Hoover Dam

Hoover Dam: What It Is, Why It Was Built, and What You Actually See

At peak construction in 1934, 5,000 workers were employed at the Hoover Dam site simultaneously. The project ran from 1931 to 1936, during the Great Depression, and provided employment when little else did. Ninety-six workers died in industrial accidents during construction. The persistent myth that workers were accidentally entombed in the concrete is false; the Bureau of Reclamation has documented this specifically and repeatedly. The concrete pours were carefully controlled with cooling pipes inside to prevent cracking as the mass set, and the records show no entombed workers.

The dam is 221 metres high and 379 metres wide at the crest, spanning Black Canyon on the Colorado River on the Nevada-Arizona border about 50 kilometres from Las Vegas. It created Lake Mead, the largest reservoir in the United States by volume, which at full capacity holds about 35 cubic kilometres of water. The lake has not been at full capacity in recent years; 20 years of drought combined with overallocation of Colorado River water have reduced the lake significantly. The “bathtub ring” of pale mineral deposits on the canyon walls above the current water level marks how far it has dropped. In July 2022 the lake reached 27 percent of capacity, the lowest since it was first filled.

What You Can Actually Visit

Walking across the dam crest from Nevada to Arizona costs nothing and is impressive: the canyon falls 221 metres below you on one side, and Lake Mead stretches north on the other. This is the best free experience at the site.

The Mike O’Callaghan-Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge, which bypassed the dam road when it opened in 2010, is the largest concrete arch bridge in the western hemisphere. The pedestrian path across it, 274 metres above the Colorado River, gives the aerial perspective on the dam that photographs require. Getting there from the Nevada parking area takes about 10 minutes. It is also free.

The visitor centre tours range from a standard option at around USD 15 (visitor centre exhibits and power plant interior, with the massive generators visible) to a premium option at around USD 30 (deeper access including observation decks inside the dam body). The dam generates roughly 4 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity per year.

Practical Notes

The dam receives about a million visitors per year and is busiest in summer when temperatures in Black Canyon regularly exceed 38 degrees Celsius. Concrete absorbs and radiates heat; the surfaces around the dam are uncomfortable by mid-morning in July and August. Arrive before 9am or visit October through April.

Security is thorough: all vehicles are inspected and large bags and drones are prohibited. Budget an extra 10 to 20 minutes for the inspection process in busy periods.

Boulder City, between Las Vegas and the dam, was built as a planned government town to house dam workers and retains its 1930s character. It is the only Nevada city that prohibits gambling by charter and has a main street of Depression-era buildings that is a more honest version of Nevada history than anything on the Las Vegas Strip. Worth 30 minutes on the way to or from the dam.

Lake Mead

Lake Mead National Recreation Area surrounds the reservoir with camping, boating, and fishing. Striped bass and largemouth bass fisheries are the primary draw for anglers. The Alan Bible Visitor Center near Boulder Beach covers the Mojave Desert ecology and the dam’s broader water management context.