Building America: Hoover Dam

by Craig A. Doherty, Katherine M. Doherty

Our nation's unique identity has been formed, in large part, by the monuments and landmarks we have erected. Structures such as the famous Gateway Arch in St. Louis or the Washington Monument in Washington, D.C., stand today as permanent reminders of the people and events that have built a strong America. Many of these structures made history even as they were created -- most integrated the latest in design and technology and required the skills of thousands of workers.

48 pages, Board Book

First published April 30, 1995

Reviews

[Mr. Kovach · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fun book to read if you are interested in how they build gigantic things. This was a truly colassal undertaking, to build a dam that would block the mighty Colorado River to control irrigation and flooding in the area, and to form Lake Mead. The most interesting thing about the description of the dam is how they built it in a curved shape, so as the water approaches the dam, it is guided by this curved shape to the right and left. In this way, the mountains on the side of the dam actually take the weight of the water - the dam merely deflects it to its side where it is trapped by the mountain. This book also has plenty of pictures that show the dams's progress during construction. If you are a student interested in engineering and building things, you should read this book.