Who Built Hoover Dam
Hoover dam is a massive concrete dam located on the border between Arizona and Nevada in the United States. The dam was constructed in the Black Canyon of the Colorado River and the water it holds back forms Lake Mead. This water source is used as a water supply, for irrigation and for hydroelectric power generation. If you have ever wanted to know who built Hoover Dam, keep reading to find out.
Who Built Hoover dam?
There was much disagreement over the creation of a dam due to the many states that claim parts of the Colorado River. Fortunately, Herbert Hoover was able to settle these disputes over water allocation in 1922 when the 7 states signed the Colorado River Compact. This is one of the main reasons that the dam was named after him.
Planning for the dam slowly began to take shape after much debate in Congress about the safety of the type of dam and proposed site. In 1928 President Coolidge signed the bill to authorize the construction of the dam. After much debate an arch-gravity dam was chosen as the design for the dam. This design for the dam was overseen by the Bureau of Reclamation chief designer John L. Savage.
Bids for the project were opened in 1931 and the government received 3 valid bids. The winning bid for construction went to a joint venture called Six Companies, Inc. They formed together specifically for this project and included the following smaller companies:
1. Utah Construction Company,
2. Morrison-Knudsen,
3. Bechtel Corporation/Henry J. Kaiser,
4. J.F.Shea,
5. MacDonald and Kahn &
6. Pacific Bridge company
There bid for the project was $48,890,955 and it was $5 million less than the next lowest bid. They were awarded the contract and construction began in 1931. They hired many skilled and unskilled laborers to complete the job, at one point they employed 5,251 people, and construction was completed in 1936. During construction 112 people died and 91 of these were employed by Six Companies, Inc.
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