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...... ~ 00 -' c. Perhaps the most dramatic industrial development resulting from the construc- tion of Hoover Dam was the growth of the light-metals industry in southern Nevada, beginning with construction of a magnesium plant at Henderson. The magnesium plant was staJ1ed in 1941. The plant was sited in Henderson because the water and power needed to SllPP0l1 the installation were easily available from Lake Mead and Hoover Dam. The plant was built in record time and contributed greatly to America's war eff0l1. Although magnesium has not been processed at the plant since World War II ended, it still stands. Stauffer Chemical Company, Kerr-McGee Chemical Corporation, Genstar Com- pany, and Titanium Metals Company of America have purchased the plant buildings and appllJ1cnant facilities. These comp<mics formed Basic Manage- ment. Inc.. to manage COtlUllon-Use facilities al the industrial complex. Nonpolluting hydroelectric power from Hoover Dam not only stimulates the Southwestern economy, it also helps con- serve one of our most precious natural resources-oil. It would take about 6 million barrels of oil each year to pro- duce the same amount of electric energy Hoover Dam gcncrates. The Benefits Multiplied The story of Hoover Dam and the Bouldcr Canyon Project spans the gamut of river rcgulation: flood control; water for irrigation, domestic and industrial use; sediment retention; increased recrcational opportunity; /ish and wildlife enhance- ment; and hydroelectric power generation. Hoover Dam was Reclamation's first multipurpose dam, and its contribution to the Southwest's growth and economy are immeasurable. But its influence doesn't end there. The uncontestable success of Hoover sUPPol1cd construction and continued development of other great multipurpose Reclamation structures throughollt the West. There are, for example, Grand 40 ._,"",-'-"'; Jt~" ~ WaleI' from Lake Mead i.\- used for man)' municipal purposes. Coulee Dam on the Columbia River in Washington State, Shasta Dam on California's Sacramento River, and other dams too numerous to mention. All these dams provide multipurpose benefits that have greatly strengthened the economies of the local areas they serve and often reach into areas far away from their immediate surroundings. Hoover Dam also made it possible to construct other dams in the Colorado River Basin. These dams help control the river and its tributaries, allowing the stored waters to be beneficially used along the stream's entire length. Glen Canyon Dam, key feature of the Colorado River Storage Project (CRSP), is one such structure. A concrete arch spanning the Colorado in nOl1hem Arizona, the dam rises 710 feet above :~ ',. A';~:;;'::" . ~'",,;I!i;;. --, ---~_,"---,,---;;"-;;."""'II' -._wi ~- ~~ ;\~.t<~~:~. ~ " foundation bedrock - about 17 feet less than Hoover Dam. The dam's reservoir; Lake Powell, holds 27 million acre-feet of water, just slightly less than Lake Mead's capacity. And Glen Canyon's powerplant, with eight main generators and a capacity of 1,021,000 kilowatts, is about three-fourths the size of the Hoover powerplant. Other major CRSP dams are Flaming Gorge on the Green River in north- eastern Utah, Navajo on the San Juan River in northem New Mexico, and Blue Mesa, Morrow Point, and Crystal on the Gunnison River in western Colorado.