The river then had to be diverted around the area where construction was occurring. A coffer (temporary) dam was built to block the west side of the river and direct flow to the east side which left the west side dry for construction. The first concrete was poured in December 1935.
http://www.usbr.gov/pn/grandcoulee/history/construction/index.html
Power from the dam helped make the aluminum used by the Boeing Airplane Company in Seattle which churned out a third of the planes used in the war effort, while in Portland, Grand Coulee's power brought 750 big ships to the high seas.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/introduction/coulee/
During that time, records for the largest pour of concrete in a single day occurred, challenges were overcome with unique and innovative solutions, and 77 lives were lost during the construction of the original part of the dam.
http://www.usbr.gov/pn/grandcoulee/history/construction/index.html
In June of 1933, Congress approved Roosevelt's Public Works Administration, giving the President wide latitude to begin a series of ambitious public works programs. In July of that year, FDR approved $63 million in start-up funds for Grand Coulee Dam.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/introduction/coulee/
Over time, additions were added to Grand Coulee Dam including the John W. Keys III Pump Generating Plant, completed in 1951, and the Third Power Plant and Forebay Dam in 1975. Today, Grand Coulee Dam is the largest concrete structure and largest producer of hydropower in the United States.
http://www.usbr.gov/pn/grandcoulee/history/construction/index.html
Inadequate rainfall was a problem but the abundance of water in the Columbia River was the answer. The solution was to build a concrete dam across the Columbia River to raise the water level and divert it south into the Grand Coulee, an immense natural channel which was carved by the Ice Age Floods.
http://www.usbr.gov/pn/grandcoulee/history/construction/index.html
During the darkest days of the Depression when construction was started on Grand Coulee Dam, everything about it was described in superlatives.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/introduction/coulee/
It would take millions of cubic yards of concrete to finish the job, but what was being called the biggest thing on earth was at last taking shape. By the end of 1940, Grand Coulee Dam was nearing completion, but FDR and his New Deal were on the defensive.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/introduction/coulee/
Also, we copied what Mother Nature did in the past. During the last Ice Age (13,000+ years ago) the Cordilleran Ice Sheet blocked the Columbia River at the spot where the dam sits today. The ice formed a huge dam about 500 feet taller than Grand Coulee Dam.
http://www.usbr.gov/pn/grandcoulee/about/faq.html
The idea for Grand Coulee Dam was born in 1918 in the dusty little town of Ephrata, Washington.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/introduction/coulee/
when did construction of the coulee dam begin
The construction of the Coulee dam begin in June of 1933.