Hoover Dam

HOOVER DAM

Click the link and enjoy the video..."THE STORY OF HOOVER DAM"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4o8NISa4Hs

Originally named Boulder Dam it was renamed the Hoover Dam after President Herbert Hoover. It must be noted that all concepts of size and scale are lost when viewing the dam, such are the immense proportions.
The dam is 727 feet high, 660 feet thick at the base and 45 feet thick at the top roadway.
Immediately behind the dam on the Lake Mead side original water depth was 589 feet to the bottom of the lake. The top arch of the roadway is 1,244 feet long and the entire dam contains 4,360,00 cubic yards of concrete weighing an unbelievable 8,720,000 tons... equal to the weight of almost 6 million automobiles!
The lowest bid was submitted by a joint venture of six Corporations and was subsequently named Six Companies Incorporated with a low bid of $48,890,995.50 for the scheduled 7 year project, however, the contractors completed the entire dam project and all appurtenances and support structures a full 2 1/2 years ahead of schedule.

The most incredible statistic was the time it took to complete this project, 4 1/2 years to accomplish an engineering feat that would astound the entire world!

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