Identity elements
Reference code
Name and location of repository
Level of description
Item
Title
C79253-1
Date(s)
- 1953 (Creation)
Extent
Name of creator
Content and structure elements
Scope and content
ca. 1953. Copy of a customer's print. Original photograph taken by the Bureau of Reclamation, Ephrata, Wa. of the Grand Coulee Dam, date of photo unknown. Grand Coulee Dam is a large hydroelectric dam located on the Columbia River in central Washington. It is the largest concrete structure in the US and the 3rd largest hydroelectric plant in the world. It began with the Columbia Basin Irrigation Project, headed by the Bureau of Reclamation, in the 1930s. Its intention was to provide irrigation water to the fertile but arid farmlands of the Columbia River basin in Central Washington. By 1941, the main dam was completed, with construction of the powerhouses and the pumping station underway. With the start of WWII & the importance of the Northwest's aluminum industry to the war effort, production of electricity became the priority of the dam and irrigation was delayed until later. After the war, the emphasis again shifted to irrigation and construction on the pumping plants resumed. By 1951, the dam was providing irrigation water to the area. The dam now serves three purposes: electric power production, irrigation and flood control. (web site: Grand Coulee Dam, Columbia River Project) TPL-8138
Dams--Grand Coulee; Hydroelectric power--Grand Coulee;