Hoover Dam -- Spring Break
On Sunday we went to Hoover Dam. We hopped on a bus at 8:30 in the morning and headed out to Hoover Dam. Our tour guide was, well, interesting. There were a lot of dam jokes along the way.
The dam... The red speck on the left of the shot is a sedan driving across the dam. This shot is from the Nevada side.
This shot is from a roadside shop in Arizona.
This is an overflow tube that connects to the old outer bypass tube on the Arizona side. The original tubs were plugged after the dam was completed and these new overflow tubes were installed for when Lake Mead gets too high and needs to be drained. The first time they were used was in 1940 to test out the system. They were used again in 1983 when Lake Mead was 7 feet from the top of the dam. The tubs were used for over 60 days until Lake Mead was down to a safe depth.
This is the new bridge being constructed in a series for the new highway. It goes in a straighter line and will hold all the traffic not actually going to the dam. I forget how many feet the bridge is from the water but I can tell you it is higher up than the dam is tall. So anyone afraid of heights is going to want to take the old highway.
The two statues are the guardians of the dam. They are made of brass and the artist requested they not be polished or cleaned but allowed to age naturally. The only part of the statues that are nice and shiny are the 20 toes. The saying is that to rub all 20 toes will give you good luck. The kids were the first to rub the toes but we all figured a little extra luck wouldn't hurt.
A beautiful picture of Lake Mead. I love the layering of the rock. Lake Mead is the largest man made lake in the US with 247 square miles of water surface and 325,851 gallons of water. Lake Mead National Recreation Area was established in 1936 between the Bureau of Reclamation and the National Park Service. There is everything from camping to boating and hiking available there.
This is a scale model of the path of the Colorado River. It shows not only the Hoover Dam but several other Dams along the river that help control the floodwater. One of the most awesome facts is that the dam powers itself.
This picture was taken from one of the viewing areas off to the side of the dam. Because we are standing in front of the dam you don't really get a good idea of how big it actually is. We were told the base of the dam is 660 feet wide (about 2 residential blocks), the crest of the dam is 45 feet thick, is 1,244 feet (about 1/4 mile) long between Nevada and Arizona, and 726.4 feet above the bedrock (about a 70 story building). The town of Boulder City was built to accommodate the 5,000 workers it took to build the dam.
Other dams on the river are Flaming Gorge Dam, Glen Canyon Dam, Davis Dam, and Parker Dam. Several other dams do exist on the various rivers that feed the Colorado as well. The silt deposited has made for some fertile land but it was very unpredictable without the dam system in place. All together these dams keep the basin from going through the cycle of flood then drought. It was a great way to see and learn a little of history about American ingenuity. We also decided we need to watch Transformers 2 again since we have been to the dam because it doesn't really look the same in person as it did being destroyed in the movie. :)
The dam... The red speck on the left of the shot is a sedan driving across the dam. This shot is from the Nevada side.
This shot is from a roadside shop in Arizona.
This is an overflow tube that connects to the old outer bypass tube on the Arizona side. The original tubs were plugged after the dam was completed and these new overflow tubes were installed for when Lake Mead gets too high and needs to be drained. The first time they were used was in 1940 to test out the system. They were used again in 1983 when Lake Mead was 7 feet from the top of the dam. The tubs were used for over 60 days until Lake Mead was down to a safe depth.
This is the new bridge being constructed in a series for the new highway. It goes in a straighter line and will hold all the traffic not actually going to the dam. I forget how many feet the bridge is from the water but I can tell you it is higher up than the dam is tall. So anyone afraid of heights is going to want to take the old highway.
The two statues are the guardians of the dam. They are made of brass and the artist requested they not be polished or cleaned but allowed to age naturally. The only part of the statues that are nice and shiny are the 20 toes. The saying is that to rub all 20 toes will give you good luck. The kids were the first to rub the toes but we all figured a little extra luck wouldn't hurt.
A beautiful picture of Lake Mead. I love the layering of the rock. Lake Mead is the largest man made lake in the US with 247 square miles of water surface and 325,851 gallons of water. Lake Mead National Recreation Area was established in 1936 between the Bureau of Reclamation and the National Park Service. There is everything from camping to boating and hiking available there.
This is a scale model of the path of the Colorado River. It shows not only the Hoover Dam but several other Dams along the river that help control the floodwater. One of the most awesome facts is that the dam powers itself.
This picture was taken from one of the viewing areas off to the side of the dam. Because we are standing in front of the dam you don't really get a good idea of how big it actually is. We were told the base of the dam is 660 feet wide (about 2 residential blocks), the crest of the dam is 45 feet thick, is 1,244 feet (about 1/4 mile) long between Nevada and Arizona, and 726.4 feet above the bedrock (about a 70 story building). The town of Boulder City was built to accommodate the 5,000 workers it took to build the dam.
Other dams on the river are Flaming Gorge Dam, Glen Canyon Dam, Davis Dam, and Parker Dam. Several other dams do exist on the various rivers that feed the Colorado as well. The silt deposited has made for some fertile land but it was very unpredictable without the dam system in place. All together these dams keep the basin from going through the cycle of flood then drought. It was a great way to see and learn a little of history about American ingenuity. We also decided we need to watch Transformers 2 again since we have been to the dam because it doesn't really look the same in person as it did being destroyed in the movie. :)
Comments