Dam Tour

When I first laid eyes on Independence Hall in Philadelphia a few years ago my first thought was “Gee, it looks just like the one back home.” That’s not surprising since I grew up taking the occasional trip to the full scale replica at Knott’s Berry Farm. Across the street at the park proper were the log ride and the Calico mine ride which both featured the distinctive smell (more here) of cool dampness seeping through ersatz rock. Can you guess, then, my first thought when we walked through damp tunnels deep in the bowels of Hoover Dam hewn from the solid rock of the surrounding canyon? I guess this is the irony of “America's obsession with simulacra and counterfeit reality”--the fake becomes the standard against which the real thing is compared. But in spite of the brutally honest rock, so much about the dam itself feels conspicuously staged, from art deco niceties incongruously adorning industrial walkways to the surrounding geological features which lends the venue a cozy isolation like the lit set of a darkened film-stage. Industrial wonders are as close as your local waste water treatment plant, but this interesting mix of industrial pragmatism and 1930s aesthetic is uniquely Hoover.

The intake towers, with its long, thin lines and polygonal top, look like something that could be mounted atop the Empire State Building.

I think many of us have been conditioned to think that power plants are these dark, dingy behemoths. By contrast, the dam's neat row of generators look like movie-set props. A set designer couldn't ask for anything more: a yellow glow from their innards and a bright red light on top remind us these are "real" working generators very much in the act of producing electricity. The floor is composed of modular panels, some of which are piled up near the yellow pipe in the foreground. This is obviously a practical feature, but even so the panels are covered in fine terrazzo flooring.

The walkway from which the generator picture above is taken is inlaid with the intricate design pictured below.

This is one of four giant pipes that feed each of the two banks of generators (one bank pictured above). That, or maybe a screen shot of a video game set in one of those ubiquitous, generic factory/plant/warehouse locales. The industrial green lighting and lime stains are there for the benefit of realism, no doubt.

Ditto for the lime stalactites beginning to form on the ceiling of this tunnel leading to one of the generator banks.

On the near side of the dam can be seen a couple of towers. These, believe it or not, are bathrooms. The bathrooms feature original period fixtures.

The art deco influence of the 1930s is evident throughout. The angels at this memorial honoring the workers that built the dam is classic

So is this stylized plaque. It looks like a scene that could have come from Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead.

One of those most interesting things I saw had nothing to do with the dam at all. Perennially congested, the section of I-93 that passes over the dam will be bypassed by a bridge currently under construction over the low side of the dam. The bridge is supported from below by a semicircular arch. Cantilevered sections of the arch are being erected from each side of the canyon and the ends are supported by a humongous overhead gantry. The whole thing is brightly lit at night and gives the dam that movie set feeling I alluded to earlier.

The visitor center features some great pictures as well. I especially loved the old black and white pictures of bespectacled engineers with their short black ties and pants that went up to their bellybuttons. Those were real engineers!

And that's my take on Hoover. For more conventional pictures you'll have to visit yourself. I hope you enjoyed your dam tour.