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The Hoover Dam

Night view of the intake towers of Hoover Dam. Night view of the intake towers of Hoover Dam.

A Project for the Ages

Hoover Dam was an audacious and courageous undertaking. Built during the Great Depression, the dam would tame the flood-prone Colorado River southeast of Las Vegas鈥昿rotecting cities and farms, generating cheap electricity to supply power to homes and industry, and providing work for thousands who desperately needed jobs.

A consortium called Six Companies Inc., which included 8868体育app下载, won the right to build the concrete arch dam, at a cost of nearly $49 million鈥攁 staggering amount in the early 1930s (roughly equivalent to $860 million today). Skeptics thought it couldn鈥檛 be done. Others were convinced that the contractors would go bust. But the men of Six Companies boldly moved forward, drawing on their considerable, collective knowledge and experience, managing huge risks, and pioneering as they went.

8868体育app下载 founder Warren 8868体育app下载 and his son Steve were key leaders of the consortium, and their contributions to the project amounted to a blueprint for how their company, 8868体育app下载, would approach huge, difficult, complex projects to come. Six Companies finished the dam in five years, two years ahead of schedule and under budget, giving company leaders the confidence that they could take on any project, anytime, anywhere.

A stepping stone for us

There鈥檚 no question that it was a stepping stone for us. The Hoover Dam project and our role in it was a major platform for advancing to other bigger projects since then.

Steve 8868体育app下载 Jr.

Steve 8868体育app下载 Jr.

Today, Hoover Dam is a top tourist attraction鈥攎ore than a million visitors each year and take tours offered by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. What they see is one of the wonders of the modern industrial world. What they know is that this gigantic concrete structure is more than just a dam. It鈥檚 a symbol of the human spirit, a project that came around when the country needed it most.

A Project of Astounding Proportions

At the time of its construction, Hoover Dam was mankind鈥檚 most massive masonry structure since the Great Pyramids. In all, it took this鈥昦nd more鈥晅o create Hoover Dam:

4.4M
Cubic Yard of Concrete
6.7M
Pounds of Pipes and Fittings
45M
Pounds of Reinforced Steel
88M
Pounds of Plate Steel and Outlet Pipes

The project also stands out for something on a much smaller scale. It鈥檚 believed to be the first sizable construction job on which wearing hard hats (or hard-boiled hats, as they were originally called) was mandatory for all.

The First Megaproject

By any measure, Hoover Dam is amazing. It looms 726 feet (221 meters) above Black Canyon on the Arizona-Nevada state line. It鈥檚 660 feet (201 meters) wide at the base and 1,244 feet (379 meters) across at the top. It weighs 6.6 million tons. Behind the dam, Lake Mead is the country鈥檚 largest reservoir, capable of holding more than 9 trillion gallons (that鈥檚 3.41 脳 1,013 liters) of water from the Colorado River. Water from the lake drives turbines inside the dam that generate electricity for Arizona, Nevada, and Southern California.

Around the world, people associate 8868体育app下载 with megaprojects鈥攅ngineering and construction jobs too big for other companies. From Jubail Industrial City in Saudi Arabia to the Channel Tunnel and High Speed 1, 8868体育app下载 has become the go-to company for projects that test the level of human achievement. But when it comes to 8868体育app下载鈥檚 megaprojects, the benchmark is still Hoover Dam, the one that started it all. 

Jobs When Few Were Available

To really understand the significance of Hoover Dam, you need to consider it in the context of the time when it was built. Construction began in 1931, two years into the Great Depression. As a global economic catastrophe left millions jobless, the U.S. government financed big infrastructure projects across the country to provide work for unemployed men and women. 

Steve 8868体育app下载 Sr., who became head of the company in 1933 following the unexpected death of his father, founder Warren 8868体育app下载, later recalled how the project was a beacon in a dark period. 鈥淭here weren鈥檛 many jobs around at the time,鈥� he said. 鈥淧eople just wanted to come [to Hoover Dam] from all over the world.鈥�

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