In the early 21st century, almost a million visitors a year still come to see the great dam on the Colorado River. 1. "Glen Canyon Dam was built in the 1950s, at the tail end of this building spree," Lustgarten explains. Hoover Dam, located where the Colorado River forms the boundary between the states of Nevada and Arizona, is listed in the National Register of Historic Places and is designated as a National Historic Landmark. State laws prohibited using them in enclosed spaces like tunnels for health and safety reasons, but Six Companies used the jumbos anyway. How do you think the engineers decided where to locate the features shown here? The massive structure took 5 years to build, between 1931 and 1936; the thousands of laborers . Bureau of Reclamation. You will go about 20 mph. Before you can safely anchor a dam on em, it will be necessary to scale off this unstable face. Ask them to look up the construction dates for the other Colorado River dams shown on Map 1, as well as the purpose/benefits for which they were built. . Topics: This lesson could be used in American history, social studies, government, and civics courses in units on the Great Depression and the New Deal, American political history, or the history of technology. It protects southern California and Arizona from the disastrous floods for which the Colorado had been famous. 3. We bent nature to suit our own needs, said Brad Udall, a climate and water expert at Colorado State University. Your dam will be sealed tighter than a drumand wedged between the canyon walls. Standard F - The student identifies and explains the roles of formal and informal political actors in influencing and shaping public policy and decision-making. 1942, 18; Historical New York Times Database, accessed 9/20/2011. Do you think the safety equipment would have kept the men from falling? The U.S. Reclamation Service, renamed the Bureau of Reclamation in 1923, was created to design and build these systems. In 1924, Reclamation reported that 143,000 people lived on the agency's 24 irrigation projects and that farm earnings for that year totaled $70 million. Initially the agency built some relatively small dams on the rivers tributaries. The river, and dam, made the west; now the climate crisis threatens to break it. Know That Visiting The Hoover Dam Is Free The Hoover Dam is free to visit. 1 By this time, they were among the most knowledgeable and experienced dam builders in the world, but even they had never done anything this big. The tour began at the Hoover Dam Police Department in the Security Command Center, where the security staff monitors the various security, access control, and communications systems on a 24/7 basis. ScalingAfter standing out in the weather so long, canyon walls become soft and decayed on the surface. How does that change if the level of the reservoir is getting too high? In the dry months of the year it shrank to a trickling stream. It was the highest dam in the world when it was completed in 1935. However, it took six more years before Congress passed the Boulder Canyon Project Act. This PBS production provides materials for teachers, in addition to a history of the dam and some of the people involved in its creation. In the early 21st century, almost a million people still come to visit the huge dam every year. How would their list compare with the original "Seven Wonders of the World" and with Corporal Ward's "Seven Wonders of the United States? Theme VII: Production, Distribution, and Consumption. Guiding us was Peter Gregson, regional security officer for Reclamation's Lower Colorado Region. Standard J - observes and speculates about social and economic effects of environmental changes and crises resulting from phenomena such as floods, storms, and drought. 3. Sitting on the border between Nevada and Arizona, Hoover Dam is over 700 feet tall and its base is as thick as two football fields. How many of your classrooms would it take to hold 1.5 million cubic yards? Activity 2: "Seven Wonders of the United States" By this time, Franklin D. Roosevelt, a Democrat, had been elected president. Times have also changed at the world's most famous hydroelectric power plant. They paid for all supplies and inspected the contractors work. It once was the Earth's tallest dam. Standard G - The student describes and analyzes the role of technology in communications, transportation, information-processing, weapons development, and other areas as it contributes to or helps resolve conflicts. Many of the men seeking work brought their families with them. We inspect all "closed" vehicles, large trucks, buses and RVs 100 percent of the time. Why or why not? Download the official NPS app before your next visit. The power plants provide electricity to Los Angeles, Phoenix, Las Vegas, and San Diego. In 1938, a New York publisher put out an illustrated cartoon guide for tourists visiting Hoover Dam, then known as Boulder Dam. Each block was five feet high. When in flood the river was a threatening torrent. Finally, ask them to consider which job they themselves would like best. Standard B - The student analyzes group and institutional influences on people, events, and elements of culture. The new law laid out four goals for the new dam: prevent floods, improve navigation on the river, store and deliver the Colorados waters, and generate electric power. Structural steel, nuts, boltsand other stuff like that18 million pounds. No one is buried in Hoover Dam. How many of the features mentioned in Reading 2 can you find in this image? We came back up from Laughlin so we could stop at the dam. 5. Built during the Great Depression, Hoover Dam is one of America's great historical landmarks. 4 This completes our engineering course. 4. This year is the second driest on record, with the flow into Lake Mead just a quarter of what would be considered normal. Surveying the dams sloping face from its curved parapet, Michael Bernardo, river operations manager at the US Bureau of Reclamation, admits the scarcity of water is out of bounds with historical norms. This lesson is one in a series that brings the important stories of historic places into classrooms across the country. The river, and dam, made the west; now the climate crisis threatens to break it. Erect a power house below the dam. The cross section in the upper right hand corner is a side view. Drill holes connecting them with two of the tunnels constructed in Lesson 4. No sprawling food bowl of wheat, alfalfa and corn. It provides water to irrigate farm fields. Continue on US 93 for about 5 miles to the turn-off to Nevada State Route 172the Hoover Dam Access Road. Why do you think the construction company was willing to spend the money to build the lookout? It is just another bridge even though the engineering that went into it was amazing. Under Presidential Directive 12, employee and contractor identities and suitability must be confirmed through background checks. Then ask the students to gather information on changes in the volume of water flowing down Colorado River during that period. At the gate are several agents and they can wave you by or pull you over. Hoover dam is the height of a 60-story building and is 45ft thick at the top and 660ft at the bottom. Roosevelts speech was front-page news in newspapers all over the country. The President identified benefits the new dam had already provided. We all want the nice weather but we need those good storms to build everything back up, he said. There are many canyons on the river, some almost as dramatic as the Grand Canyon, located just upstream from Hoover Dam's reservoir. The canals and aqueduct in California receive water from the Colorado. The pace of change has been jarring to the millions of people who regularly boat, fish and swim on the lake, with the National Park Service recently laying down new steel platforms to extend launch ramps that no longer reach the water. We have helped mankind by the works themselves and, at the same time, we have created the necessary purchasing power to throw in the clutch to start the wheels of what we call private industry. Ultimately, they managed to agree on a document, called the Colorado River Compact. Surprisingly, there is much to read/learn about the bridge with many placards to read as you walk towards the span. Pouring the dam.Take cement, rock and sandmix welladd waterpour into canyon. Hoover Dam did, and continues to do, all the things its supporters hoped it would. How much protection do you think it offered against rock falling down from above? To hurry it up, string two or three miles of water pipe around through each five-foot layer of concrete as you pour it. Some states were not happy about the compact; Arizona did not ratify it until 1944. LESSON NO. The west has gone through periods like this megadrought , with only occasional respite, for the past two decades. There are eight generators inside the Nevada . We no longer allow access to the interior of the dam by movie companies. One of the definitions of the word "reclamation" is "the recovery of a wasteland or of flooded land so it can be cultivated." 4. To people who have not taken our engineering course, it seems pretty tough to dry out a river, but actually its a cinch. There is a security check point that causes slow traffic as you are on the road to see the dam. Built during the Great Depression, Hoover Dam is one of America's great historical landmarks. Firearms, Explosives and Fireworks are Prohibited at Hoover Dam per 43 CFR 423.30. The traditional and hard-hat tours were discontinued, and we now have more "top of dam" free tours with limited tour access into the dam itself. In March 1931, Reclamation awarded the contract to build the dam to Six Companies, Inc. Six Companies was a group of some of the largest construction companies in the country. Today marks the official completion and dedication of Boulder Dam. What arguments did he use? Based on the size of the people in the image, how big do you think these shovels were? LESSON NO. (In 1947, Congress unanimously changed the name back to "Hoover Dam.") Why were congressional representatives from the state of California the leading supporters of a big dam on the Colorado? Construction began in 1931. Huge aqueducts carry water from the Colorado to Los Angeles and other cities in Southern California. The following slideshow shows various areas, from the road over the dam to the surrounding buildings and tunnels within the dam itself, as well as the energy-producing machinery and surrounding work spaces, a small representation of the diverse spaces that the Hoover Dam Police Department and security staff protect. Was it? In addition to the 10,000 people who braved 102o heat to hear the speech in person, it was broadcast to a radio audience of millions of people. The amount of concrete used in building it was enough to pave a road stretching from San Francisco to New York City. Throughout our national history we have had a great program of public improvements, and in these past two years all that we have done has been to accelerate that program. We were waved by. There are 582 miles of cooling pipe in the am to control the temperature of the concrete and prevalent cracks. The New Deal was famous for using public works projects to put Americans back to work. In the early 20th century, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation devised plans for a massive dam on the Arizona-Nevada border to tame the Colorado River and provide water and hydroelectric . You can take one of themno one will miss itmaybe. Make them each 56 feet in diameter, then line them with three feet of concrete. Only a huge dam could stand up to the pressure of so much water. Davis Dam. The diversion tunnels were among the longest in the world when they were built. Assorted steam shovels, etc.you'll have to move about 6 million cubic yards of rock and dirt, digging tunnels and whittling out the canyon walls to make room for the dam. Every foot of elevation loss reduces the power potential by 5.7 megawatts. Don't know why this is even listed. In Boulder City, take a left at the second stoplight in town (there are only two of them). I promise I'll get into more details in this travel guide. Herbert Hoover, at that time the secretary of commerce for Republican President Calvin Coolidge, led the discussions. 7 The spillways at Hoover Dam are only used when the water in the reservoir is so high that it would otherwise overflow the top of the dam. (We forgot to say that youll have to string some cables and pulleys across the canyon to let stuff down to bottom. Standard A - The student elaborates mental maps of locales, regions, and the world that demonstrate understanding of relative location, direction, size, and shape. The inspection can result in some traffic/delay in getting there, so account for that in your planning. 2. Which group's contributions do you think he valued the most? Standard B - The student describes the purpose of the government and how its powers are acquired, used, and justified. Reading 2 is abridged from Reg Manning's Cartoon Guide of the Boulder Dam Country (Locust Valley, NY: J.J. Augustin, 1938), pages 10-17. The site is practically a city in itself, with its own police department and other security services. What safety equipment can you find in this picture? 1. Concrete was delivered to each block in buckets, eight cubic yards at a time. The Hoover Dam wasn't built just to be a tourist attraction, naturally. The compact estimated that the rivers annual flow would be 16.5 million acre-feet, allocated 7.5 million acre-feet each to the Upper Basin and the Lower Basin, and set the amount of water each of the states in the Lower Basin would receive. Why do you think the engineers thought they had to keep this from happening? Another change is the modification of tour routes. Standard I - The student explains the relationship between policy statements and action plans used to address issues of public concern. This website features images and other information focusing on the people who built Hoover Dam and who lived in Boulder City.
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