Melis In Wanderland

Today, Hoover Dam is one of the most visited attractions for those visiting Las Vegas in the United States. The Dam is thirty miles away from Las Vegas with two hours ride. If you do not know what Hoover Dam is all about, here are some facts for you!

1. There were three main reasons why the Hoover Dam built. First one was to control the flow of the Colorado River to prevent floods. The second one was to provide water supply to people when it is needed. And the last one was to generate electricity.
2. Arthur Powell Davis, an engineer, was the one who recommended building a giant dam on Boulder Canyon between Nevada and Arizona. The States around the Colorado River could not agree about the water distribution, and the project was postponed for years before it built. The states were Colorado, Arizona, Utah, Califonia, Wyoming, Nevada, and New Mexico.
3. Instead of constructing the dam in the Boulder Canyon, they started to build it in the Black Canyon for better commute and living condition for workers, but the project remained as Boulder Dam project and the dam named as a Boulder Dam.
4. Building the largest dam in the world in the middle of the desert in seven years was a challenge. There were not any big companies to handle the construction of the dam in the U.S., so the six big construction companies came together and built the dam.
5. After the project announced, thousands of people came to Las Vegas to get a job at the site. Families lived in their cars, waited to get a job near the project site.
6. At the beginning of the project, the government planned to build a Boulder city for the dam workers in a year but the stock market crashed, and there weren’t enough funds available. After the construction started, six construction companies built a Boulder city; seven miles away from work. They created everything that a city should have, theaters, entertainment, schools, churches, etc.,  but the federal government had full authority in the town. There were seven thousand residents in the city.
7. Six companies paid their workers’ wages in half cash and half script. The only way to spend script was to shop in the six companies’ stores in the Boulder town.
8. No alcohol and gambling allowed in the city so the city workers would go to Las Vegas.
9. Safety and health condition were not good at the construction site, so the workers went on strike, but they replaced by the new workers.
10. Workers of the Dam paid $5.00 a day for seven days a week.
11. The dam height is 726 feet.
12. Damming of the Colorado River created the largest human-made lake in the world; the Lake Mead locates in one of the driest places on the earth, 30 miles south-east of Las Vegas. The weight of the water filling Lake Mead caused many earthquakes in the Boulder city.
13. Colorado River is the same river that carved the Grand Canyon so when you think about that; you would know that the dam is enormous.
14. Southwest of America is a dry area but after creating the damn; Colorado River sprayed millions of acres farmland cities sprouted, and Las Vegas became the most visited cities in the U.S.
15. Approximately 100,012 people lost their lives during the construction of the dam.
16. President Herbert Hoover, who gave his name to the dam only visited the dam one time in 1932.
17. 1% was African American who got the least desirable positions in the Dam and lived in Boulder City.
18. The Dam completed two years ahead of schedule and under budget.
19. In 1935 President Roosevelt came to see the dam and changed the name of the Dam to its original, which was a Boulder Dam.
20. In 1947,  the name changed back to Hoover Dam again by the Congress.
21. Hoover Dam changed the direction of the river in the course of people’s lives.
22. More than six million people per year visit the Dam’s visitor center, generating revenue that covers the half of the Dam’s operating expenses.
23. The Boulder city still exists today.

That’s it from me, if you know anything unusual about the Hoover Dam that I did not mention above, please feel free to share on commending section below.

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