Hoover Dam: Engineering a Colossus - Full Documentary

The construction of a dam mirroring the making of history.

Hoover Dam, on the Colorado River between Arizona and Nevada, is one of the biggest dams ever: 200 meters at its base, 220 meters tall and 380 meters large. It is taller than the Giza pyramid.
An unprecedented 3 billion cubic meters of concrete forms a 180 km long reservoir, the largest in the US.

Built during the Great Depression, Roosevelt hoped it would hold back the river, control floods, stock water, irrigate land and provide electricity.

Ambitions were high as engineers had to choose a shape and technique to build a 244-meter “plug” between the faces of a canyon with an amount of concrete that would have needed a century to cool down.

Working conditions were harsh, a man died every other day in the heat, as steeplejacks filed smooth the canyon.

Thanks to innovative ideas like the invention of the Jumbo Rig and the construction of a company town, water finally flowed towards 17 generators, rotating the turbines at 180 rpm and 160 km/h, ultimately providing energy to a vast area, including casinos in Las Vegas.

Today, it faces global warming and survival.

3D reconstitutions and interviews in this 52 minute-long documentary explains the challenges of a dam with a huge destiny.

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00:00 Intro
03:24 Main Part: Hoover Dam
53:40 Credits

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