Nine years later, in 1942, the dam was complete and Lake Roosevelt was forming behind it. Originally approved as a 290 foot dam, although a 550 foot tall dam was proposed, after Roosevelt visited the site in 1934 he relented and approved the increase to a 550 foot dam.
That for the purpose of controlling floods, improving navigation, regulating the flow of the streams of the United States, providing for storage and for the delivery of the stored waters thereof, for the reclamation of public lands and Indian reservations, and other beneficial uses, and for the generation of electric energy as a means of financially aiding and assisting such undertakings the projects known as "Parker Dam" on the Colorado River and "Grand Coulee Dam" on the Columbia River are hereby authorized and adopted.
1935 Rivers and Harbors Act SEC 2, August 30, 1935
The purpose of the construction of the dam was manifold. The year being 1933, the country was mired in the
Great Depression and President Roosevelt was instituting the public works program he felt was necessary to pull the country from the depression. Beyond providing thousands of man-years of desperately needed labour, the dam was to produce vast amounts of electricity, supply irrigation water to the region from the Columbia River and control flooding on the Columbia.
Though at the time the electrical potential of the dam was deemed unnecessary, the flood control aspect of the dam and the reservoir was sorely needed as the river had, in the past, destroyed many towns and taken many lives on its near annual spring rampages. Later, flood control on the Columbia, the largest North American river to empty into the Pacific, was further enhanced with the construction of three large dams along the Canadian portion of the river and several more downstream of Grand Coulee. These later dams also produce electricity and irrigation water. The Grand Coulee Dam remains the largest of the dams on the Columbia, indeed, the largest, in terms of electricity generation, in the United States, capable of producing 6,809 Megawatts of peak power.
Initially named the Columbia Reservoir, on April 17, 1945, five days after the death of Roosevelt, the reservoir was renamed Franklin D. Roosevelt Lake. Covering 125 square miles, the 150 mile long lake stretches from the dam at Grand Coulee to the Canadian Border.
Lining the shores of Lake Roosevelt today are dozens of campgrounds, boat launches, day use areas, state parks and other recreation oriented facilities. Created in 1946 as the Coulee Dam National Recreation Area, in 1997 the name of the area was changed to Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area.
In 1941 the Grand Coulee Dam was built on the Columbia River as part of the Columbia River Basin project, creating a 130-mile long lake. Named for President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area provides opportunities for boating, fishing, swimming, camping, canoeing, hunting and visiting historic Fort Spokane and St. Paul's Mission.
From the National Park Service
Construction of the dam and the consequent formation of Lake Roosevelt was not without its negative consequences. 21,000 acres of prime river valley were flooded, land on which Native Americans had lived and hunted for thousands of years. They had to be relocated, as did remains from their burial grounds. As well, several towns needed to be relocated uphill away from the rising waters. The dam blocked the way for salmon, making it impossible for them to reach their spawning grounds, eliminating an annual salmon run of over 1,000,000 salmon, a resource that the natives had depended on for survival since their arrival in the area. Further, the presence of the lake has decreased populations of species such as mule deer, pygmy rabbits and burrowing owls, though it provided wetlands which have resulted in increased populations of other species.