Boulder City was created on a broad ridge not far from the construction site. It was a carefully controlled federal compound where workers had to follow very strict regulations but also earned steady and good wages during the depression years from 1930 to 1936. The barren town had few amenities and citizens struggled to build schools and create some semblance of the community life that they had left behind. Commercial development was regulated by permit to insure that there was limited competition among the cafeterias, clothing stores, barbershops, and so forth. The above map shows the location of the dam, Boulder City, and the Colorado River, near Las Vegas, suggesting the essentially rural and isolated area in which this dam was placed. Later projects were located in more populated areas in Tennessee and Washington state, and were also more controversial.