Hoover Dam Tours

The Hoover Dam, located about 30 miles southeast of the city on US route 93, is probably the best known tourist attraction just outside of Las Vegas. It was constructed between 1931 and 1936 using 5200 workers, and amazingly enough for a large government project, the Hoover Dam was finished two years before schedule and for $60 million, a very large figure at the time, but $15 million under budget.

The Hoover Dam project was conceived primarily to control menacing Colorado River floods and to conserve water. The Colorado River gets its water primarily from melting snow runoff off the Rocky Mountains. The Hoover Dam controls the flow of the river by trapping the water in Lake Mead, an artificial lake created by the dam. Any excessive water fills the lake instead of flooding the river basin. Lake Mead also serves as a 9 trillion gallon reservoir, supplying water to the surrounding area.

The base of the Hoover Dam is 660 fee thick, the top is 45 feet thick, and 4.5 cubic yards of concrete were used to fill the dam. The border between Nevada and Arizona runs right through the middle of the dam and splits the road that runs on top with a painted line. The ability to generate hydro-electric power is a welcome result of any dam construction, and consequently the Hoover Dam contains a 17 generator power plant.

You should start your visit by going into the visitor center and signing up for one of the Hoover Dam tours. The center is open every day from 9:00 to 5:00pm (except for Thanksgiving and Christmas), but it is advisable to come early to beat the crowds. Seeing all there is to see in the dam will take about two hours, so if you can't make it early, come the very latest at 3:00pm. No pets are allowed anywhere on the Hoover Dam site.

Unless you require the transportation, there is no real advantage to taking a bus tour just to see the Hoover Dam itself, as guided tours are given by the Hoover Dam tourist center. However, a Hoover Dam bus tour will most likely include visits to other area attractions and en route talks by a tour guide.

Following the terrorist attacks of 9/11/2001 security at the Hoover Dam has been heightened with more restrictions on visitors and tours. Possible sabotage of dam facilities is a concern, however, public worries in the days following the attacks of terrorists crashing a plane into the dam, thereby creating a breach and mass floods, were a bit far fetched. This is what my group's tour guide assured us during a visit in late 2001, and it does stand to reason. The Hoover Dam is a very thick wall of solid concrete, essentially making an extension to a canyon rocks. Crashing a plane into it would be like crashing a plane into a mountain. Any pilot wishing to crash a plane into the dam would encounter further problems from electrical wires crossing the canyon that leads up to the dam.