Greetings from the Hoover Dam !

Hi All

Continuing our trip back to Las Vegas, we got off the local Interstate (here known as Interstate 40)

and took the secondary road – Highway 66. Before the Interstate network was built, this was one of the only ways to cross the country. Of late, Highway 66 has become quite historic and many books, movies and TV series have been produced about it.

Our first picture shows a mile marker along Highway 66 in this case near Seligman, Arizona. Our next stop was the Hoover Dam. This was a massive project to dam the Colorado River. It was constructed between 1930 and 1935 during the depression and is 726 feet high built entirely of concrete.

The second photo shows the dam and part of Lake Mead which was created by the dam. In the background is the new bridge which was recently built to alleviate a traffic bottleneck over the dam.

The third photo shows the downstream side of the dam with the hydroelectric infrastructure. Hoover Dam produces over 1.3 million kilowatts of electricity. It provides all the electricity for Las Vegas and a large portion of Los Angeles in California. Notice the distinctive high water mark along the rock above the river.

The final photo shows part of Lake Mead which was formed when the dam was built. It has many uses including the marina we have here. The lake is over 110 miles long and irrigates more than 1 million acres throughout the U.S. and Mexico. It is known as the Lake Mead National Recreation Area and is managed by the National Park Service.

Talk to you next time.