Among the many man-made technological marvels in the world, the Hoover Dam on the Colorado River deserves a special mention. It is located on the border between Arizona and Nevada and is its importance could be gauged from the fact that it is the main source of electrical power, irrigation and flood control of the entire South-West United States. But more than that, it is a very popular tourist destination in the United States that draws scored of tourists each year.

The Hoover Dam gets its name from the country's 31st President Herbert Hoover who was supporting the project long before he became the President. It was, in fact, during his stint as the Secretary of Commerce that Hoover began developing a plan that would tame the unruly Colorado River and provide necessary electricity and irrigation to the peoples of Southern California, Nevada, and Arizona. It culminated in the legislation called the Boulder Canyon Project Act that was passed in 1928.

When Hoover Dam was built, it was the largest dam in the entire world. The first concrete was poured in September of 1930 and was completed in a mere five years. Given the sheer magnitude of the project, engineers developed a way to quickly cool and harden the concrete in order to expedite the project, which would have otherwise taken at least ten years to complete. The dam only cost $49,000,000 to build and the entire Boulder Canyon Project, which encompasses Hoover Dam, Imperial Dam, and the American Canal cost a total of $165,000,000.

There are a great many legends involving the workers on the dam. Approximately 16,000 workers?both men and women?had their hand in building the structure. Although some deaths did occur, contrary of popular belief, no one is buried inside the walls of the dam.

Hoover Dam's measurements are absolutely astounding, especially for the early 1930s. More than 4,360,000 cubic yards of pure concrete went into its construction, which made the dam the first edifice to contain more masonry than Egypt's Great Pyramids. Now, the dam ranks as the 18th highest dam in the world, standing 726.4 feet tall and measuring 1,244 feet wide at the top of the structure. The dam weighs an estimated 6.6 million tons!

Before the construction of the dam, the Colorado River often breeched its banks and flooded nearby towns and fields. It was to this purpose that the Hoover Dam and Boulder Canyon project was conceived. With the completion of this project, the destructive nature of this river gave way to a constructive one and its power was harnessed for the good of the residents of Southern California, Nevada, and Arizona. The 17 generators of the Dam could produce about 2000 megawatts of electricity.

In the process of producing power and irrigation measures for the Southwest, Hoover Dam also created a fantastic body of water, Lake Mead. Lake Mead is a fantastic destination that spreads over a whopping 146,000 acres and attracts flocks of visitors each year. The warm Nevada sunshine on the lake that is situated a few miles from Sin City itself, Las Vegas is an additional attraction.

Those of you interested to visit the Hoover Dam, should first take a behind the scenes tour of the Dam by checking out the visitor's center that is a sea of interactive information about the building and purpose of the dam. For the walk-"a-holics", it is advisable to take your best walking shoes as you would go the very summit of the dam.