May 2, 2018
Glen Canyon Dam is 710‘ tall and built from 4.9 million cubic yards of concrete. 300′ thick at its base, it narrows to 25 feet thick at the top. Both on the Colorado River, Hoover Dam is 16′ taller but used less concrete to build.
The first stage was building the bridge overhead. Then they drilled diversion tunnels on both sides to divert the river. In 1963, the diversion tunnels were screwed shut causing the waters of the Colorado River to back up 186 miles forming Lake Powell. It was Lady Bird Johnson who dedicated this dam. It took thousands of workers to build this project and this is how Page, Arizona was born. Today, this is a town of just over 7,000 people yet is visited by millions each year.
We traveled a total of 64 floors into the bowels of the dam.
1000 gallons a minutes seeps through the dam and is pumped back into the Colorado. You can see the drainage ditch along the wall.
This dam provides electricity to parts of Arizona, Colorado, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming.
Mary Lee, this dam provides electricity to Duckwater Shoshone Tribe.
Although the dam tour was interesting I understand the impact it has on the environment and man’s interference with nature.
Wow! These pictures are great!!!
Very interesting! How did you descend into the bowels? Elevator? Stairs? That would be quite a hike. You guys will be in great shape after all these hikes. Love ❤️ u