Travel Tips

Hoover Dam, originally known as Boulder Dam (but renamed for President Herbert Hoover), is about an hour's drive from Las Vegas. The old "Hard Hat" tours, which let you go down and out onto the apron of the dam (at the base) were discontinued after September 11th. You also are no longer allowed on the top of the dam (a road and walkways cross it) at night. But you can still see a lot, and straddle two states (and a time change!) on top of one of the modern world's engineering wonders.

Here's the wide view. If you look at the water (Lake Mead) above the dam, you'll notice how low it is -- see the white area on the rocks that make up the shore. The ranger (Hoover Dam is part of the US Bureau of Reclamation) told us the water level was 24 feet below what it had been in May 2002.

That said, the irony is that the dam's true purpose -- both when it was constructed and to this day -- is flood control. While it's true the dam harnesses energy from the water, the sale of electricity is just a nice little side business that renders Hoover Dam self-sufficient. (This means no tax dollars, nor any other government money, is spent to operate or maintain the dam.)

More of the view from the observation deck. That's Arizona over there -- but don't worry, we're in Nevada. So this VT page isn't breaking any rules . . . ;-)

You can still drive across or walk out onto the dam in the daytime. It's pretty cool to walk out here and think about all that concrete underneath you -- poured just a few inches deep at a time. The concrete in Hoover Dam could build a highway 16 feet wide from San Francisco to New York City! I wouldn't want to have to paint the center stripe on that . . .

(Pop quiz -- who knows the origin of the picture caption?)

The current tour still takes you down here, inside the dam (on the Nevada side) and into the turbine room, where the electricity is generated. You look out over these huge machines from a raised walkway. The second turbine in is the original, from the 1930s -- and they still use it today.

Next to the dam is this area with two enormous statues and a very tall flag pole. Surrounding this, on the ground, is a polished stone "map" of the universe as it appeared in the 1930s when the dam was put into operation. The tour guide said this reflects the fact that the men who conceived of this monumental project believed the dam would last for thousands of years. Rubbing the statues is rumored to bring good luck.

This statue honors and memorializes the "high climbers" -- men who worked in the canyon risking (and losing) their lives to build Hoover Dam. Why did they do it? It was 1930s America. The Depression was raging and jobs were a precious commodity. Working here, men could earn 3 times the salary they would make at even the highest-paying jobs elsewhere in the country.

The big tower in the background is a conveyor that runs across the canyon, allowing equipment and workers to reach easily the overflow tubes on the sides of the canyon.

Hoover Dam stops up the Colorado River and behind it is this: Lake Mead. This is the view as you drive from the funny little town of Boulder City to Hoover Dam. Lake Mead is a huge oasis in an otherwise dry desert landscape, and is surrounded by its own National Recreation Area. It's funny to drive through the desert (between Hoover Dam and Valley of Fire State Park, for example) and see signs for boat launches. In many places you can't see the lake from the road! (I also find it unfortunate that such a lovely place has to have a web URL that calls it "lame": http://www.nps.gov/lame/)