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 of electricity. Each generator is supplied with water by an individual penstock. The largest of these feed the Third Powerplant and are in diameter and can supply up to . The dam's power facilities originally had an installed capacity of 1,974 MW but expansions and upgrades have increased generation to 6,809 MW installed, 7,079 MW maximum. Grand Coulee Dam generates 21 TWh of electricity annually. This means the dam generates about 2,397 MW of power on average, which results in a total plant factor efficiency of 35%. In 2014, 20.24 TWh of electricity was generated. Grand Coulee Dam's spillway is