The two RV Gypsies at Grand Coulee Dam
July 14, 2013

(As a geological term, coulee means a ravine or deep gully, usually dry, which has been cut by water)

Beautiful scenery on the way to the Grand Coulee Dam - Steamboat Rock and State Park




Grand Coulee Dam is in sight




Inside the Museum /Visitor Center at Grand Coulee Dam


Below - Photo of a photo: On June 14, 1951, 50 Princesses and the Queen of the Washington State Apple Blossom Festival participated in a symbolic pouring ceremony. Standing at the top of the canal wall, they emptied gallon jugs of water from all 48 states, plus the territories of Alaska and Hawaii, and the District of Columbia into the newly completed feeder canal. The ceremony symbolized the entire country's contribution to the project, and the benefit the project would have to the country's economy when irrigation started the following spring.



Grand Coulee Dam was built from 1933 to 1975. Grand Coulee Dam is one of the largest concrete structures in the world. It contains nearly 12 million cubic yards of concrete, and dwarfs the Great Pyramids of Egypt. Grand Coulee Dam is the largest hydropower producer in the United States, generating more than 21 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity each. year. That's enough power to supply 2.3 million households with electricity for one year. Power from Grand Coulee Dam is supplied to eleven western states; Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, California, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Arizona, plus Canada.

Grand Coulee Dam is 550 feet high and 5,223 feet in length. Including the third power house, Grand Coulee Dam is almost 1 mile long. In comparison, Hoover Dam is 726 feet high, but only 1,244 feet long.


The water flowing down the dam made the backdrop for the laser show. The laser show was all about the making of the dam and was presented in voice as if the Columbia River was doing the talking. The show was about 35 minutes and length. There was no admission fee on this date.


Altogether, a total of 11 dams have been built on the Columbia River in the United States as it winds its way from the Canadian border toward the Pacific Ocean. Grand Coulee Dam is the keystone of the Columbia River system dams. Grand Coulee Dam's blocking of the Columbia River has created Franklin D. Roosevelt Lake, which extends 151 miles upstream to the Canadian border. The reservoir has a shoreline of 660 miles, a surface area of 82,000 acres and a total storage capacity of 9,562,000 acre-feet of water.