The
Grand Coulee is an ancient river bed on the
Columbia Plateau created during the
Pliocene
Epoch (Calabrian) by retreating glaciers and floods. Originally,
geologists believed the Grand Coulee was formed by a glacier diverting
the Columbia River but it was revealed in the mid-late 20th century that
massive floods from
Lake Missoula carved most of the gorge.
[5] The earliest known proposal to irrigate the Grand Coulee with the Columbia River dates to 1892, when the
Coulee City News and
The Spokesman Review
reported on a scheme by a man named Laughlin McLean to construct a
1,000 ft (305 m) dam across the Columbia River, high enough that water
would back up into the Grand Coulee. A dam that size would have its
reservoir encroach into Canada, which would violate treaties.
[6]
Shortly after the Bureau of Reclamation was founded, it investigated a
scheme for pumping water from the Columbia River to irrigate parts of
central Washington. An attempt to raise funds for irrigation failed in
1914, as a bond measure was rejected by Washington voters.
[7]
Such a power if developed would operate railroads, factories, mines,
irrigation pumps, furnish heat and light in such measure that all in all
it would be the most unique, the most interesting, and the most
remarkable development of both irrigation and power in this age of
industrial and scientific miracles.
[8]
“
”
– Rufus Woods
A lawyer from
Ephrata, Washington, named William M. Clapp proposed in 1917 that the Columbia be dammed immediately below the Grand Coulee.
[9]
He suggested a concrete dam could flood the plateau, just as nature
blocked it with ice centuries ago. Clapp was joined by James O'Sullivan,
another lawyer, and by Rufus Woods, publisher of the
Wenatchee World newspaper. Together, they became known as the "Dam College".
[10]
Woods began promoting the Grand Coulee Dam in his newspaper, often with
articles written by O'Sullivan. The dam idea gained popularity with the
public in 1918. Backers of reclamation in Central Washington split into
two camps. One side, known as the "pumpers", favored a dam with pumps
to elevate water from the river into the Grand Coulee from which canals
and pipes could be used to irrigate farmland. The other side, known as
the "ditchers", favored diverting water from northeast Washington's
Pend Oreille River
via a gravity canal to irrigate farmland in Central and Eastern
Washington. Many locals such as Woods, O'Sullivan and Clapp were
pumpers, while many influential businessmen in Spokane associated with
the
Washington Water and Power Company
(WWPC) were staunch ditchers. The pumpers argued that hydroelectricity
from the dam could be used to cover costs and claimed the ditchers
sought to maintain a monopoly on electric power.
[6]
The ditchers took a number of steps to ensure support for their
proposals. In 1921, WWPC secured a preliminary permit to build a dam at
Kettle Falls,
about 110 mi (177 km) upstream from the Grand Coulee. If built, the
Kettle Falls Dam would have lain in the path of the Grand Coulee Dam's
reservoir, essentially blocking its construction.
[11]
WWPC planted rumors in the newspapers, incorrectly stating that
exploratory drilling at the Grand Coulee site found no granite on which a
dam's foundations could rest, only clay and fragmented rock. This was
later disproved with Reclamation-ordered drilling. Ditchers hired
General
George W. Goethals, engineer of the
Panama Canal,
to prepare a report. Goethals visited the state and produced a report
backing the ditchers. The Bureau of Reclamation was unimpressed by
Goethals' report, believing it filled with errors.
[11] In
July 1923, President
Warren G. Harding visited Washington state and expressed support for irrigation work there, but died a month later. His successor,
Calvin Coolidge,
had little interest in irrigation projects. The Bureau of Reclamation,
desirous of a major project that would bolster its reputation, was
focusing on the
Boulder Canyon Project that resulted in the
Hoover Dam.
Reclamation was authorized to conduct a study in 1923, but the
project's cost made federal officials reluctant. The Washington state
proposals received little support from those further east, who feared
the irrigation would result in more crops, depressing prices.
[12] With President Coolidge opposed to the project, bills to appropriate money for surveys of the Grand Coulee site failed.
[13]
Photo of the dam site taken before construction, looking south
In 1925, Congress authorized a
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers study of the Columbia River.
[14] This study was included in the Rivers and Harbors Act of
March 1925, which provided for studies on the navigation, power, flood control and irrigation potential of rivers. In
April 1926,
the Army Corps responded with the first of the "308 Reports" named
after the 1925 House Document No. 308 (69th Congress, 1st Session).
[15] With the help of Washington's Senators,
Wesley Jones and
Clarence Dill, Congress ordered $600,000 in further studies to be carried out by the Army Corps and
Federal Power Commission on the Columbia River Basin and
Snake Rivers.
[16]
U.S. Army Major John Butler was responsible for the upper Columbia
River and Snake River and in 1932, his 1,000-page report was submitted
to Congress. It recommended the Grand Coulee Dam and nine others on the
river, including some in Canada. The report stated that electricity
sales from the Grand Coulee Dam could pay for construction costs.
Reclamation—whose interest in the dam was revitalized by the
report—endorsed it.
[15][17]
Although there was some support for the Grand Coulee Dam, others
argued there was little need for more electricity in the Northwest and
crops were in surplus. The Army Corps did not believe construction
should be a federal project and saw low demand for electricity.
Reclamation argued that energy demand would rise by the time the dam was
complete.
[18] The head of Reclamation,
Elwood Mead, stated he wanted the dam built no matter the cost.
[19] President
Franklin D. Roosevelt,
who took office in March, 1933, supported the dam because of its
irrigation potential and the power it would provide, but he was uneasy
with its
$450 million price tag. For this reason, he supported a 290 ft (88 m) "low dam" instead of the 550 ft (168 m) "high dam".
[20] He provided
$63 million in federal funding, while Washington State provided $377,000.
[17] In 1933, Washington governor
Clarence Martin set up the Columbia Basin Commission to oversee the dam project,
[21] and Reclamation was selected to oversee construction.
[20]