Hoover Dam ... is located on the borders of Nevada and Arizona and is a principal source of flood control, irrigation and electrical power in the Southwest. Hoover Dam was for many years the largest dam in the world. It is now also one of the most interesting attractions in the west and a major tourist attraction. When you drive to the Hoover Dam from the Nevada side there is narrow winding road which takes you down to the dam site. Dark, rocky canyon walls that angle sharply to the bottom of Black Canyon face you as you make hairpin turns along the canyon walls of the Nevada side down to Hoover Dam.	Hoover Dam Information   Visitor Center and Tours   Is It Hoover Dam or Boulder Dam?   Flooding Before Hoover Dam   Driving Directions   Facts List And FAQ's   Hoover Dam Bypass Project Hoover Dam Photos  - Overflow Tunnels - Arizona Side  - Visitors Center - 'Bronze Turbine'  - The Hoover Dam Intake Towers  - The Front Of Hoover Dam  - Inscriptions And Dedications  - Drought Effects    - Bathtub Ring    - Intake Towers    - Spillways  - Inside Hoover Dam Nearby National Parks:   Lake Mead   Valley of Fire   Red Rock Canyon   Spring Mountains   Desert National Wildlife Refuge   Great Basin National Park   Zion National Park   Death Valley National Park Nearby Lodging:   Nevada Hotels   Boulder City Hotels   Henderson Hotels   Las Vegas Hotels   North Las Vegas Hotels   Mesquite Hotels   Overton Hotels   Laughlin Hotels   Arizona Hotels   Kingman Arizona Hotels   Lake Havasu City Hotels   Bullhead City Hotels
An entirely different approach to Hoover Dam is taken from the Arizona side. As one winds into Black Canyon you see the back of Hoover Dam and its intake towers. Currently this is a pretty good time to see them because the water level is way down. In the past, as we see by the photo on the left from 1999, the water almost completely covered them. We will try to give you an impression of what it looks like around Hoover Dam, a bit of information and a personal perspective. We try to use the photos taken through the last 5 years to show the effects of the current drought. In February 2002 we were invited by Hoover Dam management to take the tour and as many photos as we wanted. The photos and pictures that were taken then are on almost all these pages including the Visitors Center and 'Inside Hoover Dam'. Our deepest thank go to the people who manage and maintain Hoover Dam and the Bureau of Reclamation.
Taming the Colorado River  ... too thick to drink, too thin to plow .... Long before there was a Hoover Dam, the Colorado River flowed uninterrupted along its 1,450 mile course from the Rocky Mountains to the Gulf of California uninterrupted. For 12 million years the Colorado relentlessly carved out the Grand Canyon, Marble Canyon and other places along its path. As it cut its way through deserts, canyons and mountainous plateaus, the Colorado carried with it tons of silt to the lower Colorado and eventually out to the Gulf of California. Spanish settlers noted the reddish color of its silt and they gave it the name we know it by today, the Colorado River. In the past the muddy Colorado River was known by several names. In 1540, Hernando de Alarcon sailed to the head of the Gulf of California and later up the Colorado River which he name Rio de Buena Guia, or 'River of Good Guidance'. An interesting name considering that he did not find what he was looking for in the first place.

... a vengeful and unreliable river ....
Before the Hoover Dam was built, every spring the Colorado River flooded low lying areas along its route. The volume of water could often be huge as the Colorado basin drains an area of over 242,000 square miles. The silt that it carried created the huge delta in  the Gulf of California.

In the always hot southwestern summers, the flow of the Colorado River slowed to a trickle. For millions of years this was the natural cycle of the river.


In the nineteenth century, when the area along the lower Colorado began to be settled, the inconsistent nature of the river made it an unreliable source for irrigation. The wanton destruction caused when the river flooded in the spring had a deep impact on the farm lands near its banks.

In fact, the damage caused so much attention that by the 1920's, it had become necessary and politically expedient to control the damage caused by flooding along the path of the lower Colorado, especially in California.

Trying to control the Colorado was definitely not a new idea. Earlier attempts ended in disaster. The most famous disaster had almost completely and forever changed the geography and history of the entire lower Colorado region. To read more about this amazing incident CLICK HERE.

The role played by Herbert Hoove

... political animosities had to be resolved ....
Politically, there were an incredible number of obstacles for Hoover to overcome. Before work on the Hoover Dam could start, he had to help settle a 25 year water allocation controversy between the representatives of Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming. On November 24, 1922, these states signed the Colorado River Compact, settling this old conflict. The Boulder Canyon Project Act, which authorized the construction of Hoover Dam, was enacted on December 21, 1928.

As President, Herbert Hoover continued his involvement settling some of the engineering problems, water and power allocation rights and even securing the revenue contracts required by congress. Victimized by the harsh circumstances of his times, no critic can ever deny that Herbert Hoovers' greatest achievement was the engineering, organizational and political skills which he showed, to bring about the construction of Hoover Dam.

The role played by the Bureau of Reclamation
It was the policy of the Bureau of Reclamation to insure that every available drop of water from the various streams and rivers in the dry southwest United States was made available for either municipal, agricultural or industrial use. To this end, Hoover Dam and the dams which followed it, are very successful. Currently the lower Colorado river provides water to irrigate over 1,000,000 acres in the United States and 500, 000 acres in Mexico. Hoover Dam is the center piece to a water conservation and delivery system which provides water to over 22,000,000 people in Arizona, California and Nevada.

Hoover Dam is One of the Most Successful Public Works Projects Ever
If judged by the many benefits it provides, Hoover Dam is without doubt one of the most successful projects ever carried out by this or any other nation. The electrical power provided by Hoover Dam goes to Southern California, 56%, Arizona, 19%, and Nevada, which gets 25% of the allocation.

A by product of Hoover Dam is the Lake Mead National Recreation Area. Lake Mead provides year round recreational opportunities. Fishing, boating, swimming, hiking, camping and sight seeing are among the activities which draw 7 to 8 million visitors a year to Lake Mead.

What must be pointed out is how successfully the Bureau of Reclamation has alleviated the effects of the current drought which is one of the worst in centuries. In spite of all this even Lake Mead is still a great place to go boating and fishing.