Hoover Dam Hoover Dam Hoover Dam is a concrete arch-gravity dam in the Black Canyon of the Colorado River, on the border between the U.S. states of Nevada and Arizona. It was constructed between 1931 and 1936 during the Great Depression and was dedicated on September 30, 1935, by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Its construction was the result of a massive effort involving thousands of workers, and cost over one hundred lives. Originally known as Boulder Dam from 1933, it was officially renamed Hoover Dam, for President Herbert Hoover, by a joint resolution of Congress in 1947. Since about 1900, the Black
Steamboats of the Colorado River shared information about the conditions on the river above them. Robinson piloted the "Explorer" above the point reached by Johnson into the Black Canyon of the Colorado, where they struck a rock that damaged the boat, 40 miles above where Johnson reached. Ives named that rock "Explorer's Rock". While the "Explorer" was being repaired by his engineer, Ives, Robinson and the boat's mate, took their skiff over the next two days farther up the river exploring up through the Black Canyon and beyond to the vicinity of Fortification Rock. Next day, they went two miles farther to Las Vegas Wash,