Grand Coulee Dam of Reclamation was founded, it investigated a scheme for pumping water from the Columbia River to irrigate parts of central Washington. An attempt to raise funds for irrigation failed in 1914, as Washington voters rejected a bond measure. In 1917, William M. Clapp, a lawyer from Ephrata, Washington, proposed the Columbia be dammed immediately below the Grand Coulee. He suggested a concrete dam could flood the plateau, just as nature blocked it with ice centuries ago. Clapp was joined by James O'Sullivan, another lawyer, and by Rufus Woods, publisher of "The Wenatchee World" newspaper in the nearby agricultural centre of
Grand Coulee, Washington Grand Coulee, Washington Grand Coulee is a city in Grant County, Washington, United States. The population was 988 at the 2010 census. Grand Coulee was officially incorporated on November 6, 1935. It is located above the Grand Coulee Dam and next to North Dam. Grand Coulee is located at (47.939706, -119.001597). According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which, is land and is water. As of the census of 2010, there were 988 people, 474 households, and 246 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 554