Photo Every Day 2025

One highlight from my recent trip to Las Vegas taking a few hours to drive out to the Nevada / Arizona line see the Hoover Dam. The dam is located on the Colorado River, about 35 miles southeast of Las Vegas, Nevada, and it is a major source of water and hydroelectric power for the surrounding region. A significant portion of the dam’s hydroelectric power is distributed to Arizona, Nevada, and California.

The Hoover Dam was constructed during the Great Depression. Construction began in 1931 and concluded in 1936. Thousands of workers helped with the construction, and more than 100 workers lost their lives as a result of the dangerous work required to complete the task.

One interesting fact about the Hoover Dam is that construction began under the leadership of President Herbert Hoover. All of the congressional conversations and bills concerning the dam referred to it as “Hoover Dam”. However, in 1933, following the national devastation of the Great Depression, Hoover lost reelection to Franklin D. Roosevelt. When construction of the dam was finally completed in 1936, President Roosevelt officially named it “Boulder Dam”. The dam retained that name until 1947. In 1947, two years after Franklin D. Roosevelt was no longer President (FDR was President for four straight terms, from 1933 – 1945, actually died in office), congress officially restored the original name of the dam back to the name that we know it as today: Hoover Dam.