The Grand Coulee Dam

Brian Moore

Moderator
One of our objectives in our recent driving trip though Western Canada, Montana, Idaho (only the Panhandle) and Washington was to see the Grand Coulee Dam.

Sometimes when you visualize a thing in your mind's eye the reality is quite different, even when you've seen pictures of it. Stonehenge was like this for me. It seemed smaller than I had visualized. (Somewhat counterintuitively, however, it was more magnificent than I had imagined.) I had seen a few pictures of the Grand Coulee Dam and although I was generally aware of its significance and something of its history, the pictures I had seen failed to portray its grandeur. But I wanted to see it anyway. I am glad now that I did because it is grand!

Here is the "spillway." It facilitates the flow of water from the lake behind, thus regulating the lake's level and preventing flooding. (Though it's not perfect, because a big flood happened in 1948, necessitating a treaty between the US and Canada to build dams upstream in Canada to further regulate the flow of the Columbia.) As you can see the spillway was releasing water at the time we visited. I think we were lucky and fortunate to see this.




Here is a wider view of the Dam. I shot this image from the Grand Coulee Bridge, which is a little ways downstream and was built in 1933 to facilitate the movement of trucks and equipment to build the dam. According to display in the Dam's visitor center, there is enough concrete in the Dam to build a 4 foot wide walkway that would go around the Earth twice at the Equator.

 
Love the contrast - and those skies!
Can I ask, did you use a red filter or a polariser?
Thanks Tom. No,...I did not use a polarizer or a red filter. I just selected a preset in Lr. Then I pushed a couple of sliders around until I got something that looked OK.
 
What an amazing structure, Brian. I can see why you wanted to see it in the 'flesh' though as even with these fine images you cannot quite grasp the scale. I like the first especially.
Thanks a lot, Pete. I'm going back to see it again sometime. I'd like to take the tour. Unfortunately we were there on 24 May, and the tour season didn't start until the 26th. It's about a 4 hour drive from us through beautiful country, so well worth the time.
 
Great images Brian. The treatment you have chosen is perfect for the subject and conditions.
The scale is, indeed, awesome in the true sense of the word.

My Dad was a hydro engineer and I spent much of my childhood witnessing projects like this come to fruition in various places around the world, most notably at the Kariba project in Central Africa.
 
Great images Brian. The treatment you have chosen is perfect for the subject and conditions.
The scale is, indeed, awesome in the true sense of the word.

My Dad was a hydro engineer and I spent much of my childhood witnessing projects like this come to fruition in various places around the world, most notably at the Kariba project in Central Africa.
Thanks a lot, Chris. I just looked up the Kariba Dam. Mighty impressive! It must have been wonderful to see something like that develop.
 
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