Workers who gave their lives - Coulee Dam, WA - Citizen Memorials on Waymarking.com

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Workers who gave their lives - Coulee Dam, WA

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Posted by:  T0SHEA

11T E 351697 N 5313796

Inside the Grand Coulee Dam visitor centre is a bronze plaque honouring those workers who lost their lives in the construction of the Grand Coulee Dam and the Third Powerhouse.

Undoubtedly the largest single project of the Public Works Administration, construction of the Grand Coulee Dam began in 1933, not being completed until 1941, just in time to provide power for wartime industry of the Pacific Northwest. $63 million was allocated for the initial phase of construction, with the final cost coming to $163 million in 1943 dollars. However, repairs due to design flaws and to finish the power stations through the '40s and '50s added another $107 million, bringing the total cost to $270 million. The later addition of the Third Powerplant from 1967 to 1974 added another $460 million, bringing the final cost in 1973 to $730 million. Construction of the dam also cost the lives of 77 of the thousands of workmen employed on the project, with an additional four men killed during the construction of the Third Power Plant and Forebay Dam from 1967 to 1975.

Just downstream from the foot of the dam is the visitor centre, designed to "resemble a generator rotor". The centre does an excellent job of providing all the information one would ever want on the dam, the river and the surrounding area. Exhibits inside include many which impart technical information on the construction and operation of the dam, presidential visits to the dam, the dam's role in the arts and many other aspects of the structure. Most important are memorials to the thousands of men who toiled to build the dam and the 81 who died during the construction of the dam and later the third powerhouse.

This plaque, honouring those 81 workers, is mounted on a wall of honour along with several other plaques acknowledging the significance of the dam itself and the engineering achievements made necessary in order to built such a monumental structure in the 1930s.


As of 2015 the Town of Coulee Dam had showed an interest in developing a monument to honor the victims, a monument which has not materialized as yet. In 1938 the American Legion Post placed a monument to those workers who had died on the job to that time. The post found itself unable to pay for the monument, resulting in its being reclaimed by the maker. It is now in front of the Stevens County Courthouse in Colville, WA, now honoring those from the county who served during World War II.

The 81 Who Died

Anderson, Everett - 8/25/1937 Anglemyer, Albert – 9/25/1938 Autrey, Arthur J.- 8/23/1935 Bailey, Elmer Ray - 12/16/1936 Banning, Harold L. - 8/19/1939 Belley, Louis - 2/18/1935 Bergman, John "Jack" - 3/1/1937 Biles, James A. - 12/21/1936 Brockway, Eldon Layeffette - 6/5/1937 Bruce, Alexander John - 11/2 3/1936 Burke, W.Ransom - 2/12/1935 Coble, Gerald F. - 9/16/1936 Como, Louis - 4/5/1939 (Comean?) Cook, Albert - 10/30/1936 Cosi, Thomas Lewis - 10/11/1936 Crocker, George Davis - 10/1/1937 Dahlquist, Robert Lewis - 11/6/1939 Danielson, Paul - 9/11/1937 Davidson, Ray F. - 7/22/1944 Decker, Ray E. - 3/22 1939 Desautel, Thomas William - 3/7/1940 Donaldson, William F. - 10/11/1968 Engebritson, John Carl - 2/14/1937 Fife, William S. - 7/1/1938 Forsberg, Charles (Flosberg) - 12/4/1934 Francis, Antoine – 3/20/1934 French, A.A. (Arthur?) - 9/19/1937 Gallanar, Ray / Roy H.  - 10/18/1937 Grapp, Stanley Arthur - 11/19/1938 Green, Charles Edward - 12/14/1938 Halvorsen, Tom - 4/3/1936 Hamilton, William – 6/22/1972 Harrington, John  - 6/15/1972 Hovland, Simon Emil - 2/4/1937 Hunter, George Allen - 1/2/1936 Huntsberger, John - 6/12/1935 Ingham, Harry Andrew - 9/27/1939 Joe, Wilson – 3/20/1934 Johnson, Ralph D. – 9/25/1938 Johnson, Robert M. - 9/10/1937 Johnston, William - 3/21/1936

Jorgensen, Harry - 8/8/1934 Kirchner, Willard R. - 10/13/1947 Lash, Walter C. - 1/19/1936 Layport, B.M. - 1/21/1935 Long, Elwin Lester – 6/20/1947 Lucas, Webster H. - 3/8/1937 Luck, Norris Nathanial - 5/19/1940 Lundgren, Kenneth Everett - 4/20/1940 Martin, Sidney John - 10/5/1937 McAfee, Austin - 3/17/1937 McAllister, James - 5/23/1936 Meade, Daniel E. - 12/24/1936 Miller, Harry E. - 3/9/1937 Morton, Roy Lewis - 6/29/1937 Mulloy, Henry - 10/31/1939 Newton, Thomas - 3/6/1935 Offield, Oscar - 11/12/1941 Perry, Edmond Brownlow? - 11/24/1937 Pickle, Warren W. - 7/17/1936 Popham, Ray L. - 6/2/1935 Potter, Lewis - 4/1/1938 Presthus, James A. - d. 7/13/1940 Priest, Alton E. - 10/31/1939 Rayburn, James A. - 1/14/1936 Ridgway, Nelson Paul - 3/23/1935 Rigney, Archie Eldon – 9/29/1938 Schreiber, Daniel – 7/2/1938 Seigfreid, Frank C. - 10/9/1969 Slete, James C. - 4/28/1936 Smith, Joseph H. - 3/15/1939 Smith, Virgil Leo - 11/21/1939 Snyder, Howard - 1/27/1936 Speer, Andrew E. - 9/2/1936 Stevens, George Samuel – 6/25/1946 Tegtmeier, Roland H. - 1/29/1938 Utecht, Robert F.  - 9/19/1937 Vello, George - 5/2/1940 Verlo, Ole  - 6/19/1935 Vess, George T. - 3/4/1935 Weatherly, William Ernest – 5/11/1940