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Much of the rock excavated from the dam foundation was placed along the downstream river banks as riprap. This item of riprap was bid at a $1.00 per cubic yard by MWAK and at $3.00 by CBI.
2024-11-24
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The indolent manner in which these highscalers are draped over their tools indicates experience rather than indifference. in the hands of a novice a jackhammer seems to be a wild and raving tool, filled with perverse notions and quirks,...
2024-11-24
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The indolent manner in which these highscalers are draped over their tools indicates experience rather than indifference. in the hands of a novice a jackhammer seems to be a wild and raving tool, filled with perverse notions and quirks,...
2024-11-24
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This scene is typical of the "pot holes" area southwest of Moses Lake, where many square miles of fine, shifting sand dunes were left as the downwearing of the Drumheller Channels drained the glacial waters from the Quincy Basin. Present plans...
2024-11-24
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This aerial view of the dam site was taken on April 21, 1940. This scene may give a clearer understanding of how the Grand Coulee canyon was carved in the great lava bed when the ice sheet blocked the course of the Columbia River a few miles...
1940-04-21
2024-11-24 |
This is the government camp at Coulee Dam as it appeared during the early stages of construction in 1934. Upon completion of the MWAK contract the contractor turned his town of Mason City over to the government for the sum of $25, 000. For the...
2024-11-24
2024-11-24 |
US Department of the Interior Bureau of Reclamation: Columbia Basin Project, Washington Grand Coulee Dam "Dam site Area"
1940-01-05
2024-11-24 |
When the United States Government learned that the Columbia Basin Commission had approved and executed the contract between the government and the Commission for the construction of Grand Coulee Dam, it called for bids for excavating some...
1934-01-06
2024-11-24 |
One of the most fitting tributes ever paid Mr. Savage comes from the citation given him when he received the John Fritz Medal: <"From time to time there appears on the engineering stage a personality that commands attention as outstanding in...
2024-11-24
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Men upon whom it is difficult to bestow adequate praise for their unstinted efforts in furthering a steady and progressive development of the project. Left to right, Mr. A. F. Darland, Construction Engineer, J. H. Miner, Office Engineer, John C....
2024-11-24
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In the distance is the beginning of the west side excavation for the dam. It was the area directly behind this cut that subsequently became involved in the extensive west-side slides. In the foreground is the Seaton Ferry and the Seaton...
1905-04-16
2024-11-24 |
Here the excavation has progressed considerably. Trucks on the Westside have been supplanted by the $75,000 conveyor belt system to Rattlesnake Canyon, except in the area of the west slides, which can be seen in the extreme right of the picture....
2024-11-24
2024-11-24 |
Here is the home of Charlie Osborne on the delta of Fiddle Creek, once leased for an annual fee of $11.24, as it appeared in the summer of 1934. It was irrigated from springs in the shadowed canyon opening in the center of the picture. As this...
2024-11-24
2024-11-24 |
This is the Westside slide area as it appeared on March 26, 1934.
1934-03-26
2024-11-24 |
By March 27, 1934 the slide material had slipped considerably. Note how the earth had flowed as the excavating equipment removed the supporting base. Drilling operations for exploring the water seams are just getting started.
1934-03-27
2024-11-24 |
On Jan. 14, 1935 David H. Ryan began work on removing the slide material, and moving the highway and railroad grade some 85 feet westward. He received $86,504.45 for his work on this slide removal. By April 25, 1935 most of the slide material had...
1935-04-25
2024-11-24 |
This is the beginning of the downstream arm of the Westside cofferdam, in December of 1934. This structure was destined to be the largest of its kind ever constructed. The importance of the cofferdams installed during the first contract can...
1934-12-01
2024-11-24 |
The most precarious, and perhaps the most spectacular phase of the construction program, was the diversion of the river. This matter of river control required an exacting performance of construction operations to conform with the cycles of river...
2024-11-24
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Jackhammer crews are here shown working on final bedrock just east of block 40. The buttress wall in the background contains 3,000 cubic yards of concrete, and was rushed to completion as a continuous pour in a week's time. It was placed to...
2024-11-24
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Two months later driving of the piling along the west bank of the river for the cofferdam was proceeding rapidly. Note the excavation being done with buggies having a capacity of 30 cubic yards, and drawn buy 75 horsepower tractors, which dump...
2024-11-24
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This view taken in the spring of 1935 shows how the early excavation on the east side was conducted with power shovels and trucks; the material being dumped in the forebay area upstream from the dam. Later conveyor systems running to this spoil...
1905-04-18
2024-11-24 |
Here at Grand Coulee Dam, construction methods and mechanisms were extended to new horizons. The conveyor system of handling muck began with the members of the MWAK Co. In 1931-32 the Silas Mason Co. used such a system in construction of the...
2024-11-24
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Bedrock was generally found at elevation 875, or some 60 feet below low water level. The overburden in the river averaged about 30 feet thick, with clay comprising about 90% of the volume; hard as rock when dry and slippery as grease when wet....
2024-11-24
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Here is shown the river at flood stage during the spring of 1936. The east cofferdam area has been deliberately flooded to save the temporary wooden cofferdam. Work on the east end of the MWAK high trestle has been suspended, but erection of the...
2024-11-24
2024-11-24 |
In the foreground removal of the upstream arm of the west cofferdam is well advanced. This will permit the river to flow on this side of the remaining part of the cofferdam when the cross-river cofferdams close off the main river channel. About...
2024-11-24
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