Hoover Dam Facts

The public of the surrounding cities welcomed the construction of Hoover Dam at Black Canyon in Nevada due to the possible economic development. Las Vegas, the project headquarters’ was even ready to sacrifice its reputation as ‘party city’. Hoover Dam facts report that they even shut down its brothels and speakeasies when the Secretary of the Interior came for inspection.

As per Hoover Dam facts, a plan to create a new community to house the 5000 labourers was proposed. The community, known as ‘Boulder City’, was created which is in existence till today. But there was a delay in its development which forced many early workers to reside in the nearby city of Ragtown.

The Bureau of Reclamation provided 3.25 million cubic yards of concrete for the dam and another 1.11 million cubic yards for the power plant and other facilities. According to Hoover Dam facts, this total amount of concrete used is enough to build 3000 miles of road from one end of the US to the other end.

The concrete poured over the Hoover Dam would have required 125 years to cool on its own. Hence, an engineering team designed a huge refrigerating machine that distributed 1000 tons of ice every day. Hoover Dam facts suggest that this sped up the cooling process thus cutting decades off the project’s timeline.

The construction of Hoover Dam started in April 1931 while the summer of Nevada reached its peak in June. That year’s summer was intense and witnessed record breaking temperatures with an average daily high of 48.333°C. This triggered a wave of heatstroke amongst the workers.

Despite the scorching temperatures, the high scalers performed various stunts that attracted spectators from across the country. Hoover Dam facts state that viewers were fond of Louis Fagan and nicknamed him as ‘The Human Pendulum’ and ‘One-Rope Fagan’ as other workers used him as a swing to move to the next spot.

A high scaler named Oliver Cowan risked his life to save the engineer Burl R. Rutledge who fell from the safety line at the top of the canyon. One of the lesser known Hoover dam facts is that Cowan was lobbied for Carnegie Medal to recognise his bravery.

The workers were unhappy about their living conditions in Ragtown and hence formed a community to express their demands. But the project’s chief engineer Francis Trenholm Crowe was unsympathetic and wanted to have the workforce replaced. As per Hoover dam history facts, he called the labourers as malcontents on print news which made the workers return to work

In 1930, Wilbur, the Secretary of the Interior declared the name of the dam to be Hoover Dam during the official opening. He named the dam after his superior who commenced the project. But Wilbur’s successor, Harold L. Ickes, switched the dam’s name to Boulder Dam during its construction phase.

According to Hoover dam facts, President Franklin D. Roosevelt was not fond of his predecessor Hoover. He did not invite him for the opening ceremony and declined to give Hoover the expected nod during his speech.

One of the appalling Hoover Dam facts is that this world-famous dam spent 14 years without owning an official name. On April 30, 1947 President Harry S. Truman signed a law according to which the dam was publicly named as the Hoover Dam.

Hoover Dam is 720 feet tall and when it was completed in 1936, it was announced as the world’s tallest dam. After owning the title for two decades, it lost its stature to the 820-feet tall Mauvoisin Dam of Switzerland in 1957. As per Hoover Dam history facts, the dam is presently one among the twenty tallest dams in the arch and concrete categories