• A look back at the Hoover Dam built 75 years ago

    Keystone via Getty Images, file

    1928: An inspection party near the proposed site of the Hoover Dam (previously known as the Boulder Dam) in the Black Canyon of the Colorado River.

    Alfred Eisenstaedt / Time & Life Pictures via Getty I

    1938: Sightseers enjoy the magnificent power of Boulder Dam, later renamed the Hoover Dam.

    Alan Band / Keystone via Getty Images file

    1972: The Hoover Dam near Las Vegas, Nevada on the Colorado River lit up at night.

    By Phaedra Singelis, NBC News

    I wonder if the men in the first image could have possibly imagined what the dam would look like, how many people it would take to build it and how many would lose their lives while it was under construction.

    According to USA Today:

    The 726.4-high concrete expanse on the Colorado River was dedicated on Sept. 30, 1935, by Franklin D. Roosevelt. Formerly named for Republican president Herbert Hoover, it was christened as less political Boulder Dam by Democrat Roosevelt, then later reverted to its original name. More than 100 workers were killed during the dam's construction.

    More about the Hoover dam on wikipedia.

    Events around the anniversary from the Las Vegas Review-Journal.  

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  • Julie Jacobson/AP

    Hoover Dam is framed in the newly completed by-pass bridge spanning the Colorado River Tuesday, Oct. 12, 2010, near Boulder City, Nev. The bridge was dedicated on Thursday and open to the public Saturday.

    Bridge to somewhere

    By Rich Shulman

    As if the Hoover Dam isn't enough of an engineering marvel, the new bypass bridge soaring over the Colorado River is the longest bridge built with concrete arches in the western hemisphere.

    The 1,900-foot engineering wonder perched 890 feet above the Colorado River is expected to drastically cut travel time along the main route between Las Vegas and Phoenix, as motorists will no longer have to make their way across the dam's winding two-lane road at a snail's pace.