Lower Granite Lake | |
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Coordinates | 46°25′35″N117°07′29″W / 46.426468°N 117.124779°W |
Lower Granite Lake is a reservoir created by Lower Granite Dam. The dam is a concrete gravity run-of-the-river dam in the northwest United States. On the lower Snake River in southeastern Washington, it bridges Whitman and Garfield counties. [2] Opened 49 years ago in 1975, [1] [3] [4] the dam is located 22 miles (35 km) south of Colfax and 35 miles (56 km) north of Pomeroy.
Lower Granite Dam is part of the Columbia River Basin system of dams, built and operated by the United States Army Corps of Engineers; power generated is distributed by the Bonneville Power Administration.
Behind the dam, Lower Granite Lake extends 39 miles (63 km) east to Lewiston, Idaho and Clarkston, Washington, and allowed the Lewiston–Clarkston metropolitan area to become a port. [1] [5] The first barge to Portland on the 374-mile (602 km) navigation route was loaded with wheat and departed Lewiston on August 9, 1975. [6] [7] '
The Snake River is a major river of the greater Pacific Northwest region in the United States. At 1,078 miles (1,735 km) long, it is the largest tributary of the Columbia River, in turn, the largest North American river that empties into the Pacific Ocean. The Snake River rises in western Wyoming, then flows through the Snake River Plain of southern Idaho, the rugged Hells Canyon on the Oregon–Idaho border and the rolling Palouse Hills of Washington, emptying into the Columbia River at the Tri-Cities in the Columbia Basin of Eastern Washington.
Lewiston is a city and the county seat of Nez Perce County, Idaho, United States, in the state's north central region. It is the third-largest city in the northern Idaho region, behind Post Falls and Coeur d'Alene, and the twelfth-largest in the state. Lewiston is the principal city of the Lewiston, ID-WA Metropolitan Statistical Area, which includes all of Nez Perce County and Asotin County, Washington. As of the 2020 census, the population of Lewiston was 34,203, up from 31,894 in 2010.
Hells Canyon is a ten-mile-wide (16 km) canyon in the Western United States, located along the border of eastern Oregon, a small section of eastern Washington and western Idaho. It is part of the Hells Canyon National Recreation Area which is also located in part of the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest. It is North America's deepest river gorge at 7,993 feet (2,436 m), running deeper than the Grand Canyon in Arizona.
Cecil Dale Andrus was an American politician who served 26th and 28th governor of Idaho, for total of fourteen years. A Democrat, he also served as U.S. Secretary of the Interior from 1977 to 1981 during the Carter Administration. Andrus lost his first gubernatorial election in 1966 but won four and his fourteen years as governor is the most in state history. He is the most recent Democrat to have held the office.
U.S. Route 195 (US 195) is a north–south United States Highway, of which all but 0.65 miles of its 94.02 miles are within the state of Washington. The highway starts in rural Idaho north of the city of Lewiston as a state highway in an interchange with US 95. As the road crosses into Washington it becomes a state highway that connects communities in the Palouse region of Eastern Washington. US 195 travels north, serving the cities of Pullman, Colfax and Rosalia in Whitman County before continuing into Spokane County to its terminus in the city of Spokane at an interchange with Interstate 90 (I-90).
The Idaho panhandle—locally known as North Idaho—is a salient region of the U.S. state of Idaho encompassing the state's 10 northernmost counties: Benewah, Bonner, Boundary, Clearwater, Idaho, Kootenai, Latah, Lewis, Nez Perce, and Shoshone. The panhandle is bordered by the state of Washington to the west, Montana to the east, and the Canadian province of British Columbia to the north. The Idaho panhandle, along with Eastern Washington, makes up the region known as the Inland Northwest, headed by its largest city, Spokane, Washington.
Lewiston–Nez Perce County Airport is a public airport in the northwest United States, in north central Idaho. Owned by the city of Lewiston and Nez Perce County, it is in an elevated area of the city two miles (3 km) south of downtown, approximately 700 vertical feet (210 m) above the Snake and Clearwater rivers.
Lower Granite Lock and Dam is a concrete gravity run-of-the-river dam in southeastern Washington in the United States. On the lower Snake River, it bridges Whitman and Garfield counties. Opened 49 years ago in 1975, the dam is located 22 miles (35 km) south of Colfax and 35 miles (56 km) north of Pomeroy.
Libby Dam is a concrete gravity dam in the northwestern United States, on the Kootenai River in northwestern Montana. Dedicated on August 24, 1975, it is west of the continental divide, seventeen miles (27 km) upstream from the town of Libby.
U.S. Route 410 (US 410) was a U.S. Highway in Washington and Idaho that existed from 1926 to 1967. It ran 469 miles (755 km) from US 101 in Aberdeen, Washington, to US 95 in Lewiston, Idaho, passing through the cities of Olympia, Tacoma, Yakima, the Tri-Cities, and Walla Walla.
Hells Canyon National Recreation Area is a United States national recreation area on the borders of the U.S. states of Oregon and Idaho. Managed by the U.S. Forest Service as part of the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest, the recreation area was established by Congress and signed by President Gerald Ford in late 1975 to protect the historic and archaeological values of the Hells Canyon area and the area of the Snake River between Hells Canyon Dam and the Oregon–Washington border.
State Route 128 (SR 128) is a Washington state highway located in Asotin and Whitman counties, west of the Idaho state line. The 2.30-mile (3.70 km) long route runs north from U.S. Route 12 (US 12) in Clarkston to cross the Snake River and turn east after intersecting SR 193 to terminate at State Highway 128 (SH 128) on the Idaho state line. The highway was originally created in 1964 on a Pomeroy–Clarkston route, replacing Secondary State Highway 3K (SSH 3K), which had been established in 1937; in 1991, the route was changed to its present form.
State Route 129 (SR 129) is a state highway in Asotin County, Washington, United States. It travels north–south at the southeastern corner of the state, connecting with Oregon Route 3 (OR 3) at the Oregon state line south of Anatone. The 43-mile (69 km) highway then follows the Snake River, which marks the Idaho state border, north to Clarkston and terminates at U.S. Route 12 (US 12). SR 129 also has a short spur route that connects to a separate intersection with US 12 in Clarkston.
State Route 193 (SR 193) is a 2.58-mile (4.15 km) long state highway that serves the Port of Wilma in Whitman County, located in the U.S. state of Washington. The highway parallels the Snake River from an intersection with SR 128 north of Clarkston to the Port of Wilma. The current road is a short segment of the former route that extended from U.S. Route 12 (US 12) in Clarkston to US 195 west of Colton that was added to the highway system in 1969 as Secondary State Highway 3G (SSH 3G) in 1969 and removed in 1992.
U.S. Route 12 (US-12) is a United States Numbered Highway in North Central Idaho. It extends 174.410 miles (280.686 km) from the Washington state line in Lewiston east to the Montana state line at Lolo Pass, generally along the route of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, and is known as the Northwest Passage Scenic Byway. It was previously known as the Lewis and Clark Highway.
In the U.S. state of Idaho, U.S. Route 95 (US-95) is a north–south highway near the western border of the state, stretching from Oregon to British Columbia for over 538 miles (866 km); it was earlier known in the state as the North and South Highway.
Lewiston Hill is a large sloping escarpment in the northwest United States, located immediately north of the confluence of the Clearwater and Snake rivers in north central Idaho.
The Southway Bridge is a highway bridge spanning the Snake River between Clarkston, Washington, and Lewiston, Idaho. It connects Fleshman Way in Clarkston with Bryden Canyon Road in Lewiston, and provides residents of the Lewiston Orchards with access to State Route 129, as well as providing Clarkston residents with access to the Lewiston–Nez Perce County Airport. The bridge was opened to traffic on August 3, 1982, at a cost of $21 million, after several delays due to repairs. The Bryden County Road project linking the bridge to the Lewiston Orchards was completed in 1999.
The Interstate Highway Bridge crosses the Snake River, between Clarkston, Washington and Lewiston, Idaho. The bridge carries U.S. Route 12 (US 12) across the state line between Washington and Idaho, and is maintained by the Washington State Department of Transportation. It was built in 1939 and is 1,424 feet (434 m) long. It is nicknamed the "Blue Bridge" locally.
U.S. Bicycle Route 81 (USBR 81) is a United States Bicycle Route in the state of Washington. It is planned to travel north–south along the eastern edge of the state from Asotin to the Canadian border near Metaline Falls. The section from Asotin to Clarkston and Tekoa, spanning 103.5 miles (166.6 km), was designated in 2021. USBR 81 also has a child route, USBR 281, that was designated in 2021 and follows U.S. Route 195.