Timeline: Grand Coulee Dam, Then and Now, A History, A Timeline

Oct 1, 1929

An extreme dry spell in the fall of 1929 led depleted reservoirs to produce only 1/10th of the hydroelectric power needed to supply Seattle and Tacoma.

An extreme dry spell in the fall of 1929 led depleted reservoirs to produce only 1/10th of the hydroelectric power needed to supply Seattle and Tacoma. Just two weeks after Wall Street’s Black Monday, Tacoma leaders wrote in a telegrammed plea for assistance “supply insufficient STOP We cannot hold out another week without shutting off inductors which will give great loss in employment and consequent suffering to entire community.” The US Navy agreed to allow the steam power plants on the USS Lexington to be used to supply power to the City of Tacoma. A close-up of the cables that allowed power to be transferred from the Lexington to the Tacoma city power grid. Commandant’s Office Correspondence Files, 1925-1940; 13th Naval District; Records of Naval Districts and Shore Establishments (RG 181)

Jan 1, 1932

Bonneville Dam was the first of a series of dams built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers along the Columbia River in response to the Corps’ 1932 “308 Report”. Designed to replace a canal and locks that had been in place since 1896, the dam was intended

Bonneville Dam was the first of a series of dams built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers along the Columbia River in response to the Corps’ 1932 “308 Report”. Designed to replace a canal and locks that had been in place since 1896, the dam was intended to serve shipping up the river, control flooding, and provide electric power. Construction began in 1933, and the jobs provided helped to lessen the impact of the Great Depression in the area. Although fish ladders were included in the construction plan, it has become clear that, as far a salmon were concerned, this system could not replace the free flowing river. This aerial view was reproduced from a glass slide. (ca. 1941)

Jul 16, 1933

Beginning of Construction

The Great Depression In Washington StateGovernor Clarance T. Martin and Senator C. Dill marked the beginning of construction of Dam.

Aug 1, 1933

Frank A. Banks Appointed

CONSTRUCTING GRAND COULEE DAMFrank A. Banks was appointed Construction Engineer of Grand Coulee Dam.

Jun 18, 1934

Bids are opened for first phase of construction of the Grand Coulee Dam on June 18, 1934.

On June 18, 1934, bids are opened in Spokane for the first phase of construction of Grand Coulee Dam, the centerpiece in a massive project to irrigate the desert in Central Washington with water from the Columbia River. The bid opening was the culmination of a 16-year campaign to replicate in concrete an ice dam that had blocked the Columbia in prehistoric times. Proponents believed the dam would harness “energy that today is wasting itself away day by day” (Wenatchee Daily World, 1918).

Jun 18, 1934

Bids Were Opened ...

Bids were opened in Spokane, Washington for the construction of Grand Coulee Dam and its two powerplants. Two bids were submitted: MWAK Company for $29,339k,301.50, and Six Companies for $34,555,582.00.

Aug 4, 1934

Design change

On August 4, 1934, President Franklin D. Roosevelt visited the construction site and was impressed by the project and its purpose. He gave a speech to workers and spectators, closing with this statement: "I leave here today with the feeling that this work is well undertaken; that we are going ahead with a useful project, and we are going to see it through for the benefit of our country." Soon after his visit, Reclamation was allowed to proceed with the high dam plan but faced the problems of transitioning the design and negotiating an altered contract with MWAK. In , for an additional , MWAK and Six Companies, Inc. agreed to join together as Consolidated Builders Inc. and construct the high dam. Six Companies had just finished the Hoover Dam and was nearing completion of Parker Dam. The new design, chosen and approved by the Reclamation office in Denver, included several improvements, one of which was the irrigation pumping plant.

Sep 25, 1934

M.W.A.K. was notified to proceed with construction of the dam.

Jan 22, 1935

State history. Grand Coulee dam. Accidents. General. 1935-01-22

Worker killed at Coulee dam. - When his body was caught between rollers and belt of the Coulee dam conveyor system, B. M. Layport, 38, formerly of Spokane, was killed instantly last night.

Jan 22, 1935

Worker at Coulee crushed to death. - B. M. Layport, 38, an oiler for the MWAK Company here, was killed last night when his clothing became entangled in the rollers of the big conveyor belt, crushing h

Worker at Coulee crushed to death. - B. M. Layport, 38, an oiler for the MWAK Company here, was killed last night when his clothing became entangled in the rollers of the big conveyor belt, crushing hGrand Coulee dam. Accidents. General. 1935-01-22

Jan 25, 1935

Torches used to free injured man under huge boom. - How Marvin Palenuk, 25, of Bremerton, a piledriver man for the MWAK, escaped with his life after being hit with a 120-foot crane boom, was still the

Torches used to free injured man under huge boom. - How Marvin Palenuk, 25, of Bremerton, a piledriver man for the MWAK, escaped with his life after being hit with a 120-foot crane boom, was still the

Jan 25, 1935

State history. Grand Coulee dam. Accidents. General. 1935-01-25

Can't understand how he is alive. - How Marvin Palenuk, 25, of Bremerton, a pile-driver man for the MWAK, escaped with his life after being hit with a 120-foot crane boom, was still the great source o

Jan 26, 1935

State history. Grand Coulee dam. Accidents. General. 1935-01-26

Torches free injured man. - Struck by a falling 120-foot steel boom on one of the big stiff-leg cranes, Marvin Palenuk, 25, was taken to the MWAK hospital yesterday, both arms and one leg broken.P

Feb 12, 1935

State history. Grand Coulee dam. Accidents. General. 1935-02-12

Coulee worker killed in accident. - W. R. Burke, 36, Wenatchee, welder's helper, was killed instantly today when the bottom plate of a pile driver used in the coffer dam construction broke loose, drop

Feb 19, 1935

Grand Coulee dam. Accidents. General. 1935-02-19

Fourth man killed on a Coulee dam job. - Louis Belley, 35, of Synarep, in Okanogan county, was killed instantly yesterday afternoon in the cofferdam area on the west bank of the river, when a load of Fourth man killed on a Coulee dam job. - Louis Belley, 35, of Synarep, in Okanogan county, was killed instantly yesterday afternoon in the cofferdam area on the west bank of the river, when a load of

Mar 25, 1935

Grand Coulee dam. Accidents. General. 1935-03-25

Crushed under big beam. - Investigation discloses how Ridgway met his death. - An investigation into the death last night of Nelson P. Ridgway, 55, Tacoma, disclosed that Ridgway was lying between two

Jun 12, 1935

Grand Coulee dam. Accidents. General. 1935-06-12

Tractor crushes Coulee worker. - John Huntsberger, 21, a laborer, died this morning from internal injuries suffered last night when a huge tractor backed over him while he was working on the conveyor

Jun 16, 1935

Grand Coulee dam. Accidents. General. 1935-06-16

At the Grand Coulee damn site workmen stripping top soil from the gravel pit wear respirators to protect their lungs against an otherwise eventual and inevitable deadly burden of dust.But there s

Jul 6, 1935

Grand Coulee dam. Accidents. General. 1935-07-06

Rock endangers federal workers. - Traveling more than 200 yards, a 10-pound rock, blasted loose from the west side rock abutment, crashed through the awning on the Bureau of Reclamation field office.

Sep 24, 1935

Grand Coulee dam. Accidents. General. 1935-09-25

Neck is broken, walks to help. - Dexter B. Flecther, 54, is the local "iron man". - Working as a laborer near the cofferdam last night, Fletcher was struck on the neck by a huge piece of clay. Slightl