BOULDER CITY, Nevada—During World War II, America feared surprise enemy attacks on its electrical power grid plunging the nation into darkness.
The military considered Nevada’s Hoover Dam potentially vulnerable as a supplier of hydroelectric energy for the defense industry.
To prevent direct attacks or sabotage, the dam, built in the 1930s, came with a hardened machine gun nest manned around the clock.
The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (USBR), which has jurisdiction over the dam, described the pillbox as 24 feet long, made of steel and concrete, with six gun ports.
Built in the 1930s, the Hoover Dam in Boulder City, Nev., supplies hydroelectric energy to 1.3 million people in three western states on Jan. 19, 2023. (Allan Stein/The Epoch Times)
At least one soldier was always inside the nest while riflemen watched the dam from the nearby rocks….