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Hoover Dam. It's difficult to truly understand the scale of it from the pictures.
That's a two lane highway running across the top of it!
The News Entry:
I knew what to expect, and still I was amazed. Piloting the half-ton of Valkyrie motorcycle down out of the mountains I rounded a bend and as I began to descend the steep grade, got my first real view of Hoover Dam. Amazed is probably an understatement. Stunned is closer to the truth. I really wasn’t expecting to be surprised, after all, I had come here on purpose, riding a couple-hundred miles out of my way on a whim just to see it, so it’s not like it snuck up on me. Besides, it’s a famous structure. Everybody’s seen pictures. I’ve even watched the PBS special on its construction.
Yet stunned I was. I pulled the big bike onto a turnout, shut her down, and just stared. This moment, this one stop, was worth the entire trip. Five thousand miles for this single view, and I’d do it all over again.
I am a builder. A doer. I know what it takes to build things. I’ve seen the pictures, and now I’ve been there. The pictures cannot do it justice. It is not possible to understand the scale of Hoover Dam without seeing it in person...and it's not possible to understand the importance of the project without taking it in context...in my case by riding through the desert for over 3 days in order to reach the site. If you've not been out west (and NOT just on a plane), it would be difficult to understand the sheer importance of this structure.
For me, this is one of the defining characteristics of being human. We dreamed it. It’s impossible. We built it anyway. Giga-watts of cheap, clean power. The more than 4 BILLION Kilowatt-hours of clean power the dam produces each year—and has for the last 66 years—has kept billions of tons of pollutants out of our environment that would have been a byproduct of power generated in more conventional manner.
Water to bring life to the desert. Power to bring light to the night. Men dedicated...and sacrificed their lives for this.
A monument to the builders is inscribed and sums it up nicely.
The inscription reads:
It is fitting that the flag
of our country should fly
here in honor of those men
who, inspired by a vision of
lonely lands made fruitful,
conceived this great work
and of those others whose
genius and labor made that
vision a reality.
The men that conceived, planned, approved, and built this structure are truly great men. It makes me proud.
More infomation about Hoover Dam can be found at www.usbr.gov/lc/hooverdam.
This world, and the things we can do in it, is truly amazing. It’s out here. Come and see.
Gotta go. I'm off to dream incredible things.
I’ll see you on the road.
My Blog Entry:
Dream Incredible Things...Build Big Stuff
Dam (spelling intentional) you all!
Okay, that sounds a bit harsh...so Hoover Dam you all! Hoover Dam you all to...well...to Arizona...or Nevada...your choice...(it's on the border)
For me, this is one of the defining characteristics of being human. We dreamed it. We built it. Gigawatts of cheap, clean power. Water to bring life to the desert. Men dedicated...and sacrificed their lives for this.
Funny, if you think about it. Today, this would be called "pork barrel" legislation.
The monument, a fitting inscription
The inscription reads:
It is fitting that the flag
of our country should fly
here in honor of those men
who, inspired by a vision of
lonely lands made fruitful,
conceived this great work
and of those others whose
genius and labor made that
vision a reality.
It is not possible to capture the scale of this thing in a photograph. That's a full, two-lane highway over the top of it!
The lake side
The powerhouses. Each houses 6 turbines, each turbine capable of supplying a city
AND we can be "arty" about it...Art Deco heavily influences the whole project.
The Statue, one of a pair.
I am a builder. A doer. It is not possible to understand the scale of Hoover Dam without seeing it in person...and it's not possible to understand the importance of the project without taking it in context...in my case by riding through the desert for over 3 days in order to reach the site. If you've not been out west (and NOT just on a plane), it would be difficult to understand the sheer importance...
The men that concieved, planned, approved, and built this structure are truely great men. It makes me proud.
I find it sad that a project like this would not be possible today. Environmentalists would cry fowl, socialists would point out all the people that money could house or feed, and politicians and lawyers would debate the funding clear into the next century (consuming all of it on the way).
The more than 4 BILLION Kilowatt-hours of clean power the dam produces each year for the last 66 years has kept billions of tons of pollutants out of our environment that would have been a byproduct of power generated in more conventional manners.
The Approach
This world, and the things we can do in it, are truely amazing. Come and see.
Gotta go. I'm off to dream incredible things.
More infomation about Hoover Dam is here.
CUAgain,
Daniel Meyer
Index Introduction Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Afterword
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