Completed in 1936, Hoover Dam, * through the generation of electricity and the orderly dispersal of its waters, fueled the incredible growth of southern California- its large cities, its industrial base, its massive agricultural industry- and created Lake Mead, the world's largest man-made reservoir. The project's goal: Build a huge dam- the largest ever built- across the Colorado River on the Nevada-Arizona border to harness the power and riches of the mighty river.

Perhaps as important, it asserted America's ability to overcome extreme adversity with technical ingenuity, physical prowess, and unwavering resolve. (NWDNS-79-AA-B04)Īs the Great Depression deepened in the early 1930s, a monumental civil engineering project known as the Boulder Canyon Project captured the nation's attention and stirred its imagination.Ĭoming amid widespread poverty and unemployment, the massive project not only provided jobs to thousands of unemployed men but offered some of the most complex engineering challenges ever tackled.

Close-up of a section of Hoover Dam, 1942, by Ansel Adams.