Northeast Washington
Grand Coulee Dam

The town of
Coulee Dam

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Here (photo right) on the downstream side of the dam is the left power station (which by the uninitiated could be mistaken for the right power station!).  To get some perspective on the size of the dam, consider that the power station is a six-story building.  Note also the "tiny" cars.  To the right of the power station, you can also see the pipes that deliver water up over the canyon wall into a feeder canal, and then into Banks Lake

What it does
Grand Coulee is a hydroelectric dam, and part of the Columbia River Hydro System, a series of 14 dams harnessing the energy of the mighty Columbia River.  Interestingly, the System is an example of the close ties between Canada and the US in this Pacific Northwest region, as it includes 3 dams above the border.  Grand Coulee Dam is the largest U.S. producer of hydro-electric energy, generating 6,800 of the 35,000 megawatts of electricity generated by the System.  That translates to about $500 million worth of power that is supplied to British Columbia and hundreds of towns and cities in the western states.  

Grand Coulee Dam also provides water that irrigates over 500,000 acres of eastern Washington, and without which much of the farming you see would not be possible.  In addition to Franklin D Roosevelt Lake, water is actually pumped out of the dam to create Banks Lake above which functions as a stabilizing reservoir and also stores irrigation water.  This was quite a controversial design decision at the time, and took advantage of an existing containment area in the form of the upper Grand Coulee Canyon.

Viewing the dam
A good place to view the dam, (as well as the town and its monumental sand pile) is from "Crown Point" lookout, about two miles west out of Coulee Dam, just off WA-174.  The lookout can be spotted from the town below.  In terms of photo opportunities, the evening sun shows off the downstream side to its best advantage, while the morning sun bathes the upstream side. 

In the open desert landscape of low rolling hills it can be hard to gain a perspective of just how large this structure is.  One exercise is to look at the town, then look at the dam... the dam is a lot bigger!

The dam has its own Visitor Arrival Center overlooking the downstream dam wall.  In summer there are tours of parts of the dam including a ride down the face of the dam in a glass-enclosed elevator, designed to access the powerhouses.  You can make a picnic dinner of the evening laser light shows projected onto the dam wall.  The are free, run for 36 minutes, and include music and narration.

The town and road map of Northeast Washington will help you locate cities, towns and other attractions.

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