One of the greatest Engineering projects in history. A dam named after a president. Tons of hidden stories yet to be revealed. This is the story of the Hoover Dam.
Let me set the background for you. It was the 1920s. Colorado witnessed the most famous flood disaster in 1905, and between 1905 and 1920, numerous floods followed, devastating farmlands in Arizona, California, and Nevada. 1922 saw the Colorado River Compact being signed, opening up opportunities like eventually building the Hoover Dam. The 1928 Boulder Canyon Project Act authorized construction of the dam with federal funding. The funny part is they had two options to build the dam: the black canyon and the boulder canyon.
Initially, the Boulder Canyon was selected as the place for the dam, but due to stronger geology, construction camp flexibility, and proximity to Las Vegas Rail Access meant that the Black Canyon was the better choice for building the dam. However, it remained the Boulder Dam Project for some reason. As with any architecture, there was plenty of issues.
The first problem with architecture like this is there are literal villages surrounding the area on which the dam must be constructed. But this area was lucky in that way. It was literally deserts surrounding this area, so not many people were displaced. The only major issue they ran into later was the flooding of Lake Mead in 1935 during the construction, which submerged farmlands of indigenous people like the Mojave, Paiute, Hualapai, and Chemeheuvi. The sad part is they were neither told nor consulted, and the filling of Lake Mead saw them all forced to migrate from their homeland.
Leaving all that apart, the big question as of 1928 was: who was going to take up this enormous project? Stay tuned to find out.
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