ts it was capable as much as the pyramids symbolized the same for Egyptian civilizations: “Construction of Hoover dam—the great pyramid of the American West, fount for a twentieth-century oasis civilization--…the first and most important link in a chain of dams, canals, and aqueducts built to harness the Colorado River, it was the supreme engineering feet of its day, a soul-stirring architectural and industrial achievement, the ultimate expression of machine-age America’s ingenuity and technological prowess” (Stevens vii).
One must remember this was in an era when few were worried about the environmental consequences of such projects. A more primary consideration was developing the ability to control nature in order to continue development of the often hostile-to-humans American West. Officials in Arizona, developers in Los Angeles, and the US government were more interested in creating an enormous source of electrical power and preventing the annual flooding of the Colorado. The US government and Arizona government were particularly concerned with handling the project before private developers gained control.
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