From the Archives: February 6, 1941

This 1941 cowl picture reveals staff on high of the drum gates of the mile-long Grand Coulee Dam in Washington State.

In the course of the Twenties there was a bitter debate over whether or not to construct a 290-ft tall “low dam” which might generate electrical energy with out supplying irrigation, or a 550-ft tall “excessive dam” which would offer ample electrical energy to pump water into the Columbia basin for irrigation.

In 1933 the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and a consortium of three firms known as MWAK (Mason-Walsh-Atkinson Kier Co.) started development on a excessive dam, though that they had solely obtained approval for a low dam.

Lastly, in 1934, with development underway, President Franklin D. Roosevelt visited the location and authorized the excessive dam design. That led to the Bureau of Reclamation deciding so as to add the Six Firms, the profitable group that had not too long ago completed constructing Hoover Dam, to the contracting consortium, because the venture had turn into exponentially bigger.

Fabricated and put in by American Bridge Co., the 11 drum gates, every measuring 135 ft x 28 ft, present a movable spillway crest 1,485 ft lengthy.

When totally lowered they’ve an outlet capability of 1 million cu ft per second, and when raised can improve the reservoir’s capability 2.4 million acre-ft, or 32%.

Accomplished in 1942, the dam’s electrical energy technology capability of 6,809 MW makes it the nation’s main energy plant of any kind.