<p begin="00:00:00.00" end="00:00:00.50" style="1"> </p>
<p begin="00:00:00.50" end="00:00:03.03" style="1">NARRATOR: This surprisingly lush landscape</p>
<p begin="00:00:03.03" end="00:00:05.26" style="1">has been coaxed from the desert with water</p>
<p begin="00:00:05.26" end="00:00:07.40" style="1">from the Carson River. </p>
<p begin="00:00:07.40" end="00:00:10.46" style="1">A series of reservoirs captures the water.</p>
<p begin="00:00:10.46" end="00:00:15.42" style="1">A wide-ranging irrigation system delivers it to farms and homes.</p>
<p begin="00:00:15.42" end="00:00:17.31" style="1">It's part of a statewide network designed</p>
<p begin="00:00:17.31" end="00:00:20.66" style="1">to help nearly bone dry Nevada make the most</p>
<p begin="00:00:20.66" end="00:00:24.42" style="1">out of every drop of water it gets.</p>
<p begin="00:00:24.42" end="00:00:26.34" style="1">And nothing else in that network,</p>
<p begin="00:00:26.34" end="00:00:29.19" style="1">or just about anywhere else, does that job</p>
<p begin="00:00:29.19" end="00:00:33.63" style="1">in a bigger way than this icon of American ingenuity,</p>
<p begin="00:00:33.63" end="00:00:36.44" style="1">the Hoover Dam. </p>
<p begin="00:00:36.44" end="00:00:39.49" style="1">The dam was constructed on the Colorado River.</p>
<p begin="00:00:39.49" end="00:00:41.56" style="1">All too often, this powerful river</p>
<p begin="00:00:41.56" end="00:00:44.66" style="1">was overflowing its banks, flooding fields</p>
<p begin="00:00:44.66" end="00:00:47.83" style="1">and causing millions of dollars in crop damage</p>
<p begin="00:00:47.83" end="00:00:52.09" style="1">while other farmers weren't getting the water they needed.</p>
<p begin="00:00:52.09" end="00:00:55.08" style="1">So in 1929, the US government announced</p>
<p begin="00:00:55.08" end="00:00:57.71" style="1">that it would try to tame this wild river</p>
<p begin="00:00:57.71" end="00:01:02.33" style="1">by constructing what was then the world's largest dam.</p>
<p begin="00:01:02.33" end="00:01:04.49" style="1">Launched in the midst of the Great Depression,</p>
<p begin="00:01:04.49" end="00:01:06.94" style="1">word of the Hoover Dam project triggered a flood</p>
<p begin="00:01:06.94" end="00:01:10.75" style="1">of hungry workers from across the country into Nevada.</p>
<p begin="00:01:10.75" end="00:01:12.92" style="1">For the next five years, they labored here</p>
<p begin="00:01:12.92" end="00:01:15.87" style="1">in up to 100 degree conditions. </p>
<p begin="00:01:15.87" end="00:01:20.82" style="1">It wasn't just gruelling, it was also extremely dangerous.</p>
<p begin="00:01:20.82" end="00:01:23.47" style="1">Men known as high scalers clamored</p>
<p begin="00:01:23.47" end="00:01:25.87" style="1">along the cliffs at the river's edge</p>
<p begin="00:01:25.87" end="00:01:28.39" style="1">and then dangled down hundreds of feet on ropes</p>
<p begin="00:01:28.39" end="00:01:32.52" style="1">to drill holes for dynamite that blasted away the canyon walls.</p>
<p begin="00:01:32.52" end="00:01:35.43" style="1"> </p>
<p begin="00:01:35.43" end="00:01:38.89" style="1">Then, the lowest paid workers, called muckers,</p>
<p begin="00:01:38.89" end="00:01:43.24" style="1">used shovels to scoop up the dynamited rock for removal.</p>
<p begin="00:01:43.24" end="00:01:45.72" style="1">Dozens of others labored deep underground,</p>
<p begin="00:01:45.72" end="00:01:49.42" style="1">drilling out four 3/4 of a mile tunnels that would temporarily</p>
<p begin="00:01:49.42" end="00:01:52.19" style="1">divert the raging Colorado River around the site.</p>
<p begin="00:01:52.19" end="00:01:55.02" style="1"> </p>
<p begin="00:01:55.02" end="00:01:59.46" style="1">Falling rocks, carbon monoxide, tough bosses, and long hours</p>
<p begin="00:01:59.46" end="00:02:02.07" style="1">created dangerous conditions. </p>
<p begin="00:02:02.07" end="00:02:04.65" style="1">At least 96 workers were killed on the job.</p>
<p begin="00:02:04.65" end="00:02:08.60" style="1"> </p>
<p begin="00:02:08.60" end="00:02:11.56" style="1">If it had been built in a single continuous pour,</p>
<p begin="00:02:11.56" end="00:02:15.28" style="1">the concrete would have taken more than a century to cool.</p>
<p begin="00:02:15.28" end="00:02:19.08" style="1">So workers had to build the 726-foot high dam</p>
<p begin="00:02:19.08" end="00:02:23.88" style="1">five feet at a time, using individual buckets of concrete</p>
<p begin="00:02:23.88" end="00:02:28.47" style="1">that sped down to them on cables every 78 seconds.</p>
<p begin="00:02:28.47" end="00:02:32.07" style="1">It's still possible to see these individual pours etched</p>
<p begin="00:02:32.07" end="00:02:33.22" style="1">in the face of the curve. </p>
<p begin="00:02:33.22" end="00:02:38.91" style="1"> </p>
<p begin="00:02:38.91" end="00:02:41.75" style="1">When they were finally finished, on March 1,</p>
<p begin="00:02:41.75" end="00:02:44.81" style="1">1936, two years ahead of schedule,</p>
<p begin="00:02:44.81" end="00:02:47.93" style="1">their handiwork was hailed as an engineering marvel,</p>
<p begin="00:02:47.93" end="00:02:51.32" style="1">the eighth wonder of the modern world.</p>
<p begin="00:02:51.32" end="00:02:53.26" style="1">It was also an aesthetic triumph,</p>
<p begin="00:02:53.26" end="00:02:55.83" style="1">thanks to its elegant proportions,</p>
<p begin="00:02:55.83" end="00:02:58.37" style="1">futuristic design, and art deco details.</p>
<p begin="00:02:58.37" end="00:03:01.10" style="1"> </p>
<p begin="00:03:01.10" end="00:03:03.28" style="1">It's visually stunning from the air.</p>
<p begin="00:03:03.28" end="00:03:05.34" style="1">But that makes it easy to forget just</p>
<p begin="00:03:05.34" end="00:03:10.28" style="1">how critical the engineering of the Hoover Dam remains today.</p>
<p begin="00:03:10.28" end="00:03:13.63" style="1">If it ever gave way, it could unleash a wall of water</p>
<p begin="00:03:13.63" end="00:03:17.92" style="1">so high it could flood an area the size of Connecticut 10 feet</p>
<p begin="00:03:17.92" end="00:03:22.03" style="1">deep, destroy vital irrigation systems across the American</p>
<p begin="00:03:22.03" end="00:03:26.31" style="1">Southwest, and leave millions without drinking water.</p>
<p begin="00:03:26.31" end="00:03:32.11" style="1"> </p>