Grand Coulee Dam (song) Grand Coulee Dam (song) "Grand Coulee Dam" is an American folk song recorded in 1941 by Woody Guthrie. He wrote it during a brief period when he was commissioned by the Bonneville Power Administration to write songs as part of a documentary film project about the dam and related projects. The song was part of the "Columbia River Ballads", a set of 26 songs written by Guthrie as part of a commission by the BPA, the federal agency created to sell and distribute power from the river's federal hydroelectric facilities, in particular the Bonneville Dam and Grand Coulee Dam. On
Grand Coulee Dam Frank A. Banks served as the chief construction engineer. Bert A. Hall was the chief inspector who would accept the dam from the contractors. Orin G. Patch served as the chief of concrete. Construction conditions were dangerous and 77 workers died. To prepare for construction, housing for workers was needed along with four bridges downstream of the dam site, one of which, the Grand Coulee Bridge, exists today. The Bureau of Reclamation provided housing and located their administrative building at Engineer's Town, which was directly downstream of the construction site on the west side of the river. Opposite Engineer's Town,