The Boulder Canyon Project was the federal undertaking authorized by the Boulder Canyon Project Act of 1928 to dam the Colorado River, control its flooding, store water for southwestern irrigation and municipal supply, and generate hydroelectric power. Construction of what became known as Hoover Dam ran from 1931 to 1936, employing thousands of workers during the Great Depression under a Bureau of Reclamation contract with the Six Companies consortium. The project's financing structure, in which power revenues repaid construction costs through long-term contracts with California and Nevada utilities, became a model for later federal hydropower projects across the American West.
Facts
Project TypeHydroelectric Dam Project 1 LocationUnited States (Nevada-Arizona border, Colorado River) 1 Completion Year StatusCompleted in 1936, ahead of schedule 2 ScaleBuilt Hoover Dam and a power station that reached about 2,080 MW; created Lake Mead, then the largest reservoir by volume in the United States 2 Connections
Uses Source
1928 US federal project that built Hoover Dam on the Colorado River.
In the Other Atlases
Sources
1. United States Bureau of Reclamation Site
United States Bureau of Reclamationhttps://www.usbr.gov/history/hoover.htmlQuote, https://www.usbr.gov/history/hoover.html
The Boulder Canyon Project Act authorized construction of a dam in Boulder or Black Canyon, construction of the All-American Canal to connect the Imperial and Coachella Valleys with the Colorado River, and divided the lower basin waters among the lower basin states.
2. Encyclopedia Britannica
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