Conquering The Coulees

From "The Reclamation Era."

February 1948

 

1924 Northern Pacific Wage Schedule

  

Northern Pacific Station Name Changes

Among many listed, note those in the Big Bend area.

Taunton Substation

Date and photographer unknown.

Creston Elevator Views

Grand Coulee Man Killed By Train

From the "Columbia Basin Herald."

February 9, 2012

1890s Coulee City

Mac McCulloch gave an estimate for the date of this photo:

"Date of photo is after the renumbering of 1897 and before the renumbering of 1899. Loco was part of very first group of 2-8-0 power on the NP, built by Baldwin in 1883 making them a relatively early example of the breed."

1973 Odessa Depot

Photo courtesy Norm Hochhalter.

Doris Substation

Date and photographer unknown.

Hanford Passenger Train Engine

No date, but presumed to be 1930s.

Roosevelt's Visit To Ephrata

August 4,1934. (Thanks to Robert in Port Townsend for the date).

Handling Bulk Cement

From "The Reclamation Era."

June 1936

See America First

From "The Reclamation Era."

May 1937

Cement For Grand Coulee Dam

From "The Reclamation Era."

October 1941

A Stool Pigeon Rode Along

From "The Reclamation Era."

February 1942

Moving Day At Grand Coulee Dam

From "The Reclamation Era."

September 1946

Douglas County Fair Award

Trinidad Difference Of Decades

July 1949 photo. Courtesy of Douglas County.

Current Google Maps view, as of March 15, 2013

How many changes can you spot?

1949 McCue Tunnel

Photo courtesy Douglas County.

Hartline Difference Of Decades

First photo is dated 12-4-59.

Second photo is from 2-11-2018.

Note the old jack house on this end of the elevators is gone, replaced by the big steel tanks. The silvery colored one in the old photo is still standing, though it has had a new elevator installed. It seems that the end elevators are also still in place.

In the early photo, there were about 3 or 4 different owners of the elevators. Now there are two, which will be officially merged into one on 4-1-2018.

Maps Of The Big Bend

1880

 1892

1896

1904

1908

1910

1928

1950s

2007

 
Abandoned

1950s Coulee City Snowplow

From the "News & Standard."

Date is lost on this photo (for now).

1959 Hartline Grain Elevators

From the "News & Standard."

December 4 1959

Banks Lake Drawdown-1

Photos courtesy of the USBR.

The 2011 drawdown of Banks Lake by 35 feet allowed many  things long covered by water to become visible again. One major draw for me was that the old railroad grade was now out of the water in many area.

First, here are some aerial photos taken by the Bureau on November 15, 2011. In many places you can see the old Speedball Highway as well.

Osborne Bay

South Dam at Coulee City

The Seattle Lake Shore & Eastern used to pass through the canal headworks area.

A few miles north of Coulee City

Railroad grade is the one closer to the water.

Looking back toward Coulee City from just north of the previous shot

Steamboat Rock

Railroad grade is the one closer to Steamboat Park, through the middle of the photo.

Grand Coulee Airport

Railroad grade is pretty obvious here.

Electric City and North Dam

Osborne Bay

Just south of Steamboat Rock

South Dam at Coulee City

Seattle Lake Shore & Eastern grade along the bottom of the photo as well as along the left hand side above the lake.