Coulee City dispatch. [volume] (Coulee City, Wash.) 19??-19??, 1935-10-17

plantSs having capacity OF l4,U0V
cubic yards per day. Bedrock has
been exposed over large area be
hind the west cofferdam, and with
| in a month the pouring OF concrete
will commence.
In the building of this giant bar
rier the Bureau of Reclamation
and MWAK company, which has
the contract for the construction of
foundations costing $6S00O,00O.
face the highest task in the his
tory OF engineering and construc
ton. Diversion tunnels being too
expensive to handle flow of 5000
second feet in winter, 100000 Sc
cond feet in summer. and pos
sible flood flow of 100000 secnd
feet such as occurred in 1894, they
must construct the dam while the
river is passing over its low sec
tons. They are now building the
shore ends of the dam and tse river
will be diverted over low blocks
left in the west end. During the
periods of low water these opening
will gradually be closed and pour
ed, and the dam fingered" UP to
it's proper height. The problem Of
protecting bedrock at the toe f thk
dam against impact of Possible
25sOOO,00O horse power of energy
dropping over the spillwtay of the
structure is unprecedented. 1t is
planned to accomplish this by pro
viding for deep pool gbelw the
dam and a bucket at it's toe to
turn the falling water AWAY from
bedrock.
The Grand Coulee project is fur
nishing employment, directly and
Indirectly, to at least 5000 men.
This dam is not being built at the
Grand Coulee; it is being assemb
led there. More than s6,OOO,000 of
the $1S,0O0,OO0 already spent on
the project has been invested In
electric shovels, caterpillar tractors
trucks, dump buggies, concrete
mixers. lumber belt conveyors,
steel sheet piling, ETC., and most of
this material and equipment has
been furnished by factories located
in the East and Middle west.
The Grand Coulee dam serves the
folliwing great major projects:
generates 2.646,000 installed pow
er4 equal to Niagara, In output and
cost; provides navigable lake ISL
miles long from the dam to the
Canadian border and increases the
depth of waterr for navigation
downstream. during the low water
season, an average of feet; in
creases the prime or commercial
power of the river 100 per cent as
far down stream as the Snake river
and SO per cent below the Snakei
or by several million horse power;
materially reduces the flood dam
ages on the lower river; and makes
possible the ultimate reclamation,
over a period of IS to 40 years, of
100000 acres of semi arid farm
Land, which possesses the rich min
eral elements necessary to plant
growth as we'll as one Of the finest
agricultural climates on the Ameri
can continent.
The cost of the Grand Coulee
dam and power plant is estimated
at SITS, OOOsOO0, and the total
cost of the dam, power plant and
reclamation at $393, 100000. How
ever, engineers find that the act
ual investment, spread over "a per
iod of 40 years. will not exceed
100000. since the revenuSs
from the sale of power will Pay
for the cost of the dam and power
plant and one half the cost or re
clamation. The cost of the land
and water right to the settler will
be less than 500 per acrtA pay
able over a period of 40 years, and
the annual charge for mainten
ance will be $3.19 per acre.
The people of the Northwest are
confident that the revenues from
the sale of power and water will
repay the entire cost of this devel
opment within period of 30
years. Between 1902 and 1930,t
power market in the Northwest
doubled in every years, and has
now more than recovered from the
depression.
U. s. Army and Reclamation en-
gineers report that twice the out
plant can be ohsorbed, as provided
in the financial setup, within Is or
|20 years following the completion
of the dam. Large blocks Of this
cheap power can also be used in
pumping for irrigation, in electric
heating! in processing the rich min
eraa resources of the reion, and in
supplying the needs of the new
population of the Northwest result
ing from natural growth and the
gradual development of 10000
new farm homes to be provided
through reclamation.
They are also certain that land
under the project will be settled
and probably farmed when irr
gated. The land will be reclaimed
in small units, only as fast as th'
agricultural market and the reveI
ues from the power plant permit
The cost of land and water to tn,
'settler on this project will con
pare favorably with the cost OF
successful Federal reclamation pr
jects. The constant depletion o
the farms OF the United State
through droughk soil erosion an
exhaustion will make these land
attractive to farmers living on ma
ginal and submarginal lands VIII
will naturally seek new farms wit
rich soil, a good climate and a
assured water supply.
, Nor do the people Of the Mort