Hoover Dam, near Boulder City, Nevada - Philatelic Photographs on Waymarking.com

This stamp was issued on September 30, 1935, the same day the new dam was officially dedicated by President Franklin D. Roosevelt and his Interior Secretary, Harold L. Ickes. Both were present at the dam site and gave speeches that were broadcast nationwide via radio. No, the dam wasn’t quite finished yet but the President and the Secretary were touring the western states at that time and the date fit their itinerary. As they say, ‘close enough for government work.’

Both Franklin Roosevelt and Harold Ickes were avid lifelong stamp collectors. Roosevelt routinely weighed in on the designs of postage stamps issued during his time as president and this stamp was no exception. (In this case, Roosevelt suggested a view of the dam looking up from the canyon below but an aerial view was chosen instead.) The inscription on the stamp reads “Boulder Dam” which bears witness to a naming controversy that existed around the time the dam was under construction.

The Colorado is a large river, prone to flooding, that flows through a very arid region of the southwestern United States. Dams have often been used to control flooding and provide irrigation so building a dam on the Colorado River seemed a logical solution to the problems the river posed. But the Colorado River’s drainage basin spanned seven states and the proposed dam site, Boulder Canyon on the border between Nevada and Arizona, would require a dam of unprecedented size and height. The US Bureau of Reclamation was organized to manage large-scale water projects and after years of investigation developed a proposal called the Boulder Canyon Project in 1918.

As is typical of any large government project, it took a long time to “dot all the i’s and cross all the t’s” and gain a meaningful consensus among the many concerned parties. The legislation authorizing the Boulder Canyon Project wasn’t passed until 1928 and actual construction didn’t begin until 1931. By this time, it was determined that Boulder Canyon had certain geological and logistical issues that made construction of a dam impractical. Black Canyon, located about twenty miles further down river, offered an attractive alternative and was chosen as the actual site for the dam. In spite of this change in building sites, the project retained its original name. Today, Boulder Canyon is submerged under the water of Lake Mead.

The Boulder Canyon Project consisted of three features. One was an aqueduct supplying water from the Colorado River to the Imperial Valley of California. It was called the “All-American Canal” since it was to replace an earlier aqueduct that ran through a portion of Mexico. There was also a dam in support of this aqueduct to be located about 18 miles north of Yuma AZ. It was called the “Imperial Dam” after California’s Imperial Valley. The main feature however was the large dam at Black Canyon which had not been officially named.

During a September, 1930 ceremony initiating the construction of a railroad from Las Vegas NV to the new dam site, Interior Secretary Ray Lyman Wilbur took it upon himself to name the new dam “Hoover Dam” in honor of the nation’s 31st President, Herbert Hoover. While it was not unusual for things (including dams) to be named after presidents, it was rather uncouth for Mr. Wilbur to name the dam after a sitting president (and his boss). Matters of propriety notwithstanding, the name started showing up on maps and in atlases, geography textbooks and official legislation.

But the Hoover administration fell prey to the Great Depression and incoming Interior Secretary Harold Ickes took steps to rename the dam “Boulder” (for lack of a better choice) almost immediately upon assuming his new role in 1933. This clear act of political posturing was frowned upon even by members of his own political party. Humorist and two-time US stamp subject, Will Rogers called it a cheap trick. Newspaper columnist Irvin Cobb ridiculed the idea of naming such a grand structure after some “unidentified dornick.” Nevertheless, the name “Boulder Dam” started appearing on maps and atlases (and postage stamps).

In 1947, legislation was passed by Congress and signed by President Harry S. Truman (who did not share the same animosity toward Mr. Hoover as did his predecessor) reinstating the name “Hoover Dam.” This settled, for once and for all, the dam’s official name (and initiated another round of updates to maps, atlases and textbooks).

Since its completion, Hoover Dam has also served as a bridge over the Colorado River at Black Canyon. In 2010, a new bridge was completed across the canyon just south of the dam as part of the Hoover Dam By-pass. While I’m sure motorists appreciate not having to deal with the steep, winding approaches to the dam, the best part of the new bridge is a pedestrian walkway which affords a view of Hoover Dam that is quite similar to the view on this 1935 stamp.

And although around 100 people were killed during construction of the dam, there is absolutely no truth to the urban legend that some are permanently encased in the concrete.

Stamp Issuing Country: United States Date of Issue: 30-Sep-1935 Denomination: 3 cents Color: purple Stamp Type: Single Stamp Relevant Web Site: [Web Link]

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