Are you going to Vegas? Visit the Hoover Dam

The Hoover Dam is a marvel of construction: impressive and powerful, and it’s the reason Las Vegas can enjoy all the delights that Lake Mead has to offer. It would be a shame to come to Las Vegas and miss out on seeing the Hoover Dam and enjoying life on the lake. This article provides some basic facts about the Hoover Dam and tells you how to get there from Las Vegas.

Where is Hoover Dam? From Las Vegas, head south and east on US Route 93 (“The Boulder Highway”). Depending on traffic, you should be in Boulder in about 30 minutes, give or take. Boulder was the town created during the Depression for construction workers, and it’s right next to the dam. Public transport also goes there, and there are plenty of parking lots.

The Colorado River meanders out of the Rocky Mountains, eventually reaching far enough south to act as the border between a portion of southeastern Nevada and southwestern Arizona. Here the river runs through the “Black Canyon” and the dam was built at the southern exit of this passage.

Dam and Lake Size. At 726 feet (221 meters), the drop from the top of the dam to the bottom of the river bed on the south side is about the size of a 75-story building. The span at the top is 1,244 feet (380 meters) wide and 45 feet (14 meters) thick. At the bottom, the dam is over 200 meters (660 feet) thick! The dam holds back approximately 29 million acre-feet of water, forming Lake Meade, which is 110 miles (177 km) long.

More facts about the Hoover Dam. You can visit the dam itself and take a tour. Hoover Dam is officially a National Park. Ten million tourists come every year. The tour shows you how the dam is built and how it works. You can see the massive six-story high stream diversion tunnels and turbines, which generate 2 megawatts of power a day. The water passes over them at 85 miles per hour. The visitor center (on the Nevada side) is comfortable and offers food and a gift shop.

Lake Mead has several different communities around its shore from which boating, hiking, camping, and other excursions are possible. The lake itself is home to many recreational boaters and home boaters. Water skiing and jet skis are allowed.

The dam began as “Boulder Dam” but was renamed by Act of Congress in honor of Herbert Hoover, who so tirelessly promoted the Boulder Dam project as Secretary of Commerce in the Harding Administration. His main achievement was to obtain the agreement of the various states on how the water and power would be carried between them. When construction began, Hoover was President of the United States. The project was completed two years ahead of schedule, in 1935. Art Deco decorative touches were the last step in the process. Lake Mead took years to fill. The lake is named after Elwood Mead, which dominates the construction of the dam.