Grand Coulee Dam the Columbia River formed the Grand Coulee, but it was revealed in the mid-late 20th century that massive floods from Lake Missoula carved most of the gorge. The earliest known proposal to irrigate the Grand Coulee with the Columbia River dates to 1892, when the "Coulee City News" and "The Spokesman Review" reported on a scheme by a man named Laughlin McLean to construct a dam across the Columbia River, high enough that water would back up into the Grand Coulee. A dam that size would have its reservoir encroach into Canada, which would violate treaties. Soon after the Bureau
Grand Coulee Dam (song) the recommendation of Alan Lomax, the BPA hired Guthrie to write a set of propaganda songs about the federal projects to gain support for federal regulation of hydroelectricity. Although the intended documentary film was not completed until 1949, Guthrie's songs were recorded in Portland, Oregon in May 1941. The tune for "Grand Coulee Dam" is based on that of the traditional song, "The Wabash Cannonball". Guthrie's recording was reissued on the Folkways album "Bound For Glory" in 1956, and subsequently on numerous compilations of Guthrie's songs. The song was later recorded by British skiffle musician Lonnie Donegan, whose version entered