Beautiful scenery on the way
to the Grand Coulee Dam - Steamboat Rock and State Park |
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Grand Coulee Dam is in sight |
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Grand Coulee Dam
is a concrete gravity dam on the Columbia River in the U.S. state of
Washington, built to produce hydroelectric power and provide irrigation
water. Constructed between 1933 and 1942, Grand Coulee originally had
two powerhouses. The third powerhouse was completed in 1974 to increase
energy production, and it makes Grand Coulee the largest power station
in the United States by nameplate capacity at 6,809 MW. |
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Inside the Museum / Visitor
Center at Grand Coulee Dam |
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Below - Karen Duquette took
a 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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
Continue
viewing the two RV Gypsies' adventures in Washington in the order they
occurred - 
