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There had never been a project in Nevada like Hoover Dam, authorized in 1928. This enormous, expensive and truly transformative public works development brought the twentieth century to Nevada and gave Las Vegas a future. The 760-foot-high dam redefined the state. The decision to locate the dam in the narrows of Black Canyon kicked off an era of federal dominance in the state economy. The federal government became the source of the dollars on which Nevada’s economy depended.

The dam simultaneously created modern southern Nevada, bringing technology to a regional population that grew with astonishing speed ever after. It set in motion changes that greatly accelerated the growth of Nevada, depositing ever more people in the south. The arid and dusty collection of small towns and ranches that existed in southern Nevada before 1929 was replaced by the urban center of Las Vegas that has come to dominate the state in every way.