Grand Coulee Dam, located in North Central Washington, is known for its superlatives: Largest source of hydroelectric power in the USA (over 21 million kilovolts in 2008, for instance, representing 38 percent of plant capacity of 7000 megawatts); Most concrete used in construction of a dam in the USA (12 million cubic yards versus 4 million cubic yards for Hoover Dam). But one thing it isn't is broadest dam I've seen on this trip. A one mile across the top, it is dwarfed by both Garrison Dam (2 1/2 miles) and Fort Peck Dam (4 miles). Built by the Bureau of Reclamation in the 1930s, it was a major anti-depression public works project and a major source of ongoing economic vitality for the Northwest--both for manufacturing (think aluminum production and Boeing) and agriculture (particularly wheat and potatoes).
Grand Coulee Dam also had a role in the Cold War. In the 1950s and 1960s, not only were we in a race for space and weaponry with the Soviet Union, we were in a race with the Russians over who could build the biggest power plants. The Soviets in the 1950s had built several dams and power plants on the Volga River that were bigger than Grand Coulee Dam. So Congress in 1966 approved the expansion of Grand Coulee with a third power plant. That was no easy feat. The existing flow of the Columbia River was not enough for year-round utilization of the existing two power plants. The US had to make a new treaty with Canada and build three dams upstream for water retention to spread the flow through the year. In addition, a 27-mile-long lake was created in the coulee south of Grand Coulee Dam, called Banks Lake. During the spring and summer flood stages, water is pumped up from the reservoir (Lake Roosevelt) behind the dam into Banks Lake. In the fall and winter, this water is drawn down from Banks Lake to keep the pumps pumping. All of that is (more or less) thanks to the Soviets.
Banks Lake is south of Grand Coulee Dam because at the point of the dam, the Columbia River flows north for awhile.
Montana has this odd little tradition. Every time-every time-there is a motor vehicle fatality a marker is placed at the side of the road where the fatality occurred. The markers are small crosses. Jews, Muslims, atheists and others are apparently exempt from vehicular deaths in Montana since only crosses are used as markers. It gets to be eerie after awhile because these crosses occur at times very frequently. Multiple deaths result in multiple crosses. Nine was the most I saw at a single location. It was on the highway between East Glacier and West Glacier, South of Glacier National Park. Montana has one of the highest vehicle fatality rates in the nation, and often has the highest rate of alcohol-related traffic fatalities. Until 1995, Montana had no speed limit law. From 1995 to 1999, the speed limit was "reasonable and prudent." It is now 75 mph. Most speed limits in Montana appear to me to be 10 to 15 mph above limits on comparable roads in other states.
My college roommate, Brian Barnard, brought suit against the State of Utah for allowing crosses on highway right-of-ways to memorialize state troopers who died in traffic accidents. The federal district court and court of appeals both ruled in his favor that the crosses were a violation of the separation of church and state. After the rulings, the state troopers association arranged with landowners to place the crosses on adjacent private land. Wiser folk would have thought of doing that in the first place.
I reached the Rockies just East of Glacier National Park. I visited the park two years ago, so this time I took US Highway 2 along the southern edge. The Rockies are not particularly high in this area. The highest elevation I reached was 5000 feet. Because a snow storm was threatened for Monday the 28th to the east of the Rockies, I pushed ahead to Sandpoint, Idaho. The next day I wandered around the Idaho panhandle and moved on to Spokane.
I took in the Grand Coulee Dam and scenic areas of Northeast Washington as a day trip from Spokane. This marked my extreme distance from home on this trip.
Day 12 mileage: 538
Day 13 mileage: 98
Day 14 mileage: 350
Cumulative mileage: 4,420
