17 Jun Hoover Dam

As the days go by I continue falling in love with this park. Every time I go down to the lake I cannot emphasize how beautiful Lake Mead looks. The various shades of brown to red boulder mountains allow the lake’s rich turquoise blue color to stand out miles away. Without a doubt, I cannot get tired of admiring how beautiful the lake is. To come to think that if it was not for the construction of Hoover Dam, Lake Mead would not have been here for people to recreate nor admire its beauty. As I started my internship, I realized that a lot of the recreational activities and areas are tied to Hoover Dam. In the short time I have been here I have learned so many facts about the construction of the Dam and community of Boulder City that grew from it. Hoover Dam, previously named Boulder Dam was named after former president Herbert Hoover. Hoover Dam is now known as one of “America’s 7 modern civil engineering wonders”. The Colorado River once flowed uncontrollably through the Black Canyon causing destructive floods for many farmers. The construction of the Dam was highly supported as it was the solution for the flooding issue, it would also provide irrigation water and produce hydroelectric power. This enormous project was completed successfully earlier than they had all expected to. Workers worked extremely hard with very few days off out of the year and earning just a couple dollars during the Great Depression. However, I did not get full sense of the power of this Dam until I emerged myself into the Dam itself. Last week, I was fortunate enough to visit Hoover Dam and take the tour. With HOT summer days in the Mohave Desert there is definitely no better cool and refreshing feeling than going down into one of the Dam’s tour tunnels. Inside the huge carved boulder tunnel it felt so cool that it made me forget about the heat outside. We were also able to see the generators which, are a huge part to the Dam. To wrap up the tour we finally had the chance to go up to the top and walk through the Dam and take pictures. It was not until I was physically standing on top of the Dam that I was mind blown by this amazing civil engineering structure. Hoover Dam is by far the biggest Dam I have ever seen in my life. To imagine that it was constructed one cement block at a time and they still managed finalize the construction before they had estimated, demonstrates the dedication of the entire team. The altitude and elevation of the top of the Dam gives every visitor the overview of Lake Mead from behind and the front view of the Mike O’Callaghan-Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge with the Colorado River just below it and Black Canyon right in-between. It is seriously the perfect spot admire Mother Nature and historical value of the surrounding area. Hoover Dam is definitely where the force of nature and power of human engineering meet and create the diverse recreational opportunities at Lake Mead National Recreation Area in Nevada and Arizona. I highly recommend everybody to come and witness Hoover Dam so, they can realize that there are not enough words to describe the profound historical value and power of this amazing structure. -Janelly Corona  

Hoover Dam tour