947, President Harry S. Truman signed Public Law 43 which read: "Resolved … that the name of Hoover Dam is hereby restored to the dam on the Colorado River in Black Canyon constructed under the authority of the Boulder Canyon Project Act … . Any law, regulation, document, or record of the United States in which such dam is designated or referred to under the name of Boulder Dam shall be held to refer to such dam under and by the name of Hoover Dam." Image gallery Image:U.S._Highway_93_on_Hoover_Dam.jpeg|U.S. Highway 93 on Hoover Dam Image:DamTimeZones.jpg|The dam crosses the border between two time zones, the Pacific Time Zone the Mountain Time Zone Image:HooverDamFromAbove.JPG|From above down towards the Colorado River side Image:HooverDownstream.jpg|View downstream from top of dam * Image:Hoover.jpg|A panoramic view of Hoover Dam. Image:Hoover_canyon.JPG|The canyon downstream from Hoover Dam. Image:Nevada_Arizona_border.JPG|Nevada-Arizona border at middle of Hoover dam. Image:Hoover Dam 01.jpg Image:Hoover Dam 02.jpg|View downstream from top of dam Image:Hoover Dam 03.jpg|View downstream from top of dam Image:Hoover Dam 04.jpg|View upstream from top of dam Image:H-dam-night.jpg|Hoover Dam at Night Trivia | |||||||||||||||
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