This week my sister and I visited Grand Coulee Dam in Eastern Washington, on the Mighty Columbia River. We last visited this dam when we were children on a family camping trip. The drive to reach the dam is beautiful, especially on a sunny day in May. Our first stop on Monday was at Dry Falls Heritage Site, which is well worth seeing. Basically it’s the site of a cataclysmic flood,
In the heart of the Grand Coulee lies one of the natural wonders of North America—the Dry Falls cataract. This 3.5-mile-wide chasm of basalt, with a drop of 400 feet, was left high and dry thousands of years ago as the last of several Ice Age floods swept through the Grand Coulee. This is one of the most extraordinary landscapes to be found along the Ice Age Floods National Geologic Trail.
Thousands of years ago an ice dam of monumental proportions collapsed and sent enough mud, water, and rock from western Montana to the Pacific Ocean with ten times the force of the all the current rivers of the world combined. Even more amazing, is that the draining of the giant, Glacial Lake Missoula only took ~2 days. The geologist, J Harlen Bretz, that identified the event that created so much of the topography of the PNW was not believed for decades. The theory at the time was that what was seen currently happened over millions of years. Bretz’s theory that the topography of Eastern Washington was created by a gigantic, and powerful flood was seen as preposterous. Turns out he was correct, and that there was more than one enormous flood that carved the geography of 4 states. This article from National Geographic does an excellent job of explaining what happened.
The floods that Bretz theorized about in his investigations are the basis for understanding the placement of Grand Coulee Dam. The site of the dam is where there was the largest coulee, (cataract/gorge in the terrain), so lots of water pressure as the Columbia flowed through that area, which makes it ideal for power generation, and feasible to build a dam.
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Grand Coulee Dam was built during the depression. Pres. Franklin Roosevelt supported the project, and provided the bulk of funding necessary, and construction began in the summer of 1933. The design changed from a budget friendly low dam to a higher dam after Roosevelt visited the construction site in 1934. He saw the project as an ideal fit for his WPA program, providing government generated electricity, and irrigation for a desert region, while providing employment to a depressed economy. Roosevelt wanted to keep electricity prices low, and his belief was that would only happen if public utilities provided the power, versus private utilities.
The initial building of the first phase of the dam employed over 8000 people, both men and women. At the time the project had one of the largest payrolls in the country. A huge benefit in the 1930s in the job deprived country. As is common with other large engineered projects, new methods were designed and created to solve problems that could then be used in other applications. For the dam, the use of conveyor belts to haul away the rock and dirt that was carved from the riverbed atop the bedrock was one such invention. The consortium of companies that built the dam, used a belt that was two miles long to replace the initial method of hauling it away in trucks.
Another clever solution was freezing dirt and rocks above an area that was being carved out for the ends of the dam, to stabilize it. Prior to that solution, the dirt and gravel would slide as the area became unstable from the work of the excavation at the ground. To resolve the problem, pipes were sunk into the top, and liquid nitrogen pumped through them to freeze the dirt in place. Excavation could then continue, concrete could be poured, and the hillsides would again be stable enough to stop the freezing and remove the pipes. By the way, the Grand Coulee Dam is the largest concrete structure and dam in North America, and the 7th largest dam in the world.
The Grand Coulee Dam’s electricity generation came on board in time to generate the additional power needed to support the immense regional manufacturing needed to support WWII. The Dam supplied power to Washington State’s Boeing plants for planes, and aluminum smelters, and shipbuilders in Portland, Oregon. The Grand Coulee Dam also provided the power to the Hanford site used to create nuclear fissure material as part of the Manhattan project.
The work on irrigation pumps was set aside during the war, but began anew after the war. A separate lake, Lake Banks, was created with water from Lake Roosevelt, (the Dam’s reservoir), to provide irrigation to the Columbia River Basin. So if you’re eating a Washington State apple or cherry, you have the Grand Coulee Dam to thank for the water that nourished the trees that grew your apple or cherries. Maybe you don’t eat apples or cherries, no problem, over 50 other crops are grown in the region and have likely made it into your pantry.
Decades after the initial construction of the dam, a 3rd power plant was added to the dam, increasing power generation. This 3rd power plant was huge, and once again new design and engineering was used in it’s construction. It supplies 2/3 of all the power generated from the Dam. To build this power plant a new treaty was signed with Canada to help control the flow of the river, and provide more river storage in Canada, where the headwater of Columbia River begins, to prevent flooding down river from the Grand Coulee Dam.
What a convenient time for a diary about infrastructure, large public projects. I know there was mocking of Leaders Pelosi and Schumer for their meeting:
But, on the other hand there’s this reality, and Rep. Lieu is not the only Representative or Senator who ran promising to address the concerns of their constituents:
There’s also this view, which is one I like, even if the law doesn’t come to fruition right now:
From Leaders Pelosi and Schumer’s official statement on the meeting:
Building America’s infrastructure is about creating jobs immediately, and also bolstering the commerce it facilitates, advancing public health with clean air and clean water, and improving the safety of our transportation system, and addressing climate change with clean energy, clean transportation and resilient infrastructure. We are pleased the President agreed to include a major investment in expanding broadband to rural, urban and other underserved areas to deliver broadband’s benefits for education, health care and commerce.
I found an article from 2012 about the biggest infrastructure projects that happened in that year, but can’t find a corresponding one for the past two yers. I did find this article, from January 2019, that is intended for an audience of construction companies that may be looking to bid on the projects. It highlighted spending by Nebraska on highway projects, a proposed Federal infrastructure bank funded with bond sales, water and sewer infrastructure work in Tennessee, and rail projects in New Jersey, California, and Texas. It’s clear to see that the projects aren’t just roads and bridges.
Federal dollars are usually used in support of state and local budget commitments to projects. These projects vary in size and scope, but share a few traits. They require more money that state and local revenues can support, they provide a variety of jobs, and they advance safety and modernization goals.
I believe that pursuing an infrastructure bill with the traitor is a smart move. The Democrats can provide oversight of the executive branch and pass legislation; and should absolutely perform both of those responsibilities. Voters expect and deserve oversight and legislation. Should Pelosi and Schumer’s continued meetings with the traitor continue to make progress, then the WH will put the squeeze on McConnell to pass the legislation; and may be successful. Sure the traitor gets a victory, but it will be minuscule compared to the onslaught of legal action against him in the coming years. More important than the republicans getting a victory is that Democrats will have proven they stand behind their campaign promises — they are working to solve the country’s problems.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this geological, engineering and travelogue themed diary. If you are a Jeopardy fan, this diary could help you in the future.