CBI 802 At Electric City

Courtesy of the PNRA, George Frost collection. Thanks to Aaron Schwarz for digging this out.

September 15, 1940

Record Model

From the "Spokesman Review."

January 30, 1944

USBR Head Men Go Into Huddle

From the  "Spokesman Review."

August 30, 1935

1936 Grand Coulee Area Map

 

1933 Electric City Area

 

1946 Grand Coulee Aerial Image

Red dots help define the railroad through the Electric City yard on the center right side down towards Grand Coulee Dam on the lower left.

Electric City Yard View

No specific date, though likely late 1930s.

Penstocks have been formed here and are awaiting the final trip to placement in Grand Coulee Dam.

Huge Penstock Tubing Finished

From the "Spokesman Review."

December 16, 1939

Railroad Trains To Whistle Soon

From the Spokane "Chronicle."

July 25, 1935

Move Rail Equipment

From the Spokane "Chronicle."

December 29, 1942

Rail Yards Take Form

From the "Spokesman Review."

August 30, 1935

Plan To Build Steel Mill At Electric City

From the Spokane "Chronicle."

November 29, 1937

1934 US Construction Railroad Near Electric City

Seems that the guy in both pictures might be Paul Ford, who became general superintendent of the railroad after it began operations, as seen in this article.
The institution named in the watermark doesn't know where these two pictures are located, nor who the guys are.

1949 Future North Dam View

Courtesy of the Coulee Pioneer Museum.

1948 Electric City Yard View

Courtesy of the Coulee Pioneer Museum.

Close up of the yard.

Dam Site Road Piles Up Tonnage

From the "Spokesman Review."

May 24, 1936

US Construction Railroad 2673 Scrapping

Courtesy of EWU. Hu Blonk papers.

No date given, though may be no later than 1937.

Governor Will Run Locomotive On Coulee Line

From the "Spokane Chronicle."

June 24, 1935

1950 Truman Visit To Coulee City

May 5, 1950

Clippings are from the Spokane "Chronicle."

Street scene photos by Vesta Tanneberg. Courtesy of Colleen Long.

Current photos of the plaque and bust courtesy of J. Kemble.

Photo of the greater scene at Coulee City from my collection.

Truman’s Visit to Grand Coulee Dam

With great fanfare, President Harry Truman visited the Grand Coulee Dam site for, among other things, a dedication.

He arrived in Spokane at about 3 am, where his 14-car streamlined train was turned over by the Union Pacific to the Northern Pacific. From there it was parked at the Spokane depot, before departing for Coulee City at 4:30 am.

At 8:15 am, the train arrived at Coulee City, where a crowd of about 1200 people were waiting for him. The American Legion drum and bugle corps from Wenatchee played as the train rolled to a stop. He had not planned to speak there, but responded to Senator Warren Magnuson’s appeal to talk.

“We are going to Coulee Dam this morning to discuss many things and explain many things we think people ought to know. We will explain why some people don’t want the CVA (Columbia Valley Authority). I think the people do want it.”

He then told a humorous story.

“I have told this story in about every town in which I have stopped, so I guess it is good here.”

The story concerned early days when stage coaches met incoming trains. He said one fellow complained that the stage coach from Bridgeport never met the train at Coulee City nor did the Coulee City train make connections with the stage coach. The men found out later that the Coulee City hotel men had made a deal with the stage driver and the railroad engineer to cause more hotel rooms to be booked in town.

A homemade cake, a replica of the South Dam, was presented to the President by the Coulee City Chamber of Commerce.

From there the President was part of a 21-car caravan that drove up the Grand Coulee.

Once at the Mead circle, near the dam, he dedicated the dam and the Franklin D. Roosevelt Lake behind the dam to the late President Roosevelt. It was estimated that between 11,000 and 15,000 people were at the dedication.

Truman was then given a special tour of the dam, where he was shown the generating plants that had produced the electricity; these plants helped build the atomic bomb and other weapons used during the recent war.

Then the entire group traveled to the other side of the dam where many VIPs were present, including Washington Governor Arthur B. Langlie, manager of the Columbia Basin Project Frank Banks, and former Washington Governor Clarence Martin.

After speaking there, the 21-car caravan then left with the President for Wilbur, where they would rejoin the train for the trip back to Spokane.

The plaque stands today, along with a bust of President Roosevelt, as a memory to the dam and the event that day.

The Electric City Railroad Yards

Article I wrote for "Them Dam Writers."

Electric City Railroad Yards

The definite location of the railroad yards for the US Construction railway from Odair to Coulee Dam was announced on August 31, 1934.

The yards were to be located about one-half mile southwest of the Grand Coulee town site. Previous information had stated that the yards would be situated near the junction of the Almira-Coulee City highways.

Dan Lael, a pioneer settler, had sold a right of way, 22 acres in all, to the Columbia Basin Commission, for use as a railroad terminal. Continental Land Company had also sold about 26 acres of land to the Commission, the property lying adjacent to what Lael had sold.

The contour of the land was such that it required little leveling and excavating to put it in shape for the railroad track.

The yards would become dotted with big storage warehouses, loading and unloading facilities and buildings of various types. One company at the yard would roll steel plates brought into the yard from the outside rail network into 18 foot diameter penstock pieces.

Also located there were the usual facilities to support steam locomotives, such as a roundhouse and water tank.

The site was completely cleaned up and removed before the building of the North Dam and the filling of Banks Lake.

Mid 1940s view of the greater Electric City area showing the extend of the railroad yard. Steamboat Rock can be seen in the distance.  Courtesy of the Dennis King collection.

1948 view of the extreme north end of the yard area, generally looking towards Foster Coulee. Courtesy of the Coulee Pioneer Museum.

March 9, 1939 view of Western Pipe & Steel Company’s fabrication plant next to the yard. Completed penstock sections have been rolled out into the storage yard. Courtesy of the Dennis King collection.

View taken on March 4, 1948, looking towards the reservoir behind the dam showing the railroad yard. The town of Electric City is on the bottom right of the photo.  Courtesy of the Coulee Pioneer Museum.

View taken on September 21, 1949, looking west of the area in which the North Dam and Feeder Canal are being constructed. At the left center of the photo can be seen a portion of the relocated state highway and the construction railroad. In the lower left is a portion of the town of Grand Coulee, and in the lower right corner a part of the “B” Street area of town. Courtesy of the Coulee Pioneer Museum.