How the Hoover Dam got its name

When you’re on one of the Hoover Dam tours, your preparation for your trip may begin months before you leave home for your hotel in Las Vegas. It might be that you are looking through the facts and records to gather information about Hoover Dam and its surroundings, other tourist attractions like Grand Canyon, Grand Canyon Helicopter Tour, Lake Mead. The Hoover Dam is a phenomenal creation of the modern world, located about 30 miles southeast of Las Vegas.

With many stories behind its creation, it also has a story about how this dam got its name. During the year of lobbying to simplify the process for the dam’s licensing in 1928, it was never referred to as Hoover Dam but as Boulder Canyon Dam or Boulder Dam, because the initial surveyors observed that it would be prudent to build the dam in Boulder Canyon. because a solid granite flooring floor already existed there. However, when the height of the dam was reviewed, the Black Canyon location seemed more suitable for the lower dam height requirement. Even though the initial and original projected site had been moved to Black Canyon, it was still known as Boulder Canyon or Boulder Dam. The Boulder Canyon Project Act of 1928 (BCPA) never expressed a proposed title or name for the dam, but allowed the government to “construct, operate, and maintain a dam and accompanying works on the main flow of the Colorado River in Boulder Canyon or Black Canyon.

When construction of a 32.7-mile railroad from Las Vegas to the dam site through Boulder City was officially declared, Secretary of the Interior R.L. Wilbur announced the name “Hoover Dam” at the spike-driving ceremony and surprised everyone. The name of the 31st president, Herbert Hoover, was used to gain political advantage in his favor, but soon, in 1933, Democratic President FD Roosevelt assumed power and on May 8, 1933, the name was changed to Boulder Dam.

Once again, 14 years after Harry Truman became US President, Congress was forced to pass a resolution to rename it Hoover Dam after President Herbert Hoover. And it held up.