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Grand Coulee Dam Souvenir Train
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| Accession #: | 3856.1 |
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| Title: | Grand Coulee Dam Souvenir Train |
| Object Type: | Souvenir; Sculpture |
| Participants: | |
| Physical Description: | The copper train car with eight stone disk wheels has five copper compartments, each carrying a stone core sample taken from the dam site. The sample in the middle compartment is painted with an image of Grand Coulee Dam. The car is marked "MWAK-RR" (Mason Walsh Atkinson Kier Rail Road), the dam construction company name. |
| Description: | Engineering supervisor Harold Mitchell used core samples to make this Grand Coulee Dam folk art souvenir with stone core samples to represent the huge buckets of concrete carried by train to the dam construction site. During the Great Depression, crop prices had fallen 60% and mining and logging industries were crippled, especially devastating to the Inland Northwest. President Roosevelt's Works Progress Administration put Americans back to work on major projects, like the Grand Coulee Dam which opened in 1942. |
| Category: | History |
| Geographical Reference: | Grand Coulee Dam (Regional) |
| Dimensions: |
Object H x W x L 3 x 1 3/4 x 3 3/8"
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| Materials/Techniques: |
stone (rock) (Material)
paint (Material)
copper (metal) (Material)
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| Marks/Inscription: |
"MWAK-R.R." - on train car. "CMF" - Artist initials on Grand Coulee Dam painting on stone core sample.
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| Related Exhibits: | |
| Credit Line: | Gift of Mrs. Esther Mitchell, 1998 |
To order a reproduction, inquire about permissions, or for information about prices see:
https://www.northwestmuseum.org/collections