Ruby Giron, age 12, of Gallup, N.M., for her question:

CAN YOU TELL ME ABOUT HOOVER DAM?

Herbert Clark Hoover was the 31st President of the United States. He was born in West Branch, Iowa, in 1874 and served as the nation's Chief Executive from 1929 to 1933.

One of the greatest honors given to Mr. Hoover was that one of the world's greatest dams was named after him: Hoover Dam on the Nevada Arizona state line.

Hoover Dam, the great irrigation and hydroelectric dam built and owned by the U.S. government, is located at Boulder Canyon on the Colorado River. From base to crest, itis the largest in the world: It rises 726 feet from bedrock to the top.

Here are some more interesting statistics about the great Hoover Dam: It is 1,244 feet long at the top where it has a thickness of 45 feet. The dam contains 4.4 million cubic yards of concrete.

A most interesting story is part of its name. The dam seas named Hoover in 1930 when. it was planned for construction. Construction was started in 1931 and completed in 1936. In 1933 the then Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes changed the name to Boulder Dam. The original name o= Hoover was restored to the dam in 1947 by a congressional resolution.

Hoover Dam serves three purposes: It stores water which is used for irrigation of rich but arid lands in the Southwestern part of the United States; it acts as a flood control, and it is used for the generation of hydroelectric power.

The water behind Hoover Dam forms Lake Mead, the largest artificial lake in the world. The lake is 115 miles long and eight miles in maximum width. it has a capacity of more than 30.5 million acres of water. The shoreline is more than 550 miles long. The lake is considered to be one of the finest recreation spots in all of the United States, offering unlimited boating and fishing facilities. many resorts are located along the shore.

BoulderCity in Nevada, a charming town near Hoover Dam with a population. of more than 4,000, was actually built to house the workers on the large construction project. Many people elected to stay after their building jobs were finished, and still others came to join them and call the town home.

In addition to Hoover Dam, several other mighty dam engineering feats rate high. one certainly is the Grand Coulee Dam, which is located on the Columbia River in Washington. It is 550 feet high. Another great one is the Chute a Caron Dam on the Saguenay River in Quebec, Canada. This dam is more than 3,000 feet long. The list must also include the great Aswan Dam on the Nile in Egypt.