Bureau of Reclamation. 2. Ask them to compare and contrast these difficulties with the ones the builders of Hoover Dam faced. Why do you think the construction company was willing to spend the money to build the lookout? The area is also prone to cloudbursts, high winds, and sudden floods. In the guts of the Hoover dam, down bronze-clad elevators and through terrazzo corridors, a line of enormous turbines help funnel water out downstream, creating hydro-power electricity for more than 1m households in the process. How many gallons of water are in an acre-foot? Was it? 5) To describe the impact Hoover Dam had on the Southwest and the nation and to explore some of its long-term implications. Spillways.During your spare time you can erect a spillway on each side of the canyon, on the lake side of the dam. Describe the setting in these images. Hoover Dam, located where the Colorado River forms the boundary between the states of Nevada and Arizona, is listed in the National Register of Historic Places and is designated as a National Historic Landmark. Can you think of ways to translate those numbers into comparisons with more familiar things, so that it would be easier to get a sense of how big the project was? Cement5 million barrels. The dams, particularly the Hoover Dam, were also intended to control the torrential floods that would come downstream in big water years. Standard 2AThe student demonstrates understanding of the presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal. Americans began coming to see the big dam long before it was completed four years later. Photograph: Ethan Miller/Getty Images, Severe drought threatens Hoover dam reservoir and water for US west. Look for the drills (they look a little like machine guns). The Hoover Dam wasn't built just to be a tourist attraction, naturally. Herbert Hoover, at that time the secretary of commerce for Republican President Calvin Coolidge, led the discussions. "They conduct joint training with us," Gregson said. It did permit planning for the dam to proceed, however. If you were reading or listening to Roosevelt's speech in 1935, would you think that Hoover Dam was one of his New Deal work relief projects? But the dam also had an entirely unexpected result, one that began while it was still under construction. For power generators, there will always be a need to have people on-site. In the early 20th century, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation devised plans for a massive dam on the Arizona-Nevada border to tame the Colorado River and provide water and hydroelectric . Are there some kinds of works that only government can build? Make them each 56 feet in diameter, then line them with three feet of concrete. 3 Standard C - The student locates, accesses, analyzes, organizes, and applies information about selected public issues--recognizing and explaining multiple points of view. Boulder Dam and the powerhouses together cost a total of $108,000,000. The plan was for construction to start in the fall of 1931, in the depths of the Great Depression, which had begun with the stock market crash of 1929. The Bureau of Reclamation, the federal agency that runs Hoover Dam, has not yet released more information, per The Associated Press.. Go back to Reading 2. Wictionary website, accessed 1/30/2011. Download the official NPS app before your next visit. 5. How did Reclamation and Six Companies divide the work on the dam? The huge volume of water stored in the reservoir weighs so much that it deformed the earths crust, causing more than 600 small earthquakes in the late 1930s. Such expenditures on all of these works, great and small, flow out to many beneficiaries; they revive other and more remote industries and businesses. Why or why not? What difficulties might those building it encounter? Located in Pyramid Canyon about 70 miles downstream from Hoover Dam, this zoned earth-fill dam consists of concrete . This will provoke a second, harsher, round of cuts. We know, too, that the reason for this speeding up was the need of giving relief to several million men and women whose earning capacity had been destroyed by the complexities and lack of thought of the economic system of the past generation. Parking is limited there, so you may have to orbit the parking lot a bit for a spot. To continue to implement the measures necessary to protect and harden, as appropriate, the dam and surrounding structures. The first of these great multipurpose projects would be a huge dam on the lower Colorado River. The Hoover Dam Police, officially the Bureau of Reclamation Police, was a federal security police force, stationed at Hoover Dam 23 miles (37 km) southeast of Las Vegas.Reclamation Police Officers were stationed only at Hoover Dam. The lake it created would be the largest in the world. Full (?) The short answer: no, yes, further than you think, a half-day, yes. The massive structure took 5 years to build, between 1931 and 1936; the thousands of laborers . Hoover Dam is one of its Wonders of the World. The website also includes an educators' guide, with hands-on activities. Finally, ask them to consider which job they themselves would like best. This map shows only Reclamation's dams in the basin. Dam Safety. After the dynamite was detonated, the rock dislodged by the explosion was taken out of the tunnel. 4. Lower several hundred men from the top on ropes and let them drill the cliffs full of holes. This is the version of our website addressed to speakers of English in the United States. LESSON NO. Once we got on the other side the traffic was stopped trying to get down in there. One of the definitions of the word "reclamation" is "the recovery of a wasteland or of flooded land so it can be cultivated." BOULDER CITY, Nev. (KLAS) A fire Tuesday at the Hoover Dam has made headlines around the world, but the fire did not actually happen on or inside the dam. Approximately $5.5 million per year is allocated to all security, including law enforcement. 2. Dam infrastructure can be affected by natural hazards, man-made threats, as well as an imbalance between resources invested and a dam's age. (Bureau of Reclamation; photographer unknown), (Boulder City Museum and Historical Association; photographer unknown. 3. The Boulder Canyon Project Act said that the cost of building Hoover Dam had to be repaid by selling electricity and that contracts for all the electricity had to be signed before construction began. My husband had a small penknife in his pocket. This website, provided by the National Archives and Records Administration, features a 1981 film that combines three short films dating from earlier periods. This completes our engineering course. Build a platform so spectators can watch, and dig down about 130 feet from the river bed to bed rock, removing all loose material as you go. The USs largest reservoir is now barely a third full, the dark basalt rock of its canyon walls blanched by a distinctive white calcium ring where the water level once was. These businesses can request a permit to cross the dam during daylight hours. The price of Boulder Dam during the depression years provided [work] for 4,000 men, most of them heads of families, and many thousands more were enabled to earn a livelihood through manufacture of materials and machinery. Ask them to consider all kinds of jobs. In addition to the 10,000 people who braved 102o heat to hear the speech in person, it was broadcast to a radio audience of millions of people. The total capacity at Hoover is now 1,617 megawattsa 20 percent decrease from its designed capacity of 2,080 megawatts. Standard D - The student describes a range of examples of the various institutions that make up economic systems such as households, business firms, banks, government agencies, labor unions, and corporations. Most of the water is used in the Lower Colorado Basin. In the dry months of the year it shrank to a trickling stream. Simply drill four tunnels about miles through the cliffs above the water line. Very nice to visit; and see the dam in person. While there is no average year on the Colorado River, Bernardo and his colleagues were always able to estimate its flow within a certain range. Theme V: Individuals, Groups, and Institutions. Which job would have been the most dangerous? Date of experience: April 2017 Ask kbelle71 about Hoover Dam Bypass 2 Thank kbelle71 In March 1931, Reclamation awarded the contract to build the dam to Six Companies, Inc. Six Companies was a group of some of the largest construction companies in the country. Also in 1922, congressional representatives from California introduced a bill to authorize Reclamation to build the big dam on the lower Colorado. Ask each of the other groups to study one of the six "wonders" (excluding Hoover Dam) on Corporal Ward's list. Standard D - The student identifies and uses processes important to reconstructing and reinterpreting the past, such as using a variety of sources, providing, validating, and weighing evidence for claims, checking credibility of sources, and searching for causality. The public feels . The Hoover Dam is located in the southwestern part of the United States. Trace the boundaries of the Colorado River Basin. Nearly 40 million people, including dozens of tribes, depend on the rivers water. They were looking for places to build dams to store the water from the annual spring runoff, releasing it gradually during the summer for irrigation. Hoover dam is the height of a 60-story building and is 45ft thick at the top and 660ft at the bottom. Some marinas have been wrenched from their moorings and moved because they have been left marooned in baking sediment. This guide contains many large numbers. Review tags are currently only available for English language reviews. Then ask the students to gather information on changes in the volume of water flowing down Colorado River during that period. Today marks the official completion and dedication of Boulder Dam. Before the building of Hoover Dam, the Colorado River was dangerous and unreliable. Ask the students to compare the private projects with the ones that were the result of government programs and to define for themselves the differences between public and private "works." How are they different? What you see is not what you get at Parker Dam, known as "the deepest dam in the world.". Each spillway, designed to let floodwaters pass without harming the dam itself, can handle the volume of water that flows over Niagara Falls. 3. All of the water conservation efforts that have kept shortages at bay until now risk being surpassed by the rising heat. 5. 6) To identify public works in their own local community. The Bureau of Reclamation (the government agency originally tasked with reclaiming this arid place for a new utopia of farmland and a booming western population), expects this historic low to spiral further, dropping to about 1,048ft by the end of 2022, a shallowness unprecedented since Lake Mead started filling up in the 1930s following Hoover dams completion. More than 5 million barrels of Portland cement and 4.5 million cubic yards of aggregate went into the dam. In June, the level of Lake Mead plunged below 1,075ft, a point that will trigger, for the first time, federally mandated cuts in water allocations next year. The pace of change has been jarring to the millions of people who regularly boat, fish and swim on the lake, with the National Park Service recently laying down new steel platforms to extend launch ramps that no longer reach the water. Obviously you must not allow this to happen when you are building a dam. It is awesome! Others wondered whether the expected benefits would be enough to justify the enormous cost. Complete with startling statistics dwindled by 20% compared to the previous centurys average, heat dome that settled over the usually mild Pacific north-west. It protects southern California and Arizona from the disastrous floods for which the Colorado had been famous. 6. What do you think working here would be like? Lakes in Arizona are now so low they cant be used to fight the fires themselves spurred by drought, while the retreat of Lake Folsom in California uncovered the wreckage of a plane that crashed 56 years ago. Sand and gravelget quite a bit of this to mix with the cement; enough to make 4,440,000 cubic yards of concrete. Standard E - The student locates and describes varying land forms and geographic features, such as mountains, plateaus, islands, rain forests, deserts, and oceans, and explains their relationships within the ecosystem. 1) One map showing the Colorado River Basin; Pipe for ice water581 miles of it will do. By this time, too, developers in Los Angeles and other rapidly growing cities in Southern California had added their powerful support for the project. Had the formidable white arc of the Hoover dam never held back the Colorado River, the US west would probably have no Los Angeles or Las Vegas as we know them today. Why do you think the engineers thought they had to keep this from happening? Each spillway, designed to let floodwaters pass without harming the dam itself, can handle the volume of water that flows over Niagara Falls. They stretch for some 124 miles (200 kilometers) along the upper and middle reaches of the . The dam stands 60-stories tall (726.4 feet) The base of the dam is two football fields thick. Based on the size of the people in the image, how big do you think these shovels were? Why do you think Six Companies was so anxious to get this part of the project done quickly? The mighty waters of the Colorado were running unused to the sea. Your guess is as good as mine whether well get that. A few hundred miles north, a fast-moving wildfire incinerated the town of Lytton in British Columbia the day after it set a Canadian temperature record of 121F (49.4C). Concrete has a nasty habit of cracking. Those managing dam security are bound by a host of government regulations and security standards including Homeland Security Presidential Directives and regulations and standards enforced by the North American Electrical Reliability Council (NERC). The maps and images appear twice: in a small version with associated questions and alone in a larger version. The dam had to be big. Its reservoir was the largest artificial lake in the world for decades and is still the largest in the United States. Why was this work necessary? There are eight generators inside the Nevada . Oversized vehicles, recreational vehicles, and vehicles with trailers must use the parking lots on the Arizona side of the dam. Standard H - The student works independently and cooperatively to accomplish goals. Ask each group to report back to the class. Security can help organize and control situations such as large events crowds, employee terminations, or to promote a general sense of order and safety in corporate buildings. Other historic photos show dense rows of men working close together on the canyon walls. Roosevelts speech was front-page news in newspapers all over the country. Excavating.Lower steam shovels into the canyon. Which job would be most important? Explain your answer. Here are seven tips you need to know before visiting the Hoover Dam! Why do you think that was required? It caused enormous damage and permanently flooded thousands of acres. The President identified benefits the new dam had already provided. Time did not allow for us to do a tour inside the dam. CSO: What security changes have been made at the Hoover Dam since 9/11? Would Hoover Dam be on their list? Its construction, in the teeth of the Great Depression, was a source of such national pride . The Hoover Dam is one of the crown jewels of American infrastructure. How many of the features mentioned in Reading 2 can you find in this image? This website features images and other information focusing on the people who built Hoover Dam and who lived in Boulder City. Seven states California, Utah, Arizona, Colorado, Wyoming, New Mexico and Nevada and Mexico are bound by agreements that parcel out the rivers water but those considered junior partners in this arrangement will be hit first. 5 The Greatest Dam in the World: Building Hoover Dam relates to the following Social Studies Standards: Standard B - The student identifies and uses key concepts such as chronology, causality, change, conflict, and complexity to explain, analyze, and show connections among patterns of historical change and continuity. Actually, once we got thru the checkpoint, we drove to the visitor center, where we parked in a garage ($10, cash only), and then we walked across the actual dam my kids were excited about walking from Nevada to Arizona and back again. then, once we returned to our car, we stopped at the bridge. How many dams can you find on the Colorado River? More water equals more pressure, which equals more energy. "The Greatest Dam in the World": Building Hoover Dam relates to the following National Standards for History: Era 8: The Great Depression and World War II (1929-1945). The Story of Hoover Dam Film There is a charge for the tours, in addition to an admission charge for the Visitor Center. Look at the drawing in the upper right hand corner. 5. Work actually began during the summer and continued around the clock until the dam was completed in 1935, two years ahead of schedule. No sprawling food bowl of wheat, alfalfa and corn. Can you trace the course the water follows from the reservoir through the power plants and outlet works and then back into the river? Ultimate Hoover Dam Tour from Las Vegas With Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area. The Hoover dam website has a list of additional jobs. That estimate has turned out to be too high, because the early 20th century was unusually wet while the period since then has been much drier. Why were congressional representatives from the state of California the leading supporters of a big dam on the Colorado? Make this cofferdam about a hundred feet high, two blocks thick at the base and 70 feet thick on top. These new projects would also control floods, supply water to growing cities, and generate electricity to fuel industrial growth in a new West. This lesson is one in a series that brings the important stories of historic places into classrooms across the country. 5. How would their list compare with the original "Seven Wonders of the World" and with Corporal Ward's "Seven Wonders of the United States? Unpredictable flash floods could occur in any season. You are now ready to install the main portion of the dam. Measure your classroom and figure out how many cubic yards it could hold. Standard F - The student describes the role of institutions in furthering both continuity and change. This lesson is part of the National Park Services Teaching with Historic Places (TwHP) program. The average high temperature in this area in August is 103 degrees. The materials listed below can be used directly on the computer or printed out, photocopied, and distributed to students. Now drill holes through the cliffs from towers to power plant. Standard C - The student uses appropriate resources, data sources, and geographic tools such as aerial photographs, satellite images, geographic information systems (GIS), map projections, and cartography to generate, manipulate, and interpret information such as atlases, data bases, grid systems, charts, graphs, and maps. 1 Note that there is a vehicle security checkpoint needed to enter this area. The white bathtub ring around Lake Mead shows the record low water levels as drought continues to worsen in Nevada. Eventually they removed 1.5 million cubic yards of rock. How long would it take for the concrete in the dam to cool by itself? Meanwhile, a new Hoover Dam Bypass and bridge is under construction, scheduled for completion next year. However, we stopped here to view the dam. Which states are within the Basin? "Everyone undergoes some form of identity verification and must display their identification badge when they are on the facility," Gregson said. Does that help you figure out where the river went? 1. The decline of Lake Mead is apparent even at a cursory glance. What would have been the minuses? Throughout our national history we have had a great program of public improvements, and in these past two years all that we have done has been to accelerate that program. Reclamation engineers prepared hundreds of drawings for the construction companyall much more detailed than this simplified illustration. Do you think you would have come here looking for a job? Standard I - The student describes ways that historical events have been influenced by, and have influenced, physical and human geographic factors in local, regional, national, and global settings. How does that change if the level of the reservoir is getting too high? Hoover Dam is as tall as a 60-story building. 4. Hoover dam is the height of a 60-story building and is 45ft thick at the top and 660ft at the bottom. The association added that such a scenario could even force people to move east, in what it called a reverse Dust Bowl exodus. However, it took six more years before Congress passed the Boulder Canyon Project Act. Hoover Dam. The dam was constructed during the Great Depression in the 1930s and was completed in 1936, providing jobs for thousands of workers during a time of economic hardship. What sort of problems did the river create? Identify the characteristics places would have to have to be on such a list. Standard E - The student identifies and describes the basic features of the political system in the United States, and identifies representative leaders from various levels and branches of government. "Glen Canyon Dam was built in the 1950s, at the tail end of this building spree," Lustgarten explains. How safe do you think this would have been? Contrary to popular myth, no workers were buried alive in the dam's concrete as it was poured. Where is the river? This lesson is based on the National Register of Historic Places documentation, "Hoover Dam" (with photos); on National Historic Landmark documentation, "Hoover Dam" (with photos); and on Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) publications. Standard B - The student creates, interprets, uses, and distinguishes various representations of the earth, such as maps, globes, and photographs. Seen from above in time lapse over the years, Lake Mead looks like a spindly puddle withering away in the Mojave Desert, as nearby Las Vegas, which gets almost all of its water from the lake and went a record 240 days last year without rain, balloons in size. To employ workers and materials when private employment has failed is to translate into great national possessions the energy that otherwise would be wasted. There is a security check point that causes slow traffic as you are on the road to see the dam. Standard B - The student shows through specific examples how science and technology have changed people's perceptions of the social and natural world, such as in their relationship to the land, animal life, family life, and economic needs, wants, and security. Additional money is allocated for security work on . Even with these adaptions, however, the decline of Lake Mead has caused the amount of hydro power generated by the dam to drop by around 25%. Ask each group to make a short presentation to the class and then have the other students vote on what job would have been the hardest and why. Theme VII: Production, Distribution, and Consumption. Another change is the modification of tour routes. Refer to Reading 2 if necessary. (The pipes are still there, buried in the concrete.) . It was the highest dam in the world when it was completed in 1935. Constructed by the Bureau of Reclamation to meet the requirements of the 1944 Treaty with Mexico, Davis Dam was originally created to regulate the amount of water to be delivered downstream and eventually to Mexico. We talked to him about security and access at the site, deemed one of America's Seven Modern Civil Engineering Wonders by the American Society of Civil Engineers. Then ask them to imagine what it might have been like to have that job at Hoover Dam. The new legislation created a federal program to bring water to the desert lands of the West by constructing dams and reservoirs to store water for irrigation, as well as canals to deliver that water to farms. Questions for Reading 2 No sprawling food bowl of wheat, alfalfa and corn. In terms of security certifications, Security+ predates ISACA's CISM and Red Hat's Certified Security Specialist. 4. Anyone who doesn't allow inspection of their vehicle is turned around. Then ask students to research the amount of water that the Colorado River Compact allocated to each state in the Lower Basin. Initially the agency built some relatively small dams on the rivers tributaries. Copyright 2009 IDG Communications, Inc. Erect a power house below the dam. By studying "The Greatest Dam in the World": Building Hoover Dam, students have learned why Hoover Dam was a triumph for the engineers of the Bureau of Reclamation, for the construction company that built it, and for the thousands of men who worked to complete it. 2. The wellspring of Lake Mead created by the dams blocking of the Colorado River has plummeted to a historic low as states in the west face hefty cuts in their water supplies. Today we translate them into a great national possession. Whom did they benefit? Across the desert and mountains to the west and south run great electric transmission lines by which factory motors, street and household lights and irrigation pumps will be operated in Southern Arizona and California. By this time, they were among the most knowledgeable and experienced dam builders in the world, but even they had never done anything this big.