; 10,000 people braved 102-degree heat (39 degrees Celsius) to hear the Boulder Dam (Hoover Dam) speech in person. Special men were required for the job, men called … By Rebecca Averill and Perla A. Vargas The history of the Hoover Dam dates back to the 1900’s when Black Canyon and Boulder Canyon Nevada were under review as a potential area to build a dam that would control flooding, provide irrigation, and produce hydroelectric power. It was broadcast to a radio audience of millions of people. The Story of Hoover Dam - Essays . Roosevelt’s Boulder Dam (now Hoover Dam) Dedication speech was front-page news in newspapers all over the country. If catastrophe struck the Hoover Dam and it somehow broke, a catastrophic amount of water from Lake Mead would be released. Millions of years of weather eroded the canyon walls. At its peak, more than 5,000 people worked on it at the same time. The project was massive. High Scalers. To put that area in perspective, the entire state of New Jersey is 9 million acres (3.6 million hectares). This stylish monument to the dam was dedicated in 1935. President Harry S Truman would sign the resolution that would reinstate the name Hoover dam to the structure on April 30, 1947. Why is it called Hoover Dam? The Hoover Dam, also called Boulder Dam, generates electricity and provides flood control. Before construction could begin on the dam, this loose rock had to be removed. The same reason, an arch is convex toward the load of masonry above and sides of it. Hoover Dam (originally called Boulder Dam) was finished in 1936, at which point it began damming the Colorado River to create Lake Mead -- the United States' largest reservoir. That is how the Hoover Dam got its name. The water pressure at the base of the dam is 45,000 pounds per square foot. Hoover Dam. Water froze in cracks and crevices, splitting the rock. This would require that any regulation, document or record in the United States that once referred to the damn as Boulder dam would need to be changed to Hoover dam. The sculptures at the dam were created by Oskar J. W. Hansen who saw his work as "a monument to collective genius asserting … Dam wall has hydraulic load waterside so, to counter the excessive load of water, the wall has been built convex in shape in the similar way of an arch. The new Hoover Dam Bypass Bridge is the second-highest bridge in the United States, The Mike O’Callaghan–Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge (Hoover Dam Bridge), is an arch bridge that spans the Colorado River between the states of Arizona and Nevada. It also creates a large lake used as a water reservoir and for recreational purposes. In Black Canyon, under the Boulder Canyon Project Act, it shall be called the Hoover Dam.” Hoover was Wilbur’s boss and the current president of the United States, Herbert Hoover. Hoover Dam is 724.6 feet high and weighs 6,600,000 tons. The figures have weathered to a green patina, but the toes are burnished to a soft gold by countless tourist hands. That water would likely cover an area of 10 million acres (4 million hectares) 1 foot (30 centimeters) deep. The bridge now carries U.S. Route 93 traffic over the Colorado River. Hoover Dam is named for Mr. Herbert Hoover , the Nation’s 31st president.