This book is about the building of Grand Coulee Dam. It was first built to provide electrical power. Electricity came on line in 1942, just in time for WWII. Major ship-building and aircraft manufacturing in the Pacific Northwest needed hundreds of kW of power. The dam also supplied cheap power to the nuclear site at Richland, Washington, which was manufacturing the plutonium to build the atomic bomb. After war time, the dam became the anchor of a vast irrigation project that waters half a million acres of central Washington.
Click here to see the rest of this review...
This book is a fascinating account of the building of Grand Coulee Dam. The book is a story of how an idea to dam the river for irrigation became reality. It talks about the major players who fought for the dam to be built. It is a story of politics and how FDR had to fight with his own congress to get money for the dam. It is a story of the physical building of the dam. The story tells how the project was constantly under pressure to get people back to work, since people were hurting during those depression days. When large numbers of people were hired, then the project was criticized for preferential hiring of WWI vets, people who lived in the three nearby counties, then those in Washington state in general, before those from outside could be hired. The final chapters cover how the purpose of the dam expanded to include irrigation, flood control, and recreation.
It is a fascinating story reading about the coordination and difficulties behind building such a huge project. The author covers how unions tried to organize the laborers. And how they had to overcome engineering difficulties. One of those difficult problems they dealt with were the constant landslides on the two banks of the Columbia River. At one point, pipes were inserted into the wet cliff side and a refrigeration unit literally froze the dirt into place. It also discusses how towns had to be relocated and roads rerouted.
Anyone interested in engineering would probably appreciate this story the most. There are a huge number of bibliographic notes if a person has a desire to learn more.
The review of this Book prepared by BethG
