A Dam on the Colorado
The Hoover Dam, one of the most famous structures in the United States, was built on the Colorado River. It stands in Black Canyon, on the border between the states of Arizona and Nevada, not far from Las Vegas.
Taming a Powerful River
Before the dam was built, the Colorado River regularly flooded, making farming and settlement downstream difficult and dangerous. Constructed during the 1930s, the Hoover Dam was designed to control these floods, store water for irrigation and cities, and generate hydroelectric power. It was an enormous engineering achievement for its time, built by thousands of workers during the Great Depression.
The Lake It Created
When the Hoover Dam blocked the Colorado River, the water backed up behind it to form a huge reservoir called Lake Mead. At full capacity, Lake Mead is one of the largest artificial lakes in the country. The dam still supplies water and electricity to millions of people across the American Southwest, and it draws large numbers of visitors every year.
Source
This article was written using information from Wikipedia.