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The Hoover Dam is a concrete gravity-arch dam in the Black Canyon , on the Colorado River border, between Arizona and Nevada. The dam, located 48 kilometres (30 miles) southeast of Las Vegas, is named after President Herbert Hoover. The Hoover Dam was built by Six Companies, Inc., under Frank Crowe . Construction began in 1931 and was completed in 1936, two years, one month and twenty eight days, ahead of schedule.

1 History

Built during the Great Depression, over 100 workers died during the construction of the four diversion tunnels and dam, which were not ventilated. Crews of "icebox men" would run into the tunnels and wrap heat-afflicted workers in ice to try and cool them down, but this would often not be enough. Many of the workers' wives and children also died from the extreme heat and lack of sanitation they had to endure in the squalid camps like Ragtown which quickly grew around the dam site. Six Companies, Inc. was contracted to build a new town for construction workers, to be called Boulder CityBoulder City is a city located in Clark County, Nevada. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 14,966. Boulder City was originally built by the Bureau of Reclamation as housing for workers who were building Hoover Dam. Alcohol sales and, but Frank Crowe preferred to concentrate efforts on the tunnels and dam. Crowe was fearful of winter floods and the financial penalties he would suffer if the project fell behind schedule. However, discontent with Ragtown and the dangerous working conditions led to a strike on August 8August 8 is the 220th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (221st in leap years), with 145 days remaining. Events 1585 John Davis enters Cumberland Sound in quest for the North West Passage. 1588 Battle of Gravelines ends Defeated by the English duri 19311931 is the common year starting on Thursday. see link for calendar) Events January January 4 Female aviator Elly Beinhorn begins her flight to Africa January 6 Thomas Edison submits his last patent application. January 22 Sir Isaac Isaacs sworn in as the. Six Companies responded by sending in strike-breakers with guns and clubs, and the strike was soon quashed. But the discontent prompted the authorities to speed up the construction of Boulder City, and by the spring of 19321932 is the leap year starting on Friday. see link for calendar) Events January-February January 3 British arrest and intern Mohandas Gandhi and Vallabhbhai Patel January 8 In Britain the Archbishop of Canterbury forbids church remarriage of divorcees Jan Ragtown had been deserted. [1].

The dam was designed to control floodA flood (in Old English flod a word common to Teutonic languages; compare German Flut Dutch vloed from the same root as is seen in flow, float is an overflow of water, an expanse of water submerging land, a deluge. In the sense of "flowing water", the wors; to store water for irrigationSahara Irrigation (in agriculture) is the replacement or supplementation of rainfall with water from another source in order to grow crops. In contrast, agriculture that relies only on direct rainfall is sometimes referred to as dryland farming. How it wo, municipal, and industrial use; and to generate hydroelectric powerHydroelectricity hydroelectric-power or Hydropower is a form of hydropower that uses the energy released as a result of water falling, or flowing downhill or by wave-differences, under the influence of gravity to produce electricity. Specifically, the mec. Generators at the Dam's Hoover Powerplant began to transmit electricityElectricity is a property of certain subatomic particles, such as electrons and protons, that gives rise to attractive and repulsive forces between them. It is one of the four fundamental forces of nature, and is a conserved property of matter that can be from the Colorado River a distance of 266 miles (364 km) to Los Angeles, California on October 9, 1936. Additional generating units were added through 1961. The seventeen main turbines at this powerhouse generate 2,074 megawatts of hydroelectric power. The dam and powerplant are operated by the United States Department of the Interior's Bureau of Reclamation.

In addition to its economic and engineering renown, Hoover Dam is accounted a masterpiece of Art Deco design.