During the dry months of Eastern Washington State, Grand Coulee Dam stages a free light show after dark for visitors, who may watch from their parked cars or sit on the lawn or inside somewhere. At the appointed time a switch turns to permit the Columbia River's water behind the dam to flow down the face of the dam and create a sort of movie screen. A prepared show, much of it historical in nature but including other topics or cartoons, plays across this watery backdrop. Families especially love the informal presentation that makes it easy to include children in an audience.
Grand Coulee, the town, and other small settlements near the official town have motels and restaurants today. When the dam was being built during the Great Depression years, at first nothing existed at the site -- no homes, no amenities. Workmen came on freight trains to the site, if they had no other means to travel. After all, it was a JOB. Eventually, wives and families joined them, mostly living at first in flimsy shacks that barely minimized the dust from construction. One housewife told a reporter that, when she picked up her baby after its afternoon nap, dust lined its eyelashes in that short time. And one always had to beware of possible rattlesnakes.
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