7 Hoover Dam Facts for Kids
Hoover Dam is the largest Dam in the US. It was constructed between the years of 1931-1936. It is a huge structure. It is 726 feet high. Over 1200 feet across 660 feet thick at the base and 45 feet thick at the top. It weighs over 6 million tons. It is estimated that over 20,000 cars a day drive over the dam from Nevada to Arizona in each direction.
1. The amount of concrete that it took to build the dam is enough to build a two lane highway from Seattle WA to Miami Fl or to build a sidewalk long enough to go around the globe. Over 8 million pounds of dynamite were used to blast the sight used for the Hoover Dam. During the construction every state in the US sent supplies.
2. It has the capacity to store up to 2 years’ worth of flow from the Colorado river. There are plenty of myths that surround the Hoover Dam. One of the most popular is that the people that died during the construction are buried in the dam.
3. While there were 96 reported deaths during the construction of the dam no one was buried in the dam. During the construction period over 16000 men and women worked on the dam.
4.There are 17 generators at the dam. Each one of the generators can supply electricity to over 100,000 homes. Each of the generators weighs over four million pounds. Combined the generators can supply electrical power to a city with 750,000 people. During peak electrical usage there is enough water in the pipes to fill 15, 20,000 gallon pools in one second.
5.There are over 2,700 miles of electrical lines carrying electricity from Hoover Dam to Los Angles.
The Cost
6. The cost of the building the dam in today’s dollars would be astronomical. The cost of construction during the 5 year project was 90,000,000, today that cost would be over 160 billion dollars. It would take over $2 million dollars in copper pennies to fabricate the copper buses that carry electricity in the power house.
7. Lake Mead is the largest reservoir in the US. It contains enough water to flood all of NYC with 1 foot of water. Lake Mead was created when the Hoover Dam blocked the Colorado River and the Mojave Desert was flooded. At its deepest part Lake Mead is over 500 feet deep. Las Vegas gets its entire water supply from Lake Mead.
