How Hoover Dam Was Finished Two Years Early

Hoover Dam's contract gave the builders seven years. The concrete was finished in just over four, and the government accepted the dam more than two years ahead of schedule. This documentary shows how: four diversion tunnels, the high scalers on the canyon walls, a dam poured as about 215 separate columns and cooled through 582 miles of pipe, and penstock pipes 30 feet across. It also covers what the speed cost: the heat of 1931, the strike, and the 96 official deaths, plus the deaths that were never counted. Chapters: 0:00 Intro 0:41 The river 1:55 The bet 4:34 Moving the river 6:34 The high scalers 7:39 The heat inside 10:44 The pipes 12:07 The finish 13:50 After Archive film (public domain, U.S. federal works): "Boulder Dam", U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation, photography B. D. Glaha: archive.org/details/tmp_BoulderD_2 · archive.org/details/BoulderD1931 · archive.org/details/BoulderD1931_2 "The Story of Hoover Dam", Bureau of Reclamation (National Archives 37058): archive.org/details/gov.archives.arc.37058 "Reclamation in the Arid West", U.S. Department of the Interior, 1936 (National Archives 11674): archive.org/details/ReclamationInTheAridWest1936 Photos: U.S. Bureau of Reclamation / National Archives, series "Boulder Canyon Project Histories" (public domain), via Wikimedia Commons: commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Construction_of_the_Hoover_Dam Maps: own graphics with Natural Earth data (public domain). Music: original. Narration: synthetic voice (ElevenLabs). Sources: usbr.gov/history/hoover.html usbr.gov/lc/hooverdam/faqs/damfaqs.html usbr.gov/lc/hooverdam/faqs/tunlfaqs.html usbr.gov/lc/hooverdam/faqs/lakefaqs.html usbr.gov/lc/hooverdam/faqs/powerfaq.html usbr.gov/lc/hooverdam/history/articles/chrono.html pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/hoover/ usbr.gov/lc/hooverdam/history/essays/coffer.html usbr.gov/lc/hooverdam/faqs/riverfaq.html usbr.gov/lc/hooverdam/history/articles/hhoover.html nps.gov/articles/nevada-and-arizona-hoover-dam.htm usbr.gov/lc/hooverdam/history/essays/wages.html usbr.gov/lc/hooverdam/history/essays/workforc.html usbr.gov/lc/hooverdam/history/essays/tunnels.html usbr.gov/lc/hooverdam/history/essays/hscaler.html usbr.gov/lc/hooverdam/history/essays/concrete.html usbr.gov/lc/hooverdam/history/essays/biggest.html usbr.gov/lc/hooverdam/history/essays/fatal.html usbr.gov/lc/hooverdam/history/essays/fat1931.html usbr.gov/lc/hooverdam/history/essays/fat1935.html usbr.gov/lc/hooverdam/history/essays/fat1932.html usbr.gov/lc/hooverdam/history/articles/rhinehart1.html usbr.gov/lc/hooverdam/history/articles/naming.html loc.gov/pictures/item/nv0244/ asce.org/about-civil-engineering/history-and-heritage/notable-civil-engineers/francis-crowe lindahall.org/about/news/scientist-of-the-day/francis-trenholm-crowe/ pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/hoover-workers-strike/ nvdatabase.swarthmore.edu/node/5098 nps.gov/lake/learn/historyculture/aggregate-plant.htm usbr.gov/lc/hooverdam/history/articles/fortune1933f.html usbr.gov/history/CommissBios/mead.html