Although the Grand Coulee Dam is a practical structure providing hydroelectric power throughout the Northwest, it is also a major attraction. It is both the largest electric power facility and biggest concrete structure in the United States. Named after FDR, the Dam was opened just months before the country entered WWII in 1942.

Today the Dam hosts tours and guided expeditions throughout the year. One of the most spectacular sights at the Dam is the acclaimed light shows that are accompanied by music: these shows run throughout the spring and summer. There are many Grand Coulee resort accommodations available for visitors, including campgrounds and RV parks.

While we’re well into summer, it’s still not too late to plan a vacation. It’s important to have a vacation at least once per year, after all, who can endure the monotony of everyday life without having a break now and then? One of the best spots to vacation in Washington is Banks Lake. While Western Washington will tend to have more than a few cloudy and even rainy days during summer, Eastern Washington is sunshine all the time, and Banks Lake is the place to be. There are hundreds of recreational activities to enjoy at Banks Lake and at the surrounding area. One of the attractions that tourists tend to flock to is Grand Coulee Dam. During the summer, the dam proprietors put on a laser show that narrates the westward expansion and the building of the dam. The dam is such a great attraction, that no Grand Coulee vacation is complete without at least one visit.

There are several other attractions in the area, and Eastern Washington is also a great place to partake in the local activities. There are often fairs, bazaars, and rodeos throughout the year in Eastern Washington, and these are activities that the whole family can enjoy.

Grand Coulee Dam is a hydroelectric gravity dam on the Columbia River in the U.S. state of Washington. In the United States, it is the largest electric power producing facility and the largest concrete structure. It is the fifth largest producer of hydroelectricity in the world. The dam is flanked by a popular Grand Coulee resort.

The dam was built under the auspices of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation as part of the Columbia Basin Project for irrigation of desert areas of the Pacific Northwest and for the production of electricity. Central Washington’s Columbia Basin was a slightly over-ambitious candidate for a dam. The Columbia was by far the largest river anyone had ever considered damming. A Spokane group wanted a safer 134-mile gravity flow canal from the Pend Oreille River at Albeni Falls. And the original low dam design would have have been useful for regulating navigation flows, and for hydroelectic power, but it would have been too far below the top of the canyon to make it useful for irrigation of the fertile loess soil of the basin. The controversy over which project should go forward was a central issue of Washington state politics in the 1920s.

By the 1930s, after thirteen years of debate and several studies, and with the Depression in full swing, Roosevelt was eager for large public works. In 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt authorized the dam as a Public Works Administration project, and Congress appropriated funding for the low dam. Two years later, the authorization was changed from the low dam to the far more expensive, and technically challenging, high dam of today.