Hoover Dam, Arizona, USA
(Unknown / Bureau of Reclamation)
In response to the rising demand for electricity across the southwestern US, and to curb the devastating floods to which the area was prone, a Federal decision was made to dam the Colorado River.
The building work commenced in 1930, and was a much-needed source of employment for more than 5,000 people during the Great Depression. The work required more than 3 million cubic yards of concrete and, when finished, became the world’s largest man-made structure.
Its name was not without controversy. Initially known as Boulder Dam – after Boulder Canyon, a site later rejected – it was renamed Hoover Dam when work began. However, prior to opening in 1935, with President Roosevelt in office, the name was changed back to Boulder Dam. Twelve years later, President Truman approved an act of Congress to rename it once more, back to Hoover Dam.
It is possible that the penstock pipe in which the officials are standing is actually only twenty feet off the ground (over what is now a lay-by), and that the photographer has deliberately angled the camera to create the impression of a sheer drop.
‘The thing which every American, and especially every Californian, should understand is that Boulder Dam is a great monument of progress. It is a shield to protect the forward march of civilization. It is proof that man can overcome obstacles which have buried other civilizations under desert sands, and that the time-worn saying, “history repeats” need not be true.
Indeed, Boulder Dam is a proof that there are two kinds of people in the world, those who meekly accept life as it is, and those who have the courage and will to change it for the better.’
‘California Progress’, 1936
