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
Coulee Dam, Washington Coulee Dam, Washington Coulee Dam is a town in Douglas, Grant, and Okanogan counties in the State of Washington. The Douglas County portion of Coulee Dam is part of the Wenatchee–East Wenatchee Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 1,098 as of the 2010 census. Coulee Dam was founded by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation in 1933, to serve as headquarters for the construction of the Grand Coulee Dam. The Okanogan County portion was known as Mason City, location of the head contractor. The Portions in Douglas and Grant Counties was known as Engineers Town and was government owned. In 1942