Hoover Dam, also known as Boulder Dam, is located on the Colorado River on the border of Arizona and Nevada, 30 miles southeast of Las Vegas. With a height of 726 feet, it is the second highest dam in the United States. (The Oroville Dam in Butte, California is 770 feet high.) Construction of the dam began in 1931 and was completed in 1936, two years ahead of schedule.
The dam crosses the border between two time zones, the Pacific Time Zone and the Mountain Time Zone. Lake Mead is the reservoir created behind the dam.
Hoover Dam is named after Herbert Hoover, who in 1922, while Secretary of Commerce under President Warring Harding, met with the state governors of seven western states to work out a plan for the use of the Colorado River. The result was the Hoover Compromise, which paved the way for construction of the dam. In 1928, Congress approved the bill to begin construction of the dam.
The contract to build the dam was awarded to Six Companies, a conglomeration of Morrison-Kneudsen Company of Boise, Idaho, Pacific Bridge Company of Portland, Oregon, Utah Construction Company of Ogden, Utah, Henry J. Kaiser and W.A. Bechtel Company of Oakland, California, MacDonald & Kahn Ltd. of Los Angeles, California, and J.F. Shea Company of Portland, Oregon. Later the Union Carbide Corporation was contracted to assist with refrigeration.
Hoover Dam began generating hydroelectric power in 1936. It provides a total of 2080 megawatts of power for parts of Arizona, Nevada, and California.
Hoover Dam was designated a national historic landmark in 1985.
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