"I spent most of my time on the intake towers. The intake towers were build like a wagonwheel, with the center around and the spokes that came out. In between these spokes there's a trash rack. They'd pour the concrete, and one pour would come up 10 feet each time on the intake towers. Each bucket would probably bring it up about 2 feet. They'd just keep working all even; when they'd get one spoke finished, they'd move around to the next one. In an eight-hour period, we'd pour maybe half of the circle of the intake tower. We's work it without feet with boots on and puddle it -- that's puddling concrete. They'd keep pouring it, and you'd deep coming up. The concrete was getting harder...."

The twin penstock vertical intake towers were impressive structures designed to trap debris from the impounded lake water and then direct the water itself to the power houses. The design followed earlier dam models, but the Boulder Dam was the highest to date and was designed with an eye to aesthetics as well as function. There was a steady stream of publicity connected with the building of the dam, and its development was well-recorded by photographers hired by the government as well as by newspaper staff.