Uploaded January 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
10 Interesting Lake Mead Facts
1. Lake Mead is a human-made reservoir in Nevada that supplies drinking water to over 25 million Americans.
2. In the Pleistocene epoch, Lake Mead was home to several species of megafauna, including giant ground sloths, giant camels, giant horses, and mammoths.
3. When it is completely full, the surface of Lake Mead is over 1,200 miles above sea level.
4. Hoover Dam, which made Lake Mead possible, was completed in 1936. It took five years to build and is the largest dam in the country.
5. Although it is 115 miles long, Lake Mead's width only varies between one and ten miles.
6. Lake Mead was named for Elwood Mead, the head of the U.S. water reclamation department at the time Hoover Dam was built.
7. The first settlers to build towns in the Lake Mead area were LDS (Mormon) pioneers, sent by leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, in the mid-1800s.
8. Lake Mead National Recreation Area covers over 1.4 million acres of land, making it larger than the state of Delaware.
9. Residents in many of the towns originally established in the Lake Mead area were forced to relocate once plans for Hoover Dam were announced.
10. Given current environmental conditions, government officials predict that by the end of 2023, Lake Mead will only be 21% full.
For more interesting Lake Mead facts, check out our article here:
factretriever.com/lake-mead-facts
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10 Interesting Lake Mead Facts
1. Lake Mead is a human-made reservoir in Nevada that supplies drinking water to over 25 million Americans.
2. In the Pleistocene epoch, Lake Mead was home to several species of megafauna, including giant ground sloths, giant camels, giant horses, and mammoths.
3. When it is completely full, the surface of Lake Mead is over 1,200 miles above sea level.
4. Hoover Dam, which made Lake Mead possible, was completed in 1936. It took five years to build and is the largest dam in the country.
5. Although it is 115 miles long, Lake Mead's width only varies between one and ten miles.
6. Lake Mead was named for Elwood Mead, the head of the U.S. water reclamation department at the time Hoover Dam was built.
7. The first settlers to build towns in the Lake Mead area were LDS (Mormon) pioneers, sent by leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, in the mid-1800s.
8. Lake Mead National Recreation Area covers over 1.4 million acres of land, making it larger than the state of Delaware.
9. Residents in many of the towns originally established in the Lake Mead area were forced to relocate once plans for Hoover Dam were announced.
10. Given current environmental conditions, government officials predict that by the end of 2023, Lake Mead will only be 21% full.
For more interesting Lake Mead facts, check out our article here:
factretriever.com/lake-mead-facts
Don't forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel for more amazing facts about the world and beyond: youtube.com/@UCZxmYOAglFN29DPr7mEaDLQ
