As America marks its 250th anniversary, the America250 initiative reminds us that the great engineering achievements of our nation never exist in isolation, they rise from a landscape shaped by generations of explorers, settlers, advocates, and leaders. At Hoover Dam, a proud member of the Adventures Unbound family, we are honoring Women’s History Month by celebrating four women whose lives along the Colorado River and across the Mojave Desert helped write the broader human story behind one of America’s most iconic landmarks.

The River, the Desert, and the Women Who Knew Them Best

Before the dam, before the reservoir, there was the river itself, wild and unrelenting. In 1938, Dr. Elzada Clover and Lois Jotter took it on directly, becoming the first documented women to travel its full 660 mile length down to Lake Mead. Undeterred by doubt and driven by scientific purpose, they documented canyon plant life as they navigated some of the most challenging water in North America. The river that Hoover Dam would later control was one they had already experienced on its own terms.

The valley that grew up around this stretch of desert owes much to early settlers like Helen Stewart, one of the first non Indigenous women to put down roots in the Las Vegas Valley. Long before construction began and the turbines turned, Stewart was helping build the human foundation of a region that would become central to the American West.

But the deepest roots in this desert belong to the Indigenous peoples who called it home for centuries, and no one gave those roots a more powerful voice than Sarah Winnemucca. A Northern Paiute advocate and writer, she devoted her life to educating others about her people’s experiences during westward expansion, ensuring their stories were heard. Her legacy remains one of the most important in the history of the American West.

Today, the stewardship of this landscape continues with leaders like Christa Johnston, Chief of Staff for the Lake Mead National Recreation Area, who helps oversee operations and partnerships across the region. In her work, the spirit of these women continues.

Stand Where History Was Made

This Women’s History Month, Hoover Dam invites you to look beyond the concrete and steel and see the full human story this place holds. To learn more about how we are honoring the diverse legacies woven into America’s heritage, visit America250 at Adventures Unbound and explore further at the National Park Service.