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Transcript for The Story of Hoover Dam, segment 08 of 12
While this and another work on appurtenant features was going on, a continuous stream of concrete had been pouring into the dam forms. The structure neared its full height of seven hundred twenty-six feet, far above the crest of any other dam yet built by man.
On May twenty-ninth, nineteen thirty-five, two years after they had begun pouring, crews placed the last concrete in Hoover Dam, a total of three and one-quarter million cubic yards. This modern civil engineering wonder stood completed two and one-half years ahead of schedule.
On September thirtieth, nineteen thirty-five, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt dedicated Hoover Dam to the nation's progress. He praised its designers and builders. The dam stood like a sentinel, white and beautiful in the desert sunlight, guarding the river and its downstream wealth. Floodwaters lapped helplessly against its arched back as the reservoir filled. This manmade inland sea spread into the valleys and canyons among the colorful hills and mountains. Hoover Dam had conquered the Colorado.
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