Case Analysis on Hoover Dam Construction Video

Comprehend/Summarize Case Situation

Man first attempted to tame the 1,400-mile Colorado River in 1901 through the building of a canal system that brought it into lower California in order to develop an agricultural center. This lasted for approximately four years before the canal failed and in 1905 begun a two decade long flooding issue in an area of 150 square miles. Beginning in 1907, people began investigating the possibility of where to build a dam to control the Colorado River. It fell to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which had been charged with irrigating the West, and in 1920 begun the Boulder Canyon Project to dam the river. The Bureau sent teams of survey crews down the river in order to determine the best place to build the dam. It took four years of surveying and tests, but eventually Black Canyon was chosen on the Arizona-Nevada border in 1917 as the location for Boulder Dam. It was estimated that the project would cost $165 million dollars.

Diagnose Problem Area(s)

There were a multitude of problem areas for the Hoover Dam or Boulder Canyon Project over the course of the entire project, beginning with gaining the necessary contracts to build on the land through negotiation with seven states owning land that would be impacted by the project. In addition, gaining the necessary funding from Congress and necessitating extensive lobbying from the Western states. After the announcements were made public, there were issues with the workforce due to a massive relocation of people flooding into the area during the Great Depression, including a lack of living areas and facilities, a harsh environment and weather/temperatures, unemployment, and roads. In essence, the workers had a massive undertaking, they "would have to build two power plants at the base, dig four long tunnels through hard canyon rock to divert the river around the work site. They would need to pour 4 ½ million cubic yards of concrete and build a city in the desert, virtually overnight, to house 5,000 workers and their families." (Stept, 2009)

State Problem

Although the government had recognized the necessity of building a dam to hold back the Colorado River and determined the location for the project, it required "whoever did the job to come up with a $5 million performance bond, a risk far beyond the means of any one construction company." (Stept, 2009) In addition, once a company had been determined, a project leader/engineer would have to be selected to build the dam and head