When the dam’s construction began, then-Secretary of the Interior Ray Lyman Wilbur renamed Boulder Dam to Hoover Dam, after President Herbert Hoover. However, the dam is actually located in Black Canyon. Hoover Dam also went back-and-forth between the Hoover Dam and Boulder Dam names, with the dam originally named Boulder Dam after the dam being built under the Boulder Canyon Project after the dam’s original planned location. A article published in the Las Vegas Evening Review-Journal announcing the official name of Lake Mead from Feb. Elwood Mead, who served as commissioner of the Bureau of Reclamation from 1924 to 1936, and oversaw Hoover Dam’s construction. 23, 1931 - four years before the reservoir was flooded. However, a factor contributing to the park’s high mortality rate is its high visitation rate, with the recreation area receiving around 7 million visitors every year.īoulder Lake became Lake Mead on Feb. The other two most common causes of death are natural causes and motor vehicle crashes. Baskow/Las Vegas Review-Journal) lot of drowningsīetween 20, 275 people died at Lake Mead - about 100 more deaths than Yosemite National Park (the next deadliest) and 120 more than Grand Canyon National Park.ĭrownings account for the majority of the park’s deaths.

A diver leaves the water as authorities are assessing what were described as skeletal remains found at Swim Beach in the Lake Mead National Recreation Area on Tuesday, Aug. Here is a list of facts you may not know about Lake Mead, about 30 miles southeast of Las Vegas.

(Courtesy of National Park Service)Īmong the sunken ships and undiscovered bodies at Lake Mead lies a boatload of rich history at one of the nation’s most popular recreation areas.

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