While we were in Las Vegas, we also got to visit the Hoover Dam. This is yet another structure created by men desperately in need of work during the Great Depression. Sometimes our trip felt like a tour of all of the amazing work created in this country during the 1930s.
Such a large concrete structure had never been built before this dam.
There is a great deal to learn about this place. Here’s just a tiny bit of what I learned:
- The Hoover Dam confines Lake Mead, helps irrigate low lying desert lands, and has seventeen generators that provide power for public and private utilities in Nevada, Arizona, and California.
- Many, many people died while working on its construction.
- There was great controversy regarding the naming of the dam. From what I understand, this was mainly because people felt President Hoover didn’t have anything to do with creating it.
- The dam’s existence has had a bad impact on the environment. It has hurt native populations of fish in the Colorado river downstream by changing the flow of the river and flooding their home. Some of these native fish are now endangered.
- Because of how very massive it was, six different construction companies worked on this project.
It brings a lot of visitors (like us) who stand in awe of the things that human beings accomplish and the great impact we have on the world.
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