steel plate was brought from eastern rolling mills. a steel fabrication plant erected especially for this job near the dam site rolled and assembled nearly the three miles of pipe installed in the canyon wall tunnels. hoover dam's construction, fabrication of the pipe sections required special machinery and equipment. edges of the dimension pilates were shaped on a plating machine to assure precision and accuracy civilian later steps in the manufacture. then they were bent on a giant press and rolled into circular form. one such plate equalled one-third of the complete circumference of a pipe. three of the largest curved plates welded together formed a

ring 30 feet in diameter and 11 feet long. two of these rings joined, made up a section weighing 150 to 184 tons. a vertical lathe joined the edges. a train passing through one of the 30-foot sections reveals their comparative size. when they were ready to receive the pen stock a specially designed trailer hauled them down to the dam site. at the can yom rim a 150 ton cable way relieved the trailer of its burdens, swung the pipe sections out over the gorge and lowered them under absolute control.

trailers waiting at portals of the access tunnels carried the home their permanent connections inside the main tunnels. the pipe sections were hoisted into location with cables, and joined end to end pressure pins to form continuous conduits between the intake towers, turbines and outlet valves. a continuous stream of concrete had been pouring into the dam forms. the structure near its full height of 726 feet, far above the crest of any other dam yet built by man. on may 29th, 1935, two years after they had begun pouring, crews placed the last concrete in hoover dam. a total of 3 1/4 million cubic yards.

this modern civil engineering wonder stood completed, 2 1/2 years ahead of schedule. on september 30th, 1935, president franklin delano roosevelt dedicated hoover dam to the nation's progress. he praised its designers and builders. the dam stood like a sentinel white and beautiful in the desert sunlight guarding the river. floodwaters lapped helplessly against its arched back as the reservoir filled. this manmade inland sea spread into the canyons and valleys. hoover dam had conquered the colorado. turbine fits to hold hoover dam seven big hydroelectric units were built into the mother house. generator installations began in 1935.

the first generator unit end two began commercial operation october 26th, 1936 to serve the city of los angeles. ones and, two the generators filled the pits as demand for electrical energy in california, nevada and arizona called them into service. finally in 1959, manufacturing and installation of the last generator began. for 25 years it laid dormant and silent except for number of -- hum of other hoover generators. now as more generating capacity was needed, contracts were awarded for the generators manufacturer and installation. plants throughout the nation fabricated many parts. the design followed that of other hoover generating units. it is a 95,000 kilowatt, 60

cycle, 16,500 volt generator driven by a turbine. falling water from the reservoir which spins and powers the turbine wheel is controlled by a huge butterfly valve which permits the water to flow from the feeder. weighing 2,000 tons parts were shipped on 60 rail cars. arriving at the canyon rim overlooking the dam the parts were lifted by cable weigh out over the canyon and down to the powerhouse. parts descending into the gorge on strands of cable were familiar and almost daily sites reminiscent of previous installations. and the main cable way operator was the same one who had helped install and operate the cable

way during the dam's construction in the early 1930s. others likewise had worked oen the project throughout its construction. inside the nevada wing of the powerhouse technicians assembled and installed the massive electrical cargo. crews prepared the pit to receive the new generating unit. they removed temporary slabs over the turbine and relief valve outlets. liners assembled were set in concrete. the turbine scroll case sections were lowered into the pit. sections were levelled, bolted together and aligned. the completed scroll case was then anchored in concrete. later the turbine's water wheel attached to the bottom end of the shaft was installed inside

the case. the butterfly valve was assembled on the generator floor and later connected between the feeder pen stock and the turbine scroll case. meanwhile turbine scroll case. meanwhile the generators twop main parts, steel lamb nation plates stacked around the rotor and frame. coils were locked into place. trillion connections made. powerhouse overhead cranes lifted 254 ton from its erection bay and carried it gently to its foundation where it was lowered and bolted into place. the 466 ton rotor was lowered from its bay and lowered inside the the rotor was joined to the turbine water wheel by a shaft

60 feet long. other parts were added to complete the assembly. after test runs, it was online december 1st, 1961, to serve the state of nevada and to complete the hoover power plant raising its capacity to 1 1/3 million kilowatts keeping it as one of the world's largest hydroelectric installations. hoover dam cost $175 million. less the deferred payment of $25 million allocated for flood control, hoover dam's cost is being returned to the federal treasury at 3% interest from the sale of hydroelectric power. hoover dam has fulfilled the hopes and expectations of those who envisioned this great reclamation project.

colorado river waters that once destroyed man and his property now serve it. the colorado pours its waters into lake mead named for dr. ellwood mead reclamation commissioner during construction. calmly behind the dam, await mead by downstream users. water is released through the hoover power plant turbines in a year-round flow to irrigate 1 1/4 million acres of desert land, serve industrial needs of the pacific southwest, generator hydroelectric energy and provide various other multi-purpose benefits. the clear waters of lake mead opened up a vast recreational fish and wildlife recreation land for america. this wilderness along the colorado river, picnic, go

boating, swim, fish and enjoy these outdoor reclamation products. hoover dam and its power plant work around the clock to serve power needs from the pacific southwest. water from lake mead passing into the intake falls through the stocks to spin the giant turbine wheels and discharge into the river. this is repeated at downstream reclamation dams. transformers step up hoover dam voltage as it comes from generators. lines carry this power over the powerhouse roof to the switch yard. from there it is transmitted over lines across the desert.

the river flows southward and along the way man diverts from the controlled stream to sustain his prosperous way of life. 67 miles downstream davis dam reregulates colorado's flow releasing water through its power plant turbines to irrigators in mexico. davis dam generators connect with hoover dam upstream and those at parker dam downstream. this energy goes on over transmission lines of the parker davis project to farms, homes, and factories. much of this pumps farmers irrigation and drainage water. parker dam 155 miles downstream from hoover dam was built by funds advanced from the metropolitan water district of southern california. parker dam provides a forebay for district's colorado river aqueduct, another one of

america's seven modern civil engineering wonders. electrical energy from parker and hoover power plants pumps water alone the aqueduct. this waterway delivers municipal and industrial supplies to the los angeles and san diego coastal areas. parker dam also controls floods. below parker dam, head gate rock dam diverts water to colorado river indian reservation lands in arizona. farther downstream paolo verde dam sends water to irrigation district, oldest irrigation development on the colorado river. at imperial dam 300 miles downstream from hoover dam, colorado river water enters river size canals to irrigate farm lands in california and arizona. the all american canal system

carries part of the flow westward to u.m.a. imperial and valleys. when water reaches its farthest point on the canal system it's traveled 500 miles after leaving hoover dam. it has required 10 days to make the trip. hello gravity main canal takes water from imperial dam south and east to valley and east mesa land to hillah and uma auxiliary project. mexico's share of water passes imperial dam and most diverted morales dam into the alamo canal. the nonsur place food, fiber and forge crops grown on lands nourished by water from hoover dam find ready markets throughout the nation while snow covered lands lay idle, winter

fruits and vegetables rome in the warm southwest with colorado water are shift to dinner tables across the nation. in return these irrigated buy farm machine and products from the manufacturing centers. this exchange of goods north and east, west and south developed free enterprise prosperity. hoover dam pointed the way to the fullest realization of colorado river resources. man is adding other mighty reclamation projects to the stairway of dams on the colorado river. in northern arizona, glen canyon dam joined hoover ndamukongering and regulating colorado. potential sites and other dams on the colorado river await the day when they, too, will cradle

multi-purpose dams. these developments will write new chapters, truly a modern civil engineering wonder. 200 years ago british soldiers invade washington, d.c. and burned down the white house and capital while president and first lady dolly madison fled the city. this weekend a two-day forum with authors marking british burning of washington and war of 1812 all starting tomorrow at 1:00 p.m. eastern. day two of the conference on war of 1812 also live thursday here on american history tv. the white house historical

association and u.s. capital historical society starting 8:30 a.m. eastern time. >> each week american history tv brings you archival films that help tell the story of the 20th century. republican herbert hoover served as president from 1929 to 1933. remembered most for his time in the oval office at the start of the great depression, hoover also served as the secretary of commerce under presidents harding and coolidge. in this hour-long 1960 nbc interview. hoover discusses his life beyond the presidency. speaking with reporter ray hendly. he delves into topics including his childhood. his time in china during the boxer rebellion and his involvement in supplying food to germans in belgium in world war 1. this program is part of the collections of the stanford

university libraries department of special collections and university archives. >> this is the campus of stanford university. one of america's great schools. >> this is the memorial church. this is the memorial theater. >> and this is the library on war, revolution and peace. with your nbc news commentator. i'm meeting a great american and an old friend. i am here to have a talk with the 31st president of the united states, mr. herbert hoover.wwèw

sit down, ray. >> thank you, sir. could you tell us what it means. >> well, it is the library on war, revolution and peace. the purpose of it is to present

the complete history of this world since the beginning of the first war i. it has many objectives. one of them is to aid in the development of measures of peace out of the display of the experience of the world in that way. it covers economic, military, other questions. it is now the haven of historians from all over the world. because the german war lie brave was destroyed in the last war. the french war library was destroyed. and the british war library was greatly damaged. this is practically the only complete story of what has happened in the last 50 years. >> how did the idea of a library start?

>> i was crossing the north sea on a usual journey to bet jump in connection with relief and i had a book with me to read of written by andrew d. white. he was the great historian of the french revolution. >> yes. >> and he complained in that book that he had not been able to present the life of the people in general of france because of the disappearance of franklin terry newspaper, literature, bulletins, thousands of things that displayed the life of the people. >> i concluded that i was in the unique position to collect that material. so i established collection agencies in all of the countries at war in europe.

i was going behind the lines, once a month on a circuit around in connection with my particular job. and so we started the collection of that type of literature and i was literally moved into more important documentation. well then the library must contain a huge number of documents. >> it contains today probably 20 million documents. many of them are the originals, which format turning points in world history. the most pathetic of them i think i would show you, and that is this -- when the russians invaded poland, they took about 250 polish military prisoners.

they sent them into work camps all over siberia. later on, when the germans attacked the russians, the russians anxious to increase their military strength asked the poles to reassemble those armies out of those work camps. >> they were able to find about 60 thousands poles still alive out of the 250,000 that were originally sent. but every one of these poles coming out of a work camp had to get a permit. which was constituted as sort of a railway ticket to the headquarters where he was recruited. the poles were a small minority in each camp and they were related in their depositions were there and how many. and the tickets themselves show the location so that one was able to reproduce the whole slave system.

at that particular period. and at that time, there were obviously about 14 million people in slave camps. we have here a map showing the location of these slave labor camps. made up from the 40,000 documents which we have in the library. >> you'll see those marked t. >> let's see. we have also the first issue of of the commune nist newspaper npabda. and this issue announces the victory of the communist revolution. we have a sequenced file of this newspaper and the other communist newspaper "investia" right down to today.

with the exception of three months. and that three-month gap was due to an over-energetic postmaster general, who considered this was subversive literature. and he stopped it coming to us. so we had to do something about that. >> did you take measures to relax the situation? >> i certainly relaxed the postmaster general. but i don't think we've ever been able to recover the lost numbers. here is a little document that's been a profound interest to me. this is the intimate diary of the prime minister of japan at the time we went to war. he made an enormous effort, strenuous effort to effect a peace with the united states and prevent the war. and the pathos of this document

is a warrant for its retention. of a man who made a real struggle. to prevent world war ii. >> excuse me, did you have something else there, mr. hoover? >> i have also some parts of the diary. he probably was one of the wickedest man who ever lived. he records his wickedness, private and public, in this diary. he apparently never expected for us to have it. >> there must have been some mighty interesting stories related to the collection of these documents. >> there were a multitude of dramatic incidents. i recollect that after the communist revolution in hungary,

at which time there arose a man named bela kuhn as the dictator. the people finally rebelled and bela kuhn fled in an airplane. one of our energetic youngsters collecting material went around to the headquarters. he found there was nobody there. so he proceeded to load the whole files of that outpost of communism into a, a truck and they finally wound up here in the library. another case was the one where i made a request of president hebert. the first president of germany, the german republic. >> after the first world war? >> after the first world war. for documentation that would be apropos to this effort.

and ebert gave me the complete post-war battle, the minutes of the german war council presided over by the emperor, sitting once a week herr hoefnerr, through the entire first world war with all the documentation attached to those minutes, that's the only set in the world. and finally after the request of a german ambassador, i agreed that we would keep it in the vault for a number of years, it's not yet open to the public. >> why is the library located here at the leland center university, mr. hoover? >> mr. henley, i graduated from this university. after that, mrs. hoover kept a house on the campus here. and in order to have a headquarters in which she could keep her two boys in school while i journeyed all over the earth.

i also at the same time was a trustee of this university. so very naturally. i was anxious to build up the institution. >> well we know you were born in west branch, iowa and i think that generally people know that after your mother and father died, an uncle asked you to share his home in oregon, could you tell us, sir, how it happened then that you got down here and attended leland sanford university? >> well this uncle of mine in oregon was a country doctor. with all of the fine attributes of the country documents of the -- of the country doctors of the united states. i lived with him and his family, parts of it, for a matter of about seven years. and during that time, i got a job as an office boy. on one occasion, a gentleman having some business with the firm came in. while he waited, he talked with the office boy. he was inquiring what i wanted to do so far.

and he said, well, you ought to take up engineering, and he was himself an engineer. we discussed it, and he rather inspired my mind. so soon i noticed that stanford university had announced that the institution would be opened that autumn. and the tuition would be free. that more or less fitted my necessity. they announced they would hold entrance examinations in portland, oregon. i went to the appointed place, i took the examinations as well as i could, not ever having been to high school but having attended a night school where i had picked up some latin and some mathematics.

i passed the mathematics examinations with such distinction that the professor conducting the examinations sparked a good deal of interest. sent for me. inquired about my family background. he himself was a quaker. he was a great professor of mathematics and subsequently was the president of swarthmore college for about a year. but in any event, he said come down to the university and he set up a tour and he thought i could get in. and he also said he would begin to help me work my way through the university. >> i see. so really you have two cases, mr. hoover, where men, older men, showed a keen interest in a young man, trying to get along. >> oh, i have a number of unforgettable obligations to men who took an interest in a

youngster. they do it yet, all over the united states. there were two, many more to follow. >> of course, that was the beginning of your engineering career, was it not, mr. hoover? >> well i presume you don't call yourself to an engineer because you get somewhere out of college. but that was where i began at stanford university. >> yes, sir. >> could you tell me, mr. hoover, after you got your diploma then at leland stanford. what was your first job? >> i had worked during the summer vacations during my entire time at stanford on the united states geological survey. >> that was where i earned most of the money i needed. and after having finished that season, not having a job that's after i had graduated, i went into the minsds at grass valley in california. being familiar with the mines from a previous work i had done for the geological survey.

i sought a job and i thought my dib ma might be of importance, and i might be on the staff of some mine. but that diploma didn't seem to impress anybody and finally i got to a condition where i took a job yound ground in a mine and i worked five months, i think, or six as a common miner. and it was not a bad experience. i worked five months or six. >> i understand you to say, sir, that you took a job as a common mine centre. >> yeah, sure. >> what kind of a mine was it? >> it was a gold mine. i didn't even have the distinction of being a miner. i started by loading trucks. a miner is a fellow who ran a drill, and i rose to that imminent position some two or three months later. >> how many hours did you work a day there, sir? >> the regulation hours at that time was ten hours a day, six days a week. >> do you remember what you got?