The Hoover Dam

Interesting place to be

Hoover Dam

The Hoover dam is extremely interesting in many ways. The first Construction began in 1931 and was finished in 1936. This was two years ahead of schedule. The second Construction began in 2005 and the officials cut the ribbon in October 2010. The Hoover dam incorporates 30,000 cubic yards of concrete and sixteen million pounds of steel in it. Two 330-foot towers suspended each end of the 2,500-foot cableway. The bridge was the first concrete-steel arch composite bridge built in the United States.

First, the total length of the concrete bridge is 1,905 feet. The Hoover Dam is the second-highest bridge in the United States and the highest concrete-arch bridge anywhere. Hoover Dam was the most expensive engineering project in U.S. history at the time of its construction between 1931 and 1935, costing $49 million. Hoover Dam rises 726 feet and is 1200 feet wide at its crest and is 880 feet over the Colorado river. The base of the dam is 660 feet thick, and it took 91.8 billion cubic feet of concrete to create a retaining wall that weights an estimated 6.6 million tons.

Next, the people who worked on the very thick bridge were different and interesting. Before the bridge, travelers between Arizona and Nevada on U.S. Route 93 crossed the Colorado River on the dam itself. Some people committed suicide by jumping off of the Hoover dam during the day while they were working. Over 100 people died in the construction of the Hoover Dam. It took more than 10,000 people to build the dam. The project met its $240-million budget, $114 million of the money was spent on the bridge itself. All of this work was back breaking work for Everyman.

The Hoover dam was built for many things but took many years of backbreaking work. The power plant began service on September 12, 1936. Enough to provide the power needs for over a million people living in the Southwestern United States. A secondary purpose of Hoover Dam has therefore been to provide a boon to tourism in the areas by creating a large site for outdoor recreation. The purpose of a dam is to contain the flow of water, and they are often used to help provide power. Other reasons for dams include minimizing the risk of flood, irrigation, providing water for cities and towns, and also for creating recreational areas.

Finally, Hoover dam has brought life throughout its interesting history. It has let people travel over the big river under neath the dam. The length of the bridge will probably never change. People used to have to use a boat to get to the other side of the big gulf/river. The bridge has helped with irrigration.The people that worked on the bridge were different and will always be remembered. If these lovely people who built the bridge didn't build it then what would one have to do to get over the gulf/river easily?


"Hoover Dam." Web. 2 Dec. 2014.

MacRae, Michael. "Hoover Dam: Top 10 Engineering Facts." 17 Aug. 2013. Web. 14 Nov. 2014.

Veronese, Keith. "Who Is Buried in the Hoover Dam." 3 Mar. 2012. Web. 2 Nov. 2014.