 When Secretary Wilbur spoke at the ceremony starting the building of the railway between Las Vegas and the dam site on September 17 , 1930 , he named the dam " Hoover Dam " , citing a tradition of naming dams after Presidents , though none had been so honored during their terms of office . Wilbur justified his choice on the ground that Hoover was " the great engineer whose vision and persistence ... has done so much to make [ the dam ] possible " . One writer complained in response that " the Great Engineer had quickly drained , ditched , and dammed the country . " 
 When Secretary Wilbur spoke at the ceremony starting the building of the railway between Las Vegas and the dam site on September 17 , 1930 , he named the dam " Hoover Dam " , citing a tradition of naming dams after Presidents , though none had been so honored during their terms of office . Wilbur justified his choice on the ground that Hoover was " the great engineer whose vision and persistence ... <a href='uninflect' title='1'><mark>has</mark></a> done so much to make [ the dam ] possible " . One writer complained in response that " the Great Engineer <a href='been_done' title='2'><mark>had</mark></a> quickly drained , ditched , and dammed the country . " 
When Secretary Wilbur spoke at the ceremony starting da building of tdarailway between Las Vegas and the dam site on September 17 , 1930 , he named thdaam " Hoover Dam " , citing a tradition of naming dams after Presidents , though none had been so honored during their terms of office . Wilbur justified his choice on thedaound dat Hoover was " the great engineer whose vision and persistence ... have done so much to make [ the dam ] possible " . One writer complained in response that " the Great Engineer done quickly drained , ditched , and dammed the country . "