COULEE DAM

town on the Columbia River, northeast central Washington, U.S., at a point where Grant, Douglas, and Okanogan counties meet, 80 mi (129 km) west-northwest of Spokane. Founded in 1934 by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation as a construction town for workers on the Grand Coulee Dam (completed 1942), its incorporation in 1959 required a special enactment of the state legislature. With the communities of Elmer City, Grand Coulee, and Electric City, it is the home for service employees of the huge gravity dam, focus of the multipurpose Columbia Basin Project. Coulee Dam also serves as headquarters of the Coulee Dam National Recreational Area, which encompasses over 100,000 ac (40,500 ha) and includes Franklin D. Roosevelt Lake extending northeastward with a 660-mi shoreline. The Grand Coulee Reservoir runs southwestward for 50 mi past Coulee City to Soap Lake, noted for its medicinal waters. Pop. (1990) 1,087.