US Bureau of Reclamation
Workers on a “ jumbo rig ” designed to drill through tunnels at the Hoover Dam construction site , 1930s .
and an All-American Canal connecting the Colorado River to the Imperial Valley .
It soon became apparent there were just as many interest groups opposing the damming of the river as there were supporting the idea . Congress spent most of the next six years considering these and other questions :
• Was irrigation or flood control the main purpose of the dam ?
• Did its construction represent an attempt by the government to begin competing with private interests in selling hydroelectric power ?
• Why should all taxpayers finance a project aimed largely at providing water for one agricultural district ( Imperial Valley ) and one city ( Los Angeles ) in one state ?
• Should the President appoint a new commission to evaluate the competing demands for the Colorado ’ s waters before approving the construction of this dam ?
Finally , following congressional approval , President Calvin Coolidge signed the Boulder Canyon Project Act in December 1928 .
The centerpiece of that law was the dam to be erected in the Colorado River at the head of Boulder Canyon . Geologists had identified that site as the most likely location for a dam primarily because of the narrow width of the gorge at that point on the river . Throughout the 1920s , the renamed Bureau of Reclamation continued to investigate multiple sites within several miles of that point . In an important departure from its historic practice , the Bureau also employed two separate groups of consultants to review its plans and designs . In a report issued in December 1928 , one of those groups identified almost a dozen reasons why a site in Black Canyon ( 23 miles downriver ) would be a better choice for construction than the previously identified one . It also made recommendations for changes in the dam ’ s design and construction that raised the eventual cost of the entire Boulder Canyon
Project from $ 125 million as first estimated to more than $ 165 million . Even as geologists began signaling their preference for the new site , Reclamation ’ s management was electing to keep the “ Boulder ” name for both the project and the bill moving through Congress , believing it seemed less sinister than a title with “ Black ” in its name .
The law approving the Boulder Canyon Project stipulated that its purposes would be irrigation , navigation , power generation , flood control and water supply . An unusual provision prohibited construction from proceeding ( or even being contracted for ) until Secretary of the Interior Ray Lyman Wilbur received commitments for the purchase of hydroelectric power sufficient to insure the payment of all construction and maintenance costs for a period of 50 years . It took until April 1930 for the Secretary to weave through a thicket of competing political demands and approve contracts from both private power companies and public entities .
34 FINANCIAL HISTORY | Spring 2021 | www . MoAF . org