Hoover Dam or Boulder Dam as it was first called

From Las Vegas, it’s relatively easy to get to Hoover Dam and it is well worth a visit. It is one of the great engineering achievements of the world, not only of the United States, and it is an extremely visited tourist attraction, both by American and international tourists. Hoover’s name comes from an American president, the one under whose mandate it was built, and the story is quite controversial, at least for Americans. The press was the one who named it that. It was originally called Boulder, from the name of the area where it was built.

When the American state decided to build, the president looked for a company to start working on the construction. Because it was so big, they failed to find a single company and so six large companies merged to take the name “Six Companies”.

In the Las Vegas area, you can see signs with the dam everywhere through sculptures placed on the highway that celebrate the work of those who contributed to this spectacular achievement. Even the city of Boulder was built from scratch for the workers here and today it is an exclusive city with houses worth millions of dollars. To understand exactly the size of this achievement, from a financial point of view at least, let us share this. In 1931, unemployment exceeded 20% in America and the average monthly salary was around $400. Below, you can see how much the US Government paid the six companies for just one month of work at the dam.

When the construction of the dam began in 1931, in the midst of the economic crisis, a lot of people who no longer had jobs were attracted both by their salary and by the fact that they were offered a home while working here. And so it attracted a lot of people from all over America. Unfortunately, during the construction, 100 of them died in various work accidents. It is said that some of them, who fell into the huge concrete formwork, remained there for eternity. Authorities and engineers stubbornly deny this, saying that a person’s body in a huge mass of cement would weaken the concrete structure. But… Who truly knows the answer? Maybe only those who were working there at the time.

The construction work lasted five years, it has a length of 379 meters and a height of 221 meters. For 22 years, the Hoover dam was the highest dam in the world. It’s really tall. Since it is built in a natural canyon with very high walls, the feeling of height is amplified…

The concrete used here is not completely dry yet. Almost 100 years after the casting!

It is interesting that since it is built on the border of the two states, the hours are different on its banks. Arizona and Nevada are in different time zones.

Located in the middle of the desert, on the border of Arizona and Nevada, it led to the formation of Mead Reservoir, which is one of the largest artificial lakes in the world and provides water for 4 million people. “Once upon a time”, the water level was much high. As a fun fact, an elegant and exclusive neighborhood that was built right next to the water, which also had pontoons for boats and a private beach, is now more than 500 meters away from the water. 

Only the top of that island was on land in the past… Here you can clearly see how far the water was

Until you reach the dam, there are two places you must visit. Boulder City and the Memorial at the base of the new highway built between Arizona and Nevada. Both are closely related to the history of the dam, firstly because it was the city of dam workers and secondly because it gives you a great perspective on the dam.

Boulder City is extremely close to what we know as “It’s like America.” Wooden houses, with a maximum of one level, gardens with a lawn in front and without fences. That relaxing atmosphere persists. In the museum, you can find the story of the dam, which is also a hotel. Here was the house of the site manager of the dam, the first theater for workers, cafes, bars, and in general everything a city needed to function. Many of the original houses, built 90 years ago, are here and are valued at fabulous prices, most of which are not for sale. It is not a big city but a typical American one. With American bars, cafes.

• As a matter of fact, gambling has been banned in Boulder City since its inauguration and is still so. There is only one casino, located right on the border of the city to Las Vegas, where locals can go to play.

The Mike O’Callaghan – Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge is part of Highway 93 and is the place from which Hoover Dam is best seen. An arched bridge, spectacular, over which hundreds of thousands of cars circulate but which also has a small pedestrian part from which you can see in all its splendor the dam. Mike O’Callagahn was Governor of Nevada for eight years between 1971 and 1979 and Pat Tillman is a former American football player who, after the September 11 attacks, enlisted in the United States and was killed in Afghanistan.

Hoover Dam

It is a major tourist attraction in this part of the United States of America, along with the Grand Canyon, and has long been designed for easy access for tourists. If until the bridge above was built, the crossing was made exclusively over the dam, now the dam is used only to see the panorama from the car with a maximum speed of 10 km per hour. The road above the dam is almost pedestrian.

People walk around, millions of pictures are taken, art towers are built in the water. There is a middle part of the dam where you can put one foot in Arizona and one in Nevada. Restaurants, shops, an underground parking lot in Nevada, and one on the surface in Arizona for cars that want to stop here. Over time, the places have been modernized and now there are modern escalators or elevators as well as a toilet in one of the towers that are part of the dam.

We also wanted to visit the engine room but it was not possible. Due to Covid restrictions, access to the lower hall is prohibited.

But you can admire the monument created in honor of those who built this dam and which is on the Nevada side.

A beautiful story of the dam is about a puppy that had become the mascot of the workers at the dam. It is the only memorial plaque embedded in a canyon wall. The puppy came and went with the workers every day and while they were at work. The site administration at one point took the step of banning anyone from feeding him. So he had only one meal, provided by the site, at a certain time of day. Although it’s sad, I found the way he died somewhat funny (ok, ok… sorry). He was trampled by one of the buses carrying workers because he had fallen asleep under his wheels, numb from the heat. Anyway, he was so loved by people that they dedicated a memorial plaque to him!

Another impressive thing is the drainage wells are too full. The engineers thought of a precautionary measure for the extreme cases in which the dam would be close to its maximum level. There are some huge exterior wells, some big holes in the ground that extracts the water and pour it into the canyon below. Their size exceeds the size of a bus and protects the integrity of the construction.

On one side you have the Colorado River hundreds of meters deep and on the other, you have the lake formed by the dam. It is an absolutely beautiful place that in some ways actually takes your breath away. High walls that reveal layers of geological history, the river flowing down, the blue water, the desert, the clear sky. All these contribute to the feeling.

The trip we bought cost $80, lasted for 6 hours and included the visit to Boulder City, the Memorial Bridge, and the dam, as well as a lunch offered by the organizers. I went with the Comedy Bus Tour and our guide was a guy who does stand up every night in Las Vegas. Funny and interesting. You can hear it in the video…

• Don’t forget that for any trip bought in the USA, at the end a tip is left by each person, both for the guide and for the driver. It’s not mandatory, but when you see that everyone pays for it, you don’t feel like not doing the same