Editing Ephrata, Washington (section)

===Columbia Basin Irrigation Project===
{{Main|Columbia Basin Irrigation Project}}

Beginning in July 1918, several prominent Ephrata residents started the promotion of a plan to redirect waters of the [[Columbia River]] in order to irrigate the dry but fertile soils of the Big Bend country. Labeled "The Dam University", Ephrata residents persistently lobbied at the local, state, and federal levels to gather support for the project. Initial funding for the [[Grand Coulee Dam]] was through the [[Public Works Administration]] created under [[Franklin Roosevelt]]'s promise of a "[[New Deal]]" in 1933. However, the irrigation waters would not be released as the nation focused on ending World War II during the 1940s. During this era, [[Grand Coulee Dam]]'s main mission was to produce electricity for the [[Hanford Site|Hanford Reservation]] and for aluminum manufacturing, vital to military aircraft production. When the war ended, the Project returned to its original mission, to irrigate the desert.