LAKE MEAD The Story of Boulder Dam

ROLLING SWIFTLY on its tortuous course through the hot, arid southwestern United States, battering its way through deep canyons, the Colorado was considered America's most dangerous river.

Man's desperate need of water caused him early to turn speculating eyes on the Colorado, but whenever he tampered with the river he brought disaster upon himself.

Farmers, tempted by fertile desert soil, tapped the Colorado for water to irrigate and create rich gardens—and annually the river rose to destructive floods and annually, by fading away, it reduced the water supply upon which their lives and crops depended.

A great cry finally arose for the control and conservation of the waters of the Colorado, the most valuable natural resource of a desert empire.

The cry was answered: Reclamation engineers successfully mastered the Colorado with the most magnificent dam the world has ever seen—Boulder Dam.*

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*Web Edition Note: Boulder Dam was officially renamed Hoover Dam on April 30, 1947.

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The dramatic engineering achievement of building Boulder Dam has aroused great public interest. This booklet tries to satisfy that desire for information.

The greatest engineering achievement of all time. Boulder Dam, built by the Bureau of Reclamation, majestic in its clean lines, stands with one shoulder against the Nevada wall and the other against the Arizona wall of Black Canyon, forever to control the wild Colorado River.