A
ride in and around the Hoover Dam gives an in depth knowledge of how the dam
was built. One cannot comprehend the engineering marvel.
After
listening to the complete history of how the Dam was built, what amazed me was
the 50 feet diameter diversion tunnels that were built on either side to divert
the Colorado river from the construction site.
Building
of the dam itself was epic.
How
much of concrete has gone into the making of the dam can be gauged by this
picture below.
The
three pictures below show the size of a nut and bolt that was used in the
construction.
From
the table below it looked like the shovel operators were the highest paid.
The
above picture shows the back of the dam. The gust of wind is very powerful at
this point. My cap was blown away while taking this picture.
At
its base (where the maximum water pressure is 45000 pounds per square foot) are
these generators that could produce 3 million horsepower and provide
electricity for three states.
A
dash of green in the desert.
A
statue depicting a worker in action. A total of 112 deaths were associated with
the construction of the dam.
Some
more statues indoors showing people at work.
I
liked Hansen’s sculpture of the two winged figures flanking a flagpole.
You
can drive your vehicle over the dam which can be seen in the video below.
The
view of the dam from the air is clicked by Snakefisch in 2005 and reproduced in
Wikipedia. The bypass bridge came later in 2010 in the wake of the terrorist
threat and even today enclosed box trucks are not allowed on the dam.
The
real wonder of this Dam was that it was completed 2 years before the scheduled
time !!
This
catapult (sling) caught my attention at the souvenir store. Reminded me of my childhood
where we always had a “catty” tucked in our back pocket. We used to make it
from the yoke cut out from a tree and the rubber from discarded tubes. The
material for the sling came from the leftover leather thrown away by the
cobbler. Total cost ? Absolutely nothing. Now the same are sold in fancy stores
for $ 14.
While
driving away from the dam (to the Grand Canyon) we could gauge the temperature
in the Arizona desert as can be seen from the picture above.
The video is below:
9 comments:
Very interesting article!Impressive story about this place and you got great pictures!Thanks for sharing!
Léia
Lovely write up and lot of good info, nice pics... Thanks for sharing..
Awesome and what ingenuity in the making.The pictures gave a glimpse of the gigantic job that had has paved the way for supply of power to three states.Thank you so much as I would not have known about this achievement otherwise.
I've never been to the Hoover Dam, so thanks for the tour!
Hello, here I am in Missouri and I've never been to Hoover Dam. You've shown me what I'm missing. Now I think I need to find a book and read about it. Thank you. Peace.
Wow!! nice place, pretty pics and a very good read.
Waiting for one on the Grand Canyon now..
yess I have been to this place too
:)
did ya visit grand canyon??
Yes Harman, did visit it and a post is coming up soon.
I didn't pay attention to all the details of the dam when I visited, now I read about it, I can recall what I enjoyed. look forward to your canyon pics! It is one subject that never tires me to paint.
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