Vintage 8-3/4" x 26-1/4" Pennant circa 1940's or early 1950's is my guess. Silk screened in white and pastel color on pretty red vintage felt. Can't accurately date this pennant for sure. Minor age wear, but overall in stunning shape for a pennant of this age. This is an awesome vintage Washington State Coulee Dam souvenir from days long past. See photo for condition. These are some of the favorites in our collection. Will ship gently rolled and cushioned in box.
Grand Coulee Dam is a concrete gravity dam on the Columbia River in the U.S. state of Washington, built to produce hydroelectric power and provide irrigation water. Constructed between 1933 and 1942, Grand Coulee originally had only two powerhouses. The third powerhouse, completed in 1974 to increase energy production, makes Grand Coulee the largest power station in the United States by nameplate-capacity at 6,809 MW.
The proposal to build the dam was the focus of a bitter debate during the 1920s between two groups. One group wanted to irrigate the ancient Grand Coulee with a gravity canal while the other pursued a high dam and pumping scheme. The dam supporters won in 1933, but for fiscal reasons the initial design was for a "low dam" 290 feet (88 m) tall which would generate electricity without supporting irrigation. That year, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and a consortium of three companies called MWAK (Mason-Walsh-Atkinson Kier Company) began construction. After visiting the construction site in August 1934, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt endorsed the "high dam" design which, at 550 ft (168 m) high, would provide enough electricity to pump water into the Columbia basin for irrigation. Congress approved the high dam in 1935 and it was completed in 1942. The first waters overtopped Grand Coulee's spillway on June 1 of that year.
Power from the dam fueled the growing industries of the Northwest United States during World War II. Between 1967 and 1974, the third powerplant was constructed. The decision to construct the additional facility was influenced by growing energy demand, regulated river flows stipulated in the Columbia River Treaty with Canada, and competition with the deals Soviet Union. Through a series of upgrades and the installation of pump-generators, the dam now supplies four power stations with an installed capacity of 6,809 MW. As the centerpiece of the Columbia Basin Project, the dam's reservoir supplies water for the irrigation of 671,000 acres (2,700 km2).
The reservoir is called Franklin Delano Roosevelt Lake, named after the United States President who presided over the dam's authorization and completion. Creation of the reservoir forced the relocation of over 3,000 people, including Native Americans whose ancestral lands were partially flooded. While the dam does not contain fish passage, neither does the next downstream dam, Chief Joseph Dam. This means no salmon reach the Grand Coulee Dam. The second large dam downstream, Rocky Reach Dam, has an intricate system of fish ladders to accommodate yearly salmon spawning and migration.
Built in the late 1970s, the Visitor Center contains many historical photos, geological samples, turbine and dam models, and a theater. The building was designed by Marcel Breuer, and resembles a generator rotor. Since May 1989, on summer evenings, the laser light show at Grand Coulee Dam is projected onto the dam's wall. The show includes full-size images of battleships and the Statue of Liberty, as well as some environmental comments.[99] Tours of the Third Powerplant are available to the public and last about an hour. Visitors take a shuttle to view the generators and also travel across the main dam span (otherwise closed to the public) as the formerly used glass elevator is indefinitely out of service.
Product code: Vintage 'Grand Coulee Dam, Wash' Seattle Washington USA deals Souvenir Travel Pennant