Hoover Dam, Model for NAWAPA

7/31/2019 Hoover Dam, Model for NAWAPA

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NEW SOLIDARITY December 30, 1982 Page 4

A Model for NAWAPA:

HOOVER DAMTaming Nature for Agricultural and Industrial Development

by Glenn Mesaros and Jeanne Bell

Aerial view of the Hoover Dam. This great engineering project completed under the

Roosevelt administration provides a model for the next stage of continental water

developmentthe North American Water and Power Alliance project.

At the turn of the century, a mammoth water development and flood control projectwas begun in the western states of America which serves as the paradigm for theneeded upgrading and expansion of water development represented by the NorthAmerican Water and Power Alliance. The story behind how the Hoover Dam was

built is the true history of the "taming of the West," making it habitable andcapable of transforming barren desert into fertile farmland.

The area surrounding Los Angeles, stretching eastward throughout southernCalifornia, Arizona, and into the hills and mountains of New Mexico, was in thosedays desert. The Imperial Valley of southern California was sparsely populated,


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although a slave-style cotton economy was developing on the Mexican side of theborder. A few brave settlers north of the border attempted to farm in the rich landsof the Colorado River delta, but were frequently forced out by floods each spring.

To the north of this desert lay equally inhospitable and barren lands, characterizedby the Grand Canyon and Death Valley. The only source of life flowing throughthis territory was the mighty Colorado River, draining the Rocky Mountains to thenortheast, having long before cut the Grand Canyon out of rock, on its way to theGulf of California.

The Colorado's rock-hard river bed enables it to carry more silt to the ocean thandoes the Nile, because the fast-moving water of the Colorado does not allow silt tosettle along the way. Unharnessed, this river used to flood each spring as themountain snows melted and roared southward, draining the area of seven states.

Later each year, the river would slow to a trickle, leaving the southern area aparched desert.

Today, more than 10 million people live in the Los Angeles area, its growth themost rapid settlement of a city in the history of mankind. The Imperial Valley isthe most capital-intensive and per-acre productive farmland in the nation, sendinglush varieties of lettuce, peas, spinach, cantaloupes, grapes, citrus fruits, andstrawberries into eastern markets year-round. It no longer floods the way it oncedid in the Imperial Valley, and the entire southern California area has plenty of

water to drink and electricity to irrigate its land. In the same region wasestablished the backbone of the nation's vital defense industry, developed duringand after World War II.

Man's Dominion Over Nature

What happened to transform this inhospitable desert into the largest metropolitanarea in the United States? The Hoover Dam.

It is certainly ironic that the name most associated with the Great Depression wasgiven to one of America's greatest development projects. However, whilePresident Hoover was swept from history by events he did not comprehend, hisname on this project, in honor of his engineering ability, should serve tocommemorate the fact that some Americans rediscovered the American System ofAlexander Hamilton and Henry Carey in the development of the Colorado River

basin.


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These Americans financed and built the most expensive dam in world history, inthe depths of the depression, because they understood the basic principles ofeconomic development.

The Hoover Dam, or Boulder Canyon Project, was proposed as early as the turn ofthe century as the solution to the drench/drought cycle of the river basin. Surveyswere done by the Bureau of Reclamation, established in 1902, which carried outthe federal government's commitment to the settlement of the Westknown as theManifest Destiny of the American people.

"Manifest Destiny" was America's perception of its God-given right to fulfill theFounding Fathers' grand design for the republic to expand its borders to thewestern coast and develop the West just as they had built waterways, factories, andcities east of the Mississippi. This was the frontier then, just as space beckons to a

generation of Americans today; since the vast western regions were moreinhospitable than the eastern flatlands, even greater engineering challenges werefaced to assert man's dominion over nature.

The Boulder Canyon Project represented the apex of the West's response to thatchallenge. Engineers had to construct a cement dam over 700 feet high betweenthe sheer cliff walls of the Boulder Canyon, in order to plug and tame the river. Aseries of related projects, including aqueducts, canals, and other giant dams, hassince provided a system which uses every acre-foot of the Colorado River

productively for irrigation, power generation, flood control, and potable water.

The Colorado River has a flow of 50 million acre-feet of water annually. LakeMead, the man-made lake created by the Hoover Dam, has a 30 million acre-feetcapacity. This reservoir holds back the spring floods and regulates the summerwater flow to allow the downstream Imperial Valley enough water. Today thegenerators at the dam site provide about 4 billion kilowatt hours of electricityannually, at the sale price of $120,000,000. The sale of this water has paid backthe government's initial $175,000,000 investment in the dam with $215,000,000.The electricity provides peak load power to Arizona, Nevada, and Los Angeles,and smaller southern California cities.

When the Boulder Canyon Project was completed, there were not enough people inthe region to take advantage of the wide-ranging economic benefits, the fullexploitation of which depended upon developing the area's potential populationdensity. To aid this development, the Bureau of Reclamation published a book in


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1932 on the mineral wealth of the basin, which projected the development ofvarious electric furnace industries which could use the cheap electricity totransform this mineral wealth into usable products.

Before these projections could be realized, however, the Hoover Commission faceda more than decade-long battle in Washington before construction on a dam couldbegin.

Bureau of Reclamation

How the dam works: The Nevada wall of Black Canyon is shown as solid, whereas

the Arizona wall is cut away to reveal the intake towers, spillway, penstock pipes,

and outlet works. A similar set of diversion works is inside the Nevada wall of the

canyon.


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The River Shifts Course

The Bureau of Reclamation's first years were unfortunately dominated byenvironmentalists in the Teddy Roosevelt administration; Roosevelt himself was a

radical Malthusian. Under that administration, the Bureau's first studies of theImperial Valley rejected the possibility of further development, claiming the "soilwas too alkaline." These absurd studies were even conducted in fields of shoulder-high grain!

However, a geological shift took place in the river system which forced thequestion of development for the area. In 1905, the Colorado River shifted from itsriver bed in the delta, to another inthe Imperial Valley itself. While this mightseem curious, a look at the map of southern California shows a strange lakeformation called the Salton Sea, or Sink. Because of the heavy silt dumping in the

delta, as the river courses downstream to the Gulf, the river builds up a natural damagainst itself, causing it to periodically shift channels from the sea, into this sink,resulting in flooding of the entire valley.

Since the valley had, by 1905, already undergone substantial industrial develop-ment, including a railroad terminus, alarm bells went off as far away as the officeof Edward Harriman in New York City, who owned the Union Pacific railroad.Thus began a multimillion dollar war to turn the Colorado River back into thedelta, an effort that lasted several years.

The stage was now set for some monumental battles to convince Congress todevelop the area. The first skirmishes exposed some entrenched enemies ofdevelopmentHenry Chandler, owner of theLos Angeles Times, and his entourageof cotton farmers who owned land in Mexico, south of the Imperial Valley. Theyfarmed their land using the "coolie" labor of thousands of orientals and Mexicans.The cotton farmers resented the idea of industrially developing southern California,

preferring to run the region as a giant plantation. Chandler became a bitteropponent of the Hoover Dam, or of any water development for the region.

After the 1905 floods, the Imperial Valley farmers became determined to build an"All American" canal from the Colorado River to their valley. The only existingcanal from the river was built south of the border to service the land of the cottonmagnates. While the canal swerved north into the valley, the valley farmers knewthey could not depend on this arrangement.


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When the farmers lobbied the Bureau of Reclamation in 1917, they encountered amore pro-development group of people in Washington than in TR's administration.Chief engineer Arthur Powell Davis, a nephew of the explorer Major John W.Powell, had done extensive surveys of the river for the Bureau and had recom-mended a dam in Boulder Canyon in the first Bureau of Reclamation annual report.

Davis agreed that the Ail-American canal should be built, but, more fundamentally,he urged the farmers to lobby in Washington for a dam which could solve the basicdrought/flood cycle of the river system.

The concerted efforts of people from the Valley, including lawyer Phil Swing, ledto the formation of the Colorado River Basin Commission, composed of thegovernors, senators, and engineers of the seven states affected by the river system.This commission first met on Jan. 18, 1919, to discuss this proposal for a dam at

Boulder Canyon. The group sometimes went by the name Hoover Commission,for its chairman, then Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover.

Construction on Dam Begins

Eleven years after lobbying began, in 1931, construction finally began on theHoover Dam, only after a ruling was issued by the Supreme Court. Phil Swing hadsince been elected to Congress and helped usher through legislation in support ofthe dam.

The dimensions of the Hoover Dam project were enormous. While the technologyof dam-building in the United States had progressed beyond Europe's capability atthe time, the material requirements for this project alone were staggering. In 29years, the Bureau of Reclamation had contracted for all its projects a total of 4.5million yards of concrete; the Hoover Dam by itself required more.

Only the federal government could have successfully coordinated this job to itsconclusion. Six giant construction companies combined their resources and

manpower to bid for the contract. They were led by Henry Kaiser of Kaiser Steel.

Francis Crowe, an engineer for the Bureau of Reclamation since 1904, wasappointed chief engineer of the project. He had already built five dams in theWest, and innovated the technique of using aerial surveys to create a topographicalmap of dam sites.


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The technique of constructing dams with concrete, rather than earth, was alreadywell established, and quite simple. First, large diversion tunnels had to beconstructed, extending about 4,000 feet long, from above the dam site to well

below it. These were concrete-lined, and were about 56 feet in diameter, andallowed the Colorado River to flow around the dam site, so that it could beexcavated down to bedrock.

Tunnels were bored into the solid rock of the canyon site, a narrow gorge over1,000 feet high. Special jumbo drill carriages were used, with 15 drills mounted inthree levels of five each, tocut through the mountainside. These tunnels, seentoday, are connected to the spillways which allow for the overflow of the riverduring its flood stages.

Once the tunnels were constructed, large coffer dams were built just north of the

northern diversion tunnels' entrances, and just north of the southern exits. Thissystem conducted the river into the tunnels and prevented it from backing up intothe dam site. Finally, the site was clear, and ready for excavation.

Waterand Power Resources Service

The Hoover Dam system provides water and electricity to California, Nevada, and

Arizona. Pictured, irrigated land in California.

By this time, a vast, yet intricate infrastructural system was carved out of the desertto accommodate the increasing numbers of workmen and complex tasks they hadto perform. Again the government took the lead in providing such infrastructure,


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which would have overtaxed any one company. They built a whole town, stillstanding, called Boulder City, where the workmen and their families resided duringconstruction; it was a fully planned city and well laid out. The government also

built the United States' Construction Railroad, which had the task of bringing in theconstruction supplies from around the country. The railroad, too, had to be carvedout of the mountainside, and was operated from a ledge of the canyon to be able tolower buckets of concrete to the dam site. The government also built a concrete

plant to provide the huge amounts of concrete required.

Effects on the Economy

In addition to employing up to 5,000 men at the dam site for several years at decentwages, government surveys showed that for each 10 men employed, 18 weresupplying them materials from every state in the union. More than $1,000,000

depression dollars were spent on materials in each of the states of California,Pennsylvania, New York, Wisconsin, Utah, Illinois, Alabama, Massachusetts,Michigan, and Ohio.

The dam took shape about 18 months ahead of construction schedule, and the otherrelated projects of the program were started. These included the All Americancanal to take water from below the dam site to the Imperial Valley, the Imperial andParker dams to facilitate the aqueducts into southern California, and the ColoradoRiver Aqueduct to take water to Los Angeles. These projects employed from 10-

15,000 men for several years, concurrently with the Hoover Dam.

Thus, over 100,000 people directly benefited from the Boulder Canyon Projectaround the country from just the linear projections of on-site employment andsuppliers contracts.

Once the diversion tunnels had carried water around the dam site, and once it wasexcavated down to bedrock, the main task could begin. Never before had so muchconcrete been set at one site. Anyone who has watched concrete being set knows

that a large amount of chemical heat is generated in the process and it ultimatelycontracts after cooling. As the heat dissipates, the concrete tends to crack as itcontracts, a problem that is rectified by "grouting" it with a water and concretemixture, to fill in the holes.

The massive amount of concrete involved would have required a 150-year processof setting. So, an elaborate copper tubing system was designed to carry cool water


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horizontally and vertically across the dam, to hasten the cooling process. Ascientific analysis determined at what rates the concrete cooled in relation to theoutside temperature, which varied tremendously from summer to winter. Thus, thewater temperature was always scientifically set according to season changes,creating a uniform cooling system.

Cooling began in August, 1933 and ended May 1935; grouting commenced inMay 1934, and lasted 13 months until June 1935. A natural chemical process wasreduced from 200 years to 22 months.

As construction raced ahead of schedule at the dam site, various components forthe gigantic power plant were assembled in a specially made steel pipe production

plant at the site. Babcock and Wilcox built this steel plant for a bid just under$11,000,000. The firm delivered 4,600 feet of 30-foot diameter steel pipe, 1,900

feet of 25-foot, 2,550 feet of 13-foot, and 1,860 feet of 8 1/2 foot pipe; all of thepipe was between 1 and 3 inches thick, withstanding pressure of 19,000 pounds persquare inch. These enormous pipes carried water from the intake towers throughthe intricate series of pipes and spillways to the 15 mammoth generator turbines,which generated a capacity of 1,835,000 horse-power. Considering that the totalU.S. capacity for electrical generation at the time was 14 million horsepower, the

potential of the Hoover Dam project staggers the imagination. The power planthad 2 1/2 times the capacity of the world's largest hydro plant in the Soviet Union,at Dnieperstroy.

FDR Dedicates the Dam

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt dedicated the dam on September 30, 1935,calling it "an engineering victory of the first orderanother great achievement ofAmerican resourcefulness, skill, and determination. This is why I congratulate youwho have created Boulder Dam and on behalf of the Nation, say to you, 'Welldone.'"

Roosevelt in his speech, outlined the ripple effect that the mammoth dam projectwould have on other parts of the economy.

"In little over two years, this great national work has accomplished much. We havehelped mankind by the works themselves, and, at the same time, we have createdthe necessary purchasing power to throw in the clutch to start the wheels of whatwe call private industry. Such expenditures on all these works, great and small,


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flow out to many beneficiaries; they revive other and more remote industries andbusinesses. Money is put into circulation. Credit is expanded and the financialand industrial mechanism of America is stimulated to more and more activity.Labor makes wealth. The use of materials makes wealth. To employ workers andmaterials when private employment has failed is to translate into great national

possessions the symbol of the principle. The mighty waters of the Colorado wererunning unused to the sea. Today we translate them into a great national

possession. . . . The national benefits which will be derived from the completion ofthis project will make themselves felt in every one of the forty-eight states. . . ."

Following the completion of the Hoover Dam, the Bureau of Reclamationpublished a series of reports which focused on creating spin-offs from the project.One such publication, "Mineral Resources and Possible Industrial Development inthe Regions Surrounding Boulder Dam," focused on using the new electric

furnaces created using the Dam's technology, to create a new generation of heavyindustries in the western region.

The survey reported that great mineral deposits of fused alumina and mullite couldmake sparkplugs and refractory brick. Other minerals and potential usesmentioned were: ferro-manganese for steel plants; ferro-tungsten for exports;caustic soda and chlorine for petroleum refining and soap production; copperrefining for export; copper alloys for rolling steel mills; steel ingots and castingsfor steel mills. Other potential benefits in the region were the reduction of iron ore

by electric furnaces; synthetic graphite, silicon carbide, and the list goes on.

From Bureau of Reclamation figures we can see the annual value of some of thebenefits derived from the Hoover Dam: hydroelectric power$120 million;water supply$175 million; recreation $19 million; flood control$7 million.The total is $321 million annually.

The average annual operating expenses for the entire dam and power plant will beabout $5 million for each year, the next five years. That is not a bad return oninvestment; in fact, $215,365,591 has been repaid into the federal treasury since1937, which is more than the original cost of the dam$175,000,000.

Similarly, we can take a look at the range of benefits from the Colorado Riverbasin projects which sustain the living standard of more than 20 million people inthe southwest.


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Flood control. Lake Mead contains a capacity of 28,537,000 acre feet of water; ithas a maximum depth of 500 feet, and extends 110 miles behind the dam. Flowregulation allows a steady regulated stream of water downstream, without droughtor flood conditions all year round. This regulation, which is seasonally adjusted inanticipation of spring flood, can reduce upstream flood flows from 122,000 cubicfeet per second to 31,000 cubic feet per second.

Irrigation. Almost all of the million irrigable acres of land in the southern basinare now under year-round cultivation. During the winter, cattle, sheep, and poultryare pastured, in addition to dairy cows. The value of the Imperial Valley cropsalone totaled $398 million in 1974, from 450,000 acres of land under irrigation.

Water supply. While the All American canal and the Coachella canal irrigatesouthern California, the Colorado River aqueduct diverts more than 350 billion

gallons of water annually to the 10 million people in the Los Angeles metropolitanarea, covering a 4,000 sq. mile area. This aqueduct was, when constructed in 1961,the longest canal in the world. It carries the water across 400 miles or desert.

Sediment control. The Colorado River no longer carries sediment to its mouth.Glen Canyon Dam was built upstream of the Hoover Dam, to stop and collect 266tons of sediment every minute.

Recreation. Millions of people annually swim, fish, and boat in Lake Mead. The

area surrounding the dam has become a sanctuary to more than 250 species ofbirds, water fowl, and sheep.

Hydro power. Sixteen huge power transmission lines at Hoover Dam carry theelectricity of 17 generators as far away as Los Angeles, 266 miles away. Totalcapacity exceeds 1,344,800 kilowatts, or 1,857,000 horsepower.

Power is supplied from these generators to the following areas, providing thepercentage of total power for that area, as listed.

Arizona: 17 percentNevada: 17 percentMetropolitan water district of Los Angeles: 35 percentLos Angeles: 17 percentSouthern California: 8 percent


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The other dams in the river basin also produce power; combined, an equivalent ofsix million barrels of oil is generated each year.

Since the Bureau of Reclamation published its studies calling for the creation of

new industries in the region, industries have developed in the Southwest as spin-offs of the project. Among them are: tungsten at Bradensburg; steel at FontanaKaiser works; borax near Kramer; cement at Victorville; aluminum at Torrance;

burcite, magnesite, silica sand, manganese in Nevada; and copper production inArizona.

The example of the Hoover Dam project proves that the American System methodof developing new industries works. It is long overdue that the Hoover Dam'smodel be followed and expanded through the North American Water DevelopmentAssociation plan, proposed by the Great High Plains Water Council, to bring water

from Canada and Alaska to the continental United States and Mexico for a range ofdevelopment purposes. And beyond this continent, the lessons of the Hoover Damcan be used to help solve the deadly drought flood cycles still experienced inAfrica and other parts of the Third World.

Documents

Hoover Dam, Model for NAWAPA