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Today in LA History - Hoover Dam Starts Electrifying Los Angeles
Way back in 1936 the Feds took lemons and made lemonade. Or in this case, they took the snowfall and subsequent runoff that often flooded the Colorado River, and made a dam that regulated the river and harnessed the energy of all of that water, and turned it into electricity for LA.
Originally named Boulder Dam and then renamed for the President who okayed the project, Hoover Dam not only produced power for our city, but much-needed fresh water.
When it was finished in 1935, the towering concrete and steel plug was the tallest dam in the world and a powerful symbol of the new federal dedication to large-scale reclamation projects designed to water the arid West. In fact, the electricity generated deep in the bowels of Hoover Dam was only a secondary benefit. The central reason for the dam was the collection, preservation, and rational distribution of that most precious of all western commodities, water. - History Channel
Hoover Dam created the country's largest man-made lake, Lake Mead, which today announced that it is the 5th most popular US park, nabbing more than twice as many visitors as the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, or Yosemite.
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