The sheer cliff in front of you was once the world's greatest waterfall. From here, you see only the western portion of this remarkable Ice Age floods feature. With the end of the last Ice Age, floodwaters no longer swept through Grand Coulee, leaving the waterfall high and dry.
Eroding BackwardsRaging floodwaters poured over the lip of the falls, plucking chunks of basalt from its base. Eventually, the overhanging cliffs collapsed into the plunge pool. With each collapse, the falls edged further upstream. Over time, the waterfall moved 18 miles from Soap Lake to Dry Falls, creating Lower Grand Coulee.
(top illustration caption)
This painting shows how the floods might have looked from this location. During the largest floods, you would be under hundreds of feet of water. Illustration by Stev H. Ominski
(right illustration caption)The force of water dropping hundreds of feet over the falls eroded deep hollow spots below it, called plunge pools.

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Show me all markers in:  Coulee City, WA  |  Grant County  |  99115  |  Washington  |  United States of America

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Grand Coulee Dam
Franklin Delano Roosevelt Historical

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