Top of Hoover Dam

Looking Down from Hoover Dam

Looking Down from Hoover Dam

The Hoover Dam was built in the 1930s during the Great Depression. It was project that was meant to tame the Colorado river which regularly floods the area. It was also built to generate electricity and millions of people now depend on it. While it may seem foolish to build a dam in the middle of the desert, it did help people out during the Great Depression. After all is it not strange to spend on infrastructure projects during times of recession to kickstart the economy. These days, it is also a major tourist attraction and I can see why.

Sheer Wall of Hoover Dam

Sheer Wall of Hoover Dam

The Hoover Dam is the second tallest dam in the United States. I think it is not difficult to achieve this in this area because there are a lot of deep canyons with steep walls which will make any dam built here very tall. Visitors can walk across the crest of the dam and can look all the way down at the now not so wild Colorado river. Behind me is the massive reservoir that is Lake Mead. It is incredible that the dam is holding back that much water. The sheer weight of the water must be immense. It is no wonder that disaster movies always feature Hoover Dam cracking and then breaking. I enjoyed my visit at Hoover Dam despite the incredible heat. I need to hurry back to the car now to make sure that I will not be driving in an oven.

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