History and Impacts of Grand Coulee Dam, Washington
Faculty Mentor
Richard Orndorff
Document Type
Poster
Start Date
10-5-2023 9:00 AM
End Date
10-5-2023 10:45 AM
Location
PUB NCR
Department
Geology
Abstract
Grand Coulee Dam is the largest concrete structure in the United States. At 186 meters (550 ft) tall, and 1592 meters (5,223 feet) wide, it towers above the Columbia River in East-Central Washington. Construction began on July 16th, 1933, and utilized over 11,000 men and 27 million hours of labor to build. It was completed on June 1st, 1942. Grand Coulee hydroelectric dam generates a total of 21 billion kilowatt hours of electricity per year. It was a vital source of power during WWII and was responsible for one-third of all wartime aluminum production, which was central to building the aircraft that helped win the war. This concrete gravity dam also holds back the 151-mile-long Franklin D. Roosevelt Lake and Reservoir, which has a storage capacity of 9,386,000 acre-feet of water. On June 6th, 1937, the dam earned the record for the largest continuous concrete pour during a 24-hour period of 12,683 cubic yards. Although Grand Coulee Dam is undoubtedly an engineering masterpiece, ecological and cultural conflicts have plagued the dam from its inception. Its construction is responsible for the displacement and relocation of Indigenous peoples, as well as the decline and near total collapse of salmon habitat along the Columbia River.
Recommended Citation
Osgood, Jalyn and Queen, Hannah, "History and Impacts of Grand Coulee Dam, Washington" (2023). 2023 Symposium. 8.
https://dc.ewu.edu/srcw_2023/res_2023/p1_2023/8
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
History and Impacts of Grand Coulee Dam, Washington
PUB NCR
Grand Coulee Dam is the largest concrete structure in the United States. At 186 meters (550 ft) tall, and 1592 meters (5,223 feet) wide, it towers above the Columbia River in East-Central Washington. Construction began on July 16th, 1933, and utilized over 11,000 men and 27 million hours of labor to build. It was completed on June 1st, 1942. Grand Coulee hydroelectric dam generates a total of 21 billion kilowatt hours of electricity per year. It was a vital source of power during WWII and was responsible for one-third of all wartime aluminum production, which was central to building the aircraft that helped win the war. This concrete gravity dam also holds back the 151-mile-long Franklin D. Roosevelt Lake and Reservoir, which has a storage capacity of 9,386,000 acre-feet of water. On June 6th, 1937, the dam earned the record for the largest continuous concrete pour during a 24-hour period of 12,683 cubic yards. Although Grand Coulee Dam is undoubtedly an engineering masterpiece, ecological and cultural conflicts have plagued the dam from its inception. Its construction is responsible for the displacement and relocation of Indigenous peoples, as well as the decline and near total collapse of salmon habitat along the Columbia River.
