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The Grand Coulee
Dam, located on the Columbia River in Washington state, is the largest
electric power generating facility in the United States. The
reservoir created by the dam is named after Franklin D. Roosevelt, the
president who funded the dam's construction.
Not only is the
dam the largest structure ever built (at the time) since the Great
Pyramid of Giza. But, all the pyramids at Giza could fit within
the base of the Grand Coulee Dam.
No human endeavor
has altered the Pacific Northwest as much as the Grand Coulee Dam.
The dam provides irrigation for farmland that would otherwise not be
suitable for agriculture. On the negative side, the dam removed
over a thousand miles of spawning grounds for salmon, which some Native
American tribes had fished for centuries before.
Fast Facts
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Completed: |
1941 |
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Construction Cost: |
$1.1 billion* |
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Length: |
5,223 feet |
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Height: |
550 feet |
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Hydraulic Height: |
380 feet |
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Volume: |
12 million cubic yards |
* Includes
modifications made after completion through 1983.
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