From the start, Grand Coulee Dam was controversial. Private electric companies opposed such a huge government involvement in the power industry. Many taxpayers didn't want to pay for a dam they believed would generate more electricity than the country needed. By the end of World War II in 1945, the availability of cheap hydroelectric power had spurred the growth of cities and industries throughout the Pacific Northwest.

This July 1942 photo shows the power lines at the Grand Coulee Dam which carried electricity throughout the Pacific Northwest. The power was generated by the waters of the Columbia River.

Written on negative: Coulee Dam power lines
Date photograph was filed at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer (date of photograph and file date may differ by a month or more): July 5, 1942