What is special about Hoover Dam?

Hoover Dam is 1,244 feet long at the top. It is 726 feet high from the lowest point of the foundation to the crest. The dam is 660 feet thick at the base and tapers to 45 feet thick at the top. Its reservoir was the largest artificial lake in the world for decades and is still the largest in the United States.



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The Hoover Dam, one of the industrial wonders of the world.

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Following the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, security was again reinforced at Hoover. As a major supplier of electricity to the U.S. defense industry, the dam was deemed to be a prime military target.

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While the dam is expected to last for centuries, engineers predict the structure could last for more than 10,000 years, surpassing most remnants of human civilization if humans were to disappear from the earth. However, they also predict the dam's turbines without human intervention would shut down within two years.

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There were also significant downsides to the project: Over 100 construction workers were killed, and the Dam had a large impact on the Colorado River, flooding wildlife habitats and changing its natural flow of the Colorado. Stevens notes this would not pass today's environmental impact assessments.

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Parker Dam is a concrete arch structure commonly called the 'deepest dam in the world'.

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Hoover Dam was built for a cost of $49 million (approximately $760 million adjusted for inflation). The power plant and generators cost an additional $71 million. The sale of electrical power generated by the dam paid back its construction cost, with interest, by 1987.

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