The Construction of the Hoover Dam

The Construction of the Hoover Dam

The Hoover dam is a concrete-made dam located in the Colorado River on the boundary between Nevada and Arizona . It was named after President Herbert Hoover that was very influential in the construction of the dam The construction of this project started in 1931 and was finished in 1935 . The objective of the construction of this dam was multi-purpose First was to control the flooding in the nearby counties along the Colorado River . Next was to provide irrigation to agricultural lands of California and Arizona . And

last was to provide hydro-electric power to nearby regions . It was measured to be 726 feet high and 1 ,244 feet long The base of this dam is 660 feet thick that is 60 feet longer than 2 football fields placed end-to-end

The Hoover dam is one of the modern day construction projects that show a very creative and ingenious side of a construction corporation . The company named Six Companies Inc . was the lucky construction company that was given the job to do this state-of-the-art dam project . The construction company was called the Six Companies Inc . because in reality , it was a consortium of six construction companies that merged and worked together for this project . The six companies included were J .F . Shea Co , Morrison-Knudsen Co , MacDonald Kahn Ltd , Pacific Bridge Co , Utah Construction Co , and joint venture of Henry J . Kaiser Warren Brothers W .A . Bechtel Co . These construction companies merged together for this project because of the reason that no construction company could produce the required 5 ,000 ,000 performance bond . Another company was contracted to assist the refrigeration needs of the concrete during the pouring and curing stage of the construction . The Union Carbide Corporation was contracted for this job

The onset of the Great Depression in 1931 paved way to massive migration of unemployed workers from Las Vegas and earned them jobs in building this historical project . The workers and their families were temporarily housed in camps like Ragtown as the work in the town advanced . Then after the construction of Boulder City , the workers were moved from Ragtown to this place where they stayed until the completion of the dam

During the construction , two cofferdams were built to protect the construction area from flooding . The upper cofferdam was constructed in September 1932 , although the diversion of the Colorado River was not yet finished . A temporary dike secluded the cofferdam from the river . The construction of the project was boosted when the Arizona tunnels and the diversion of the Colorado River were completed . After the construction of the cofferdams , the excavation for the foundation of the dam started Loose materials were removed so that the dam would rest on solid rock The excavation for the foundation of the dam was completed in June 1933 Approximately 1 ,500 ,000 square yards of loose materials was removed that includes materials from the canyon walls . The people who were assigned to remove the loose rocks from the...