How Hoover Dam was built, and the hidden problem that almost stopped it. In 1931, engineers realized a concrete wall this size would trap so much heat while hardening that it would take about 125 years to cool, and crack itself apart long before that. This documentary tells how they solved it and finished two years ahead of schedule.

In this documentary:
The 1905 flood that created the Salton Sea
Ragtown and the deadly summer of 1931
The strike that almost stopped the job
Four tunnels that moved the Colorado River
The high scalers who hung from ropes above the canyon
582 miles of steel pipe and a refrigeration plant inside the concrete
The hidden leak engineers fixed in secret from 1938 to 1947

CHAPTERS
00:00 The problem hidden inside the concrete
00:50 The river that flooded a desert
01:55 Seven states and one canyon
02:57 Six Companies and Hurry Up Crowe
03:54 Ragtown: the deadly summer of 1931
06:07 The 1931 strike
07:51 Moving the Colorado River
10:44 The high scalers
11:35 The 125-year cooling problem
12:50 582 miles of pipe
15:15 The human cost
15:43 Penstocks and power
17:43 Filling Lake Mead and the hidden leak
19:13 Dedication and legacy
21:47 How they cooled the dam

SOURCES
U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, Hoover Dam FAQ:
U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, Diversion Tunnels FAQ:
Michael Hiltzik, Colossus: Hoover Dam and the Making of the American Century (2010)
Joseph E. Stevens, Hoover Dam: An American Adventure (1988)
UNLV Special Collections, Ragtown and Boulder City archives

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