TAMING A RIVER
The once-wild Colorado River has been tamed. A mighty dam keeps the
river from overflowing and flooding houses and farmlands. Water from the
river goes to farms in three states. The river also makes electricity
for cities as far away as Los Angeles, California.
The dam that tamed the Colorado River stands in the Black Canyon.
Arizona is on one side, Nevada on the other. You can drive from one
state to the other on a road that runs on top of the dam. Inside the
dam, you can ride an elevator that goes down 44 stories, from the road
to a point near the bottom of the dam.
Behind the great wall of the dam, the river backs up to form Lake Mead,
one of the largest man-made lakes in the world. At the bottom of the
dam, the river water turns giant machines that make electricity.
The dam took thousands of workers five years to build. Before work could
begin, the workers had to have a place to live. The workers’
construction camp has become the modern town of Boulder Citv, Nevada.
Tons and tons of material were needed for the dam. A railroad and
highway had to be built just to haul supplies to the damsite. Enough
concrete was used in the dam to build a highway from New York to San
Francisco. And the dam contains enough pipe to reach from New York to
Chicago.
This great dam, one of the highest in the world, was called Boulder Dam
when it was finished in 1936. It was later renamed Hoover Dam to honor a
President of the United States.
