THE CONSTRUCTION OF HOOVER DAM PRELIMINARY INVESTIGATIONS, DESIGN 434502 ORGANIZATION The Boulder Canyon project, of which the Hoover Dam is the principal feature, is being constructed by the Bureau of Reclamation, Department of the Interior, RAY Lyman Wilbur, Secretary. All activities of the bureau are under the general supervision of Elwood Mead, Commissioner, with headquarters at Washington, D.. C. Engineering and construction are under the direction of Raymond F. Walter, Chief Engineer, with headquarters at Denver, Colo., and Walker R. Young, Construction Engineer, at Boulder City, Nev. The personnel of the various offices is as follows: Secretary's office.-Ray Lyman Wilbur, Secretary; Joseph M. Dixon, First Assistant Secretary; John H. Edwards, Assistant Secretary; E. C. Finney, Solicitor; E. K. Burlew, Administrative Assistant to the Secretary; Northcutt Ely, Charles A. Dobbel, and William A. DuPuy, Executive Assistants. Bureau of Reclamation, Washington office.-Elwood Mead, Commissioner; Porter W. Dent, Assistant Commissioner; Miss Mae A. Schnurr, Assistant to the Commissioner; George O. Sanford, Chief of the Engineering Division; Percy I. Taylor, Assistant Chief of the Engineering Division; George O. Sanford, Acting Director of Reclamation Economics (Dr. Hugh A. Brown, Director of Reclamation Economics, deceased), L. H. Mitchell, Assistant Director of Reclamation Economics; W. F. Kubach, Chief Accountant; H. R. Pasewalk, Assistant Chief Accountant; C. N. McCulloch, Chief Clerk. At the Denver office, the assistants to the Chief Engineer are as follows: S. O. Harper, Assistant Chief Engineer; John L. Savage, Chief Designing Engineer; William H. Nalder, Assistant Chief Designing Engineer; E. B. Debler, Hydraulic Engineer; L. N. McClellan, Chief Electrical Engineer; C. M. Day, Mechanical Engineer; Byram W. Steele, Engineer on Dams; Ivan E. Houk, Research Engineer; Armand Offutt, District Counsel; L. R. Smith, Chief Clerk; A. McD. Brooks, Purchasing Agent. The field office for the Hoover Dam and power plant construction is located at Boulder City, Nev., and is in charge of Walker R. Young, Construction Engineer. He is assisted by John C. Page, Office Engineer; Ralph Lowry, Field Engineer; Sims Ely, Boulder City Manager; Roy B. Williams, Assistant Field Engineer; Earle R. Mills, Chief Clerk; J. R. Alexander, District Counsel; and by R. J. Coffey, District Council at Los Angeles. The Hoover Dam Consulting Board, acting in an advisory capacity on all matters pertaining to the project, comprises Louis C. Hill, David C. Henny, William F. Durand, and F. L. Ransome. Andrew J. Wiley, now deceased, was a member of the board up to October 8, 1931. The Colorado River Board, appointed by Secretary Wilbur, with the approval of the President, under authority of the joint resolution approved May 29, 1928, to examine the proposed site of the dam to be constructed and review the plans and estimates made therefor, comprised Maj. Gen. William L..Sibert, Chairman;. Charles P. Berkey, Daniel W. Mead, Warren J. Mead, and Robert Ridgway. (II) INTRODUCTION In order to understand Hoover Dam one must understand the relation of the Colorado River to the settlement and economic development of seven States of the arid region. A quarter of a million square miles send their waters down this river. Eighty per cent of its flow comes from two States, Wyoming and Colorado. Here are the lofty snow-capped mountains which furnish the turbulent summer floods. The lower part of the river flows through the hottest and dryest part of the United States. There are places where the annual rainfall is only three inches, where no rain falls in summer, and where the existence of civilized life depends on ability to use the water of this river in irrigation. Without irrigation the land bordering this river in Arizona and California is a hideous desert; with irrigation it provides pictures of agricultural opulence not surpassed in any part of the world. Without regulation the river has little value. The quick run-off, the absence of summer rains, make any large irrigation development, any large power development, uncertain and unprofitable, and it can not be depended on for the water supply of cities. Regulation of floods by storage is therefore the basis of all safe and profitable development. That requires a reservoir large enough to even out the variations of flow between seasons, and also to regulate the variations in flow in different years. Such regulation in now imperative because 800,000 acres of irrigated land and homes of 100,000 people depend on diversions made near the boundary between the United States and Mexico, and because of the rapid extension of irrigation in the Imperial Valley in California and in southwestern Arizona. These have created a demand for water greater than the low water flow of the river. An increased supply of pure water is also needed to supply the growing population of the cities and towns of southern California and the orchards and gardens which surround them. These social and economic changes have led the Federal Government to undertake to make available the entire flow of the river by building a dam which in size and in its future influence on the well-being of a large part of the arid region, is the most important undertaking now being carried on by the United States Government. (III) |