A visit to Hoover Dam

Climate change and growing demand pushes a monument to human ingenuity toward obsolescence

Note: This is part of an ongoing, irregularly occurring series of pieces commemorating the centennial year of the Colorado River Compact’s signing in November, 1922.

Hoover Dam, January 2022. Jonathan P. Thompson photo.

The altostratus clouds flatten the light and casting an eerie pall over the crumpled and craggy earth. They’ve been my constant — and o…