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Reno, world's biggest little city

Reno, founded 1868 as a railroad town, derived its early prosperity catering to hard-partying miners. By 1900 Reno's liberal residency requirements made Reno the nation's divorce capital. Casino gambling, legalized during the depression, remains Nevada's state religion as out-of-state tourists leave their money there. Slot and video poker machines adorn every supermarket and gas station. Reno earned its nickname by limiting casino expansion to avoid sprawl produced by Las Vegas' post World War II building boom.

Bonneville Salt Flats

Standing in the middle of this improbably flat dry lake where Land Speed history was made, you can see Earth's curvature. Ravages of time and potash mining render the salt unsuitable for LSR attempts. Cars over 400 mph still race at Bonneville's sanctioned meets: August's Speed Week (largest and best known, since 1949), September's World of Speed, October's World Finals. Over years salt leaches away. 100,000 acres in 1926 the Flats are now 25,000 acres, its crust thinned from 7 ft to 2 inches. Despite BLM's experimental salt reintroduction program Bonneville's long-term future remains uncertain. 400 miles east of Reno along I-80 through Elko and Winnemucca the giant neon cowboy Wendover Will, in Wendover, civilization's last outpost, marks your arrival. The Bonneville Salt Flats are a few miles up the road in Utah. See also the Bonneville Speedway Museum.

Bonneville Salt Flats LSR (Land Speed Records) 
1914 Teddy Tetzlaff, 142 mph in a Blitzen Benz
1935 Sir Malcolm Campbell, 300 mph
1960s Art Arfons, Craig Breedlove
1970 Gary Gabelich, 622.4 mph in his Blue Flame
More recent include 
     Bob Summers, Mickey Thompson, John Cobb, Capt George Eyston

Hoover Dam, largest public project of its day

Crossing the Colorado River, connecting Nevada and Arizona, it irrigates over 1 million acres of U S land and 1 million acres in Mexico. Providing water for 18 million people it generates over 4 billion KW-hr power a year, enough for 1.3 million people. Congress 1928 Boulder Canyon Project Act authorized construction. Began in 1931 its last concrete was poured in 1935, 2 years ahead of schedule. Powerplant wings were completed in 1936. The first generator started that Oct 17. The final generator started in 1961. Hoover Dam is A K A Boulder Dam, after the Boulder Canyon Project. Boulder is also the city supporting and building the dam. Congress made the name Hoover official in 1947. Herbert Hoover, 31st President, strongly supported building a concrete dam on the Colorado river. 16000 men worked on the dam over 5 years, 3000 at any one time, in 3 shifts except Christmas and July 4. Average pay was $5 a day, over 4 times average wage at the time. Hoover Dam cost $175 million to build, repaid with interest by selling hydroelectric power. Hoover Dam, 726 ft tall, 45 feet wide on top, 660 feet wide at the base, used 3.25 million cubic yards of concrete, enough to pave a 2-lane highway from New York to San Francisco.

4000-ft diversion tunnels pulling river water away so the dam could be built took 2 years to build and line. Draining the river, engineers removed 2 million cubic yards of river mud and silt to reach bedrock supporting the dam. Poured concrete heats while curing. To speed curing, builders ran cold water through 590 miles of cooling pipes embedded in the poured concrete. Cooling continued until 1936, without which the dam's concrete would take 150 years to cure completely. Southern California gets 56% of Hoover Dam's power. The rest is divided between Arizona (19%) and Nevada (25%) Las Vegas only gets 1% because it didn't exist when Hoover's power was allotted. 8000 cubic ft of water flows through each generator pipe of the dam's 4 generators a second - equivalent to 640,000 12-ounce cans. Hoover Dam's reservoir, Lake Mead, is America's largest man-made reservoir, taking 6 years to fill. Named for Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Elwood Mead, it stores 28.5 million acre-ft of water (1 acre-ft covers a football field to a depth of 1 ft) - enough to cover Pennsylvania. Without Hoover Dam Lake Mead would take 6 weeks to empty.