Original subtitles

Groundbreaking projects.

Massive moves and heavy hoists.

Reshaping landscapes.

These mighty machines move earth,

pulverize rock,

and control the flow of rivers.

They are brutes built to last,

forever a part of colossal construction history.

When there's a really big job,

it needs really big equipment,

a machine so powerful,

so specialized,

it books projects years into the future.

The thing's awesome. It's huge.

It's what you dream of as a kid growing up.

This is the stuff you want to work with.

Meet lattice boom crawler crane...

Beautiful.

...one of the strongest lifting machines

ever built.

It's the only one that can really do the job.

It's totally crucial,

and it has to be here.

At almost 400 tonnes,

it can hoist an astonishing 650 tonnes of load.

Not only can it lift

a variety of huge, oddly-shaped loads.

Its crawler gives it the mobility,

making it versatile for a number of job sites.

This gigantic crane has been a globetrotter,

tackling extreme lifts.

When this machine shows up,

big stuff's going to happen.

We're always heavy, far, high,

where everybody else can't reach.

And today, this great big machine

is ready to take on its latest gargantuan job...

Removing a rusted-out bridge

that has served its purpose and needs to go.

I believe this bridge has been here since the early 1900s.

It's been a pedestrian bridge for the last few years.

So, the scope of our work here--

we need to remove the main structure of this bridge.

Given the restrictions that we have on this project,

this is essentially the only piece of equipment

that can do this lift.

Just want to lift them both?

It doesn't matter to me. I can lift them both,

and we just come and set them down on the ground here

and separate them.

The biggest challenge when we come to site

is usually getting the real estate to build the crane.

It's so big that the crane is broken up

into 40 truckloads to get it to the site...

and then reassembled to fit the specifications of the job.

This crane is sought after.

It's travelling far and wide

from project to project throughout the year.

So tearing it down for transport

and building it back up efficiently is key.

It takes a crew of assembly technicians five days

to snap, click, and lock the crane's parts into place.

It's designed with hydraulic quick couplings

on hoses that connect without tools

and features like self-aligning hooks

and pins for attachments.

The crane's components,

the A frame and boom hoist,

can be dismantled as a single transport unit,

minimizing transport dimensions and weight,

all of which speeds up getting to and from job sites.

The base takes up the same area

as six and a half parking spaces,

creating a wide foundation

for its nearly-200-metre-tall boom.

That's taller than the Great Pyramid of Giza.

The Tadano crawls like a tank,

riding on massive tracks rather than wheels.

Each track is four and half feet wide,

38 feet long.

They weigh 89,000 pounds.

Cranes with tires

require extendable support arms called outriggers,

which have to be levelled to strict specifications

to work properly.

Cranes on tracks don't need outriggers,

because their wide base distributes the crane's weight

more evenly,

providing stability while reducing ground pressure

and preventing the machine from sinking.

Each segment of the track is called a shoe,

aptly named, because they work

like an athlete's cleated shoe in how they grip the ground.

Each one of these shoes here

weighs anywhere from 700 to 800 pounds.

They'll roll over anything.

Wherever we want to put this crane,

you can take it.

For this lift, the crane will operate

from a solid base of reinforced wood pads.

This job's particularly interesting

because ground-bearing.

We're against a riverbank,

so we had to stack mats,

which are one foot by 20 feet long, three high,

so that we meet maximum ground-bearing pressure

required by the site.

That's where all the weight to the machine comes down

through the crane and through the tracks,

through the pads to the ground.

So, you can't have too much pressure in one corner,

not enough in the other. You could break something.

They could snap. It's all about keeping the crane balanced

and keeping the crane level.

Wide tracks are just the start.

The breadth between the tracks is eight and a half metres.

This helps spread the load,

like a weightlifter taking a wider stance

to brace for an Olympic lift.

This crane isn't just a heavy lifter.

It can reach to great heights,

up to 53 storeys,

and then bring things down to Earth.

The defining feature of a lattice boom crawler crane

is the lattice.

This ingenious yet simple design

uses a network of interlocking steel sections

arranged in a W or V pattern.

Essentially, a lattice boom has much greater strength,

much greater capacity.

Like, it's all about engineering in the triangles

of the boom itself.

If you have a telescopic boom,

you don't have the same kind of type of strength.

This heavy iron bridge requires extra strength.

Our boom booster package boom,

it's a new, expanded boom.

Measures three and a half metres wide.

From the original, standard main boom size,

expands out for boom booster and then reduces down

to increase capacity and tip heights.

The lattice is the skeleton of the crane,

but it's the hoists and cables

that turn structure into strength.

So, these are our main hoist drums.

Each drum has 1,000 metres of cable on them.

They run up the crane,

through the super lift,

down the super lift,

out to the tip of the boom,

reeved around on the hook block,

which is essentially the lifting device,

which everything gets hooked to.

If the engine is the heart of the machine,

its lifeblood is the hydraulic fluid.

It powers two massive hydraulic pumps,

which pushes the oil all throughout this machine

to make it work, run,

make heavy lifts.

The engine and hoist cables

will work together to lift the load,

but before the crane can bear weight,

it needs to find the right balance.

We hook our super lift counterweight tray

to the back of our flex frame,

and by lifting and pulling on that counterweight,

reduces the tension on these cables.

And it allows the crane to lift more, further, heavier.

This right here is the super lift,

and this is the super lift counterweight tray.

Right now, we're just getting the crane plumb over the bridge

where we're going to lift.

Swing around the back, and I'll move it up into position.

Yep. Come on up, Jonny.

The ballast or added weight is used to offset the weight

of not only the huge crane itself,

which includes the height of the boom,

but also the load that it'll be lifting.

Planning for jobs like this

with these machines is very important.

We need to know weights, distances,

so that we can plan the crane configuration

and bring the proper boom lengths and counterweight

for the job to make the lifts

and what the customer has required from us.

The ballast weight must balance

against the weight of the machine

and the weight of the object being lifted.

But operators must also factor in how far away

the object being lifted is from the centre of the crane.

If the boom arm is extended,

more weight is needed in the ballast tray

to balance the load.

If there's not enough weight,

there's the risk of the crane tipping over.

If the job requires more reach,

a longer boom will work,

but it increases the stress on the structure

and requires more counterweight

to prevent the machine from tipping over.

Ultimately, the success of the project

relies on these calculations

coming from the crane's computers

and the experienced team on the ground.

Okay, Jonny. Set it down.

Swing them round.

Let's just walk back to the C can, guys.

Come back, Jonny. Come back.

Right now, the rigging crew are getting ready

to hook up the counterweight for our tray.

Once we get the tray loaded, it's all set.

We just hook up the rigging to the crane,

and we're set.

We're prepped for the lift. Beautiful.

Okay, Jon. Hold that.

They're coming down. We'll do one either side of the bar here.

A rigging system known as a sling

is used to lift the load with high-strength steel rope,

synthetic fabric, or chain.

The crew prepares the sling.

When it's ready, the crane will suspend it

over the piece of the bridge they are lifting.

When I'm running this crane,

I can feel everything,

all the movement of the machine.

It all comes through, and I can tell

whether the motors are struggling for more power

or if we need to slow down.

Or whatever the crane needs, you can feel.

With the sling fixed over the bridge section

and the counterweights in place,

the team is almost ready to hoist.

I got two of my best guys out there,

checking the rigging, checking the other workers' work,

just to make sure that everything's secured to move.

The bridge is old and heavy,

but it's not necessarily strong.

They want to be sure the structure doesn't fail

when it's lifted.

Until everyone is satisfied,

a lift can't happen.

You guys are the same down there too.

This side's way higher than you guys.

We're experienced right now with the rigging

on the old bridges.

The chokers are coming tight at different points.

A choker sling is a specific sling configuration

where one of the ends passes through the other,

tightening it around the load like a knot

for a secure grip.

So, the condition of the metal,

it's not in the greatest of shape,

so we have to be very careful.

So it's all been analyzed,

and there's a thought process behind all of this.

We're probably six feet now.

With the 30s, you're going to lose a foot going underneath.

Yep.

We're not quite happy with our rigging

on the bottom of the bridge. We don't want to have a failure.

We won't do it until the gear is right and everybody's happy

and everybody feels good about what we're doing here.

When it comes to lifting extreme weights,

the Tadano crane is one of the strongest,

but even the most experienced heavyweight lifter

takes precautions.

So, we got five feet there now.

We're going to travel another 10.

Going up another 10.

We're having a discussion just to make sure

that bridge is safely lifted off there and to the ground.

We're going to change up our rigging design

to make sure every choker takes equal weight

and the bridge is supported properly

and use a simple basket.

That's going to grab the whole weight,

and it'll be just perfect.

With the solution in place,

it's time to get lifting.

The counterweight is calculated,

and the boom arm is extended.

They found the right balance for the hoist.

Alright. Let's work up nice and easy.

The bridge section is separated from its mounts.

Let the lifting begin.

Underneath her.

Keep coming up.

Right now, I'm lifting the 325 tonne of weight behind me.

Got a couple of inches under her now.

Keep coming up. You got her all, Jonny.

As the cables tense,

the steel structure of the crane absorbs the weight,

drawing the bridge up into the air.

When I'm hoisting or doing anything,

I'm always watching my cables.

I trust the computer,

but I trust my eyes more.

The crane holds firm

as the old bridge threatens to sway over the river.

That's it, my brother. That's all we got.

You want to walk back and swing?

Yeah.

Lifting giant structures has to be done

in a slow, methodical way.

With that much weight hanging there,

the smallest unexpected movement can cause big time harm.

Now, we're finalizing the position

where the bridge is going to sit and the tray is going to sit.

We want them both to be just in a nice spot.

Good job, buddy. Keep coming down.

Six inches off the ground here on the far side now.

Yep.

One inch. Keep coming down here.

Drive that right into the ground here.

Right now, we have a crowd of people applauding.

That's a new one for me.

We're going to take our big shackles off here,

- Jonny. - Coming down.

From setup to lift day,

every time we hit the key with this big machine is a great day.

The team that we have behind us that made this happen

is just , like, incredible. Like, we're so very proud

of everybody that worked on this project.

This kind of muscle

makes the biggest jobs look easy.

When this bridge is gone,

the city will be able to move forward,

and the Tadano will move on to its next colossal conquest.

Deep beneath the traffic-clogged streets

of Canada's busiest city

is a hard-grinding,

earth-moving,

cavern-carving rock star...

This is the roadheader,

the most powerful machine underground.

...one that chews through 1,000 tonnes

of rock and soil every single day as it bores

into the future of the city's public transit system.

Roadheaders excavate rock and ore with a rotating cutting drum

attached to the tip of a retractable boom

mounted in front of the machine's hefty body

and can freely swing from side to side or up and down,

excavating everything in its path.

And it pushes the headings

and make the job finish faster.

As their name implies,

a roadheader is the sole machine responsible for the headings,

the area at the front of the tunnel or cavern construction.

It alone pushes the project forward,

while every other machine down here is supporting that machine.

I'm cutting this top half,

and then later on, we'll work our way down.

So, we're in shale at the moment.

Shale's nice and easy to cut,

which is fantastic.

This machine is a beast.

It's one of the biggest roadheaders in the world.

Tunnel-boring machines often get the glory

in underground construction.

But a tunnel-boring machine is limited

to a fixed diameter and a circular cross-section,

resulting in the tunnels like the ones used

for subways and trains.

The roadheader is a maverick

responsible for creating tight curves,

cross passages, and expansive caverns

while handling extremely complex ground conditions.

The roadheader is taking on

450-million-year-old shale bedrock

buried beneath the city.

Its hardness varies,

but even when it puts up a fight,

the roadheader is ready.

This machine will cut rock.

It cuts rock really well.

Cutting is just the first step in the process.

Rock gets chipped off by the picks,

falls down to the bottom.

There's a pile of dirt in front of me, in front of the apron.

It'll hit that, hit the spinners.

The spinners will then spin it onto the chain conveyor,

and then the chain conveyor will shoot it out the back,

down the chute, so that the digger can pick it up

and chuck it in the truck.

The roadheader is leading the charge

at ground zero of the Ontario Line,

an over-15-kilometre subway project,

carving a new path through Toronto's downtown core.

This project's going to be about as long

as 30 CN Towers laid end to end in a row.

When the line opens, there'll be 15 new stations.

The cavern is divided into small sections

and excavated according to a predetermined order.

The crews work from the top of the outlined cavern

down to the base.

Over days and weeks,

the roadheader chips away to grow the opening

from a tiny cave to a huge, echoing chamber.

The Ontario Line will help take

nearly 30,000 car trips off the road each day.

Nearly 230,000 more people

will be within walking distance of a subway station.

Subways provide economic opportunities,

enhance community connectivity,

and offer environmental relief

to the regions where they're built.

The line will connect

to over 40 other transit options,

including buses, LRT,

and railway lines.

A project of this scale

needs to work around existing infrastructure.

When digging this deep in an active city centre,

workers have to be very careful.

There are electrical and gas lines.

Then as they get deeper,

there's the possibility of hitting

water mains and sewer mains.

As the roadheader digs farther down,

the job becomes more complex,

so the team works the cavern one layer at a time.

I need to cut this profile over,

because we've got a mesh layer to put on.

I'll cut the top here. That's as high as I can reach,

so I've got to use my telescope to get up there.

So, now, I'm just starting the head.

This cylinder pushes the boom out,

pushes it into the rock,

and as I'm cutting, it'll come up, down, left, and right,

wherever I want it to go.

I control it from the cab.

The nine-metre-long telescopic hydraulic boom

is powered by a 300-kilowatt motor,

enough power to run a dozen average homes.

The boom is pushing out tonnes and tonnes of power

to get through the face.

These are the hydraulic cylinders

that push up into the rock.

Armed with a rock-ripping,

rotating steel head,

it pulverizes rock at a rate

of two to three standard dump truck loads an hour.

This here, this is the head of the machine.

This is the big piece.

This is what cuts the rock.

The cone-shaped head is studded

with 48 hardened metal picks

that resemble the threads of a screw.

This type of pattern distributes the cutting forces evenly

and minimizes vibration as it carves out rock

equal to the weight of 600 cars a day.

So, the head weighs two to three tonnes.

When it gets spinning, it's got a lot of momentum.

It's something that you've got to be very careful of

when you're around it.

When you're cutting at a heading,

you cut hard, and you fricking rip it out.

The roadheader makes a big mess,

but it's also designed to clean up after itself.

So, when the dirt comes up the apron,

they hit the spinners.

The spinners move around like this.

And they act as gathering arms to gather up the rock,

and they push it up onto the chain conveyor.

The chain conveyor will move tonnes and tonnes of rock

every minute, push it out the back.

Right now, you're feeling that rumbling.

We're making money, baby.

Making money.

When the roadheader is grinding,

the rocks are flying.

Huge quantities of rock dust

are a hazard to humans and machines.

So it calls for a mighty air-filtration system.

So this machine here is called the DeDuster.

This is one of the most critical machines in the tunnel.

So all the dust is being sucked in

this big hole of 1.5 meter diameter

and it can suck almost 40 cubic meters per second.

24/7,

this gigantic 80-kilowatt purifier

pumps fresh air for the crew and the equipment.

If the de-duster isn't running,

then neither is the roadheader

or any other machine down here.

It's that important.

Not only is it removing dust

that impacts air quality for workers,

it also removes any trapped gases

that may be released from the earth by moving of rocks.

We cannot work underground without this critical machine

because it's here to remove all the dust

and all the dangerous gas.

So we can work safely for the workers

but also for the people at the surface.

All that freshly purified air

can't be mucked up by engine exhaust,

so the roadheader is running on the power of the gods...

Electricity.

The Mitsui H300 Roadheader is a fully electrical machine.

You can see that the Roadheader is plugged in

through this cable, and then

we have this big extension cord in this cable reel

that we can unroll when the machine is moving.

Running fully electric machines

is the best solution for underground mines

and civil projects like this one.

They have comparable high power output to diesel machines

but without any of the toxic emissions,

so workers can breathe easier

no matter how deep below the surface they are.

Electrical power keeps things running smoothly,

but when you're battling rock in the bowels of the Earth,

anything can happen.

You can see now, see all the rocks coming down the boom.

This is why these cabs are so important.

The machine keeps me safe,

keeps me safe from the dust

and keeps me safe from the rocks falling down.

Cabs are designed for heavy-duty protection

with reinforced steel,

multiple exits,

360-degree windows,

and thick shatterproof glass.

The most dangerous part about this job

is the unsupported ground,

and that's why we're very careful

about who goes up to the face and who goes close to it.

In the tunneling business,

the face is where the action is,

fresh excavation,

the place where the work is advancing.

This rock that we're cutting is millions of years old,

so when you expose it to the atmosphere, water, air,

what happens is that it starts to move

and it starts to shift.

It'll pull apart, separate,

and it will fall.

And that's not just this rock.

That's any rock around the world.

No matter how experienced the operator is

or how well designed and powerful the machine,

rock is unpredictable.

Oh!

I just blew a hose.

A rock just come down,

knocked the hydraulic hose off,

so I'll just have to get the fellas to come and join it.

Otherwise I'm going to lose a full tank of oil.

In an extreme work environment,

equipment failures are inevitable.

Dedicated repair and maintenance crews are on standby

at all times.

This is one of the telescopic part of the gearbox.

They're in a high-impact area,

so we're unable to have automatic grease lines to them.

So we also grease those manually.

It's got to be lubed up, because it's a moving component.

Let's go. We're ready to cut some rock.

It's a monumental project,

and the roadheader is spearheading the path

for the trains and passengers

that will eventually roll through here.

So, we're here in the first underground station.

The volume total is around 50,000 metre cubed to excavate.

It's a project of epic proportions.

The space is one and a half times longer

than a football field,

and its height is nearly five storeys tall.

And it's all happening

under one of the biggest intersections in the city.

This method of rock removal

is called sequential excavation.

It uses mining techniques

to remove small areas of earth at a time,

taking advantage

of the natural strength

of the surrounding rock

to maintain stability

as the rock removal advances.

As the roadheader roars underground,

the constant flow of crushed rock

must be shipped to the world above.

Well, right now, I am just reversing.

Okay. So, I'm going to take this load,

load it into our bin.

I probably do this about 40 to 50 times a day.

Load them up. Haul them out.

That's how stuff gets built.

When I finish dumping,

it's going to be floated out by the crane

and dropped into a dump truck on the surface level.

The team working on this subway line

must navigate the distance

between the worksite below and life above ground,

a balance that has been maintained

since Canada's very first subway was built.

All of our existing subways are much shallower.

We're not building in the rock,

so different types of construction were needed.

Even as far back as 1910,

traffic congestion was a problem in Toronto.

After consultation,

the city council approved

the first subway construction project,

joining the ranks of London, Boston, and New York,

cities with established subways.

Toronto's first subway line

broke ground on September 8, 1949.

The subway was built directly beneath a busy street

using the cut-and-cover method,

a technique used for constructing shallow tunnels

by excavating a trench,

building the tunnel structure within it,

and then covering the tunnel with backfill

to restore the surface.

It required massive equipment such as piledrivers,

power shovels, cranes,

and the labour of hundreds of workers.

It was difficult and dirty work,

but by 1954,

the subway had its inaugural opening.

This project's going to be transformational

for the city and for all the neighbourhoods that it touches.

It's a good accomplishment, you know?

It's something that you can share with everybody,

that you were on a project that now is going to help

millions of people get to where they want to get to,

whether it's shopping, whether it's to work,

whether it's to see their families,

just everyday living.

This is the joy of my life, other than my family.

This is what I want to do for the rest of my days,

I'll tell you.

These machines are a lot of fun.

You get addicted, and you just want to keep going.

As the city goes about its business,

deep beneath those streets,

the king of caverns will keep grinding,

carving new paths for urban transportation.

In the middle of Washington State,

the Grand Coulee Dam,

one of the greatest engineering achievements

in American history,

commands the landscape.

It's the biggest hydroelectric dam in North America...

Built to supply irrigation to 11,000 farms

and power to eight western states

and parts of Canada.

The Grand Coulee Dam supplies 35 percent

of the Pacific Northwest's power supply.

That means it's generating

up to 21 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity annually.

The dam is incredibly important to the surrounding community.

All the energy it produces means it can supply

two million households with power for a year.

Everything about Grand Coulee is colossal.

It's the length of four Empire State Buildings

laid end to end

and stands 50 storeys high.

This was once the largest concrete structure ever built.

It's as tall as two Washington Monuments.

Pretty impressive. This is a lot of engineering,

a lot of really great civil engineering.

The Grand Coulee Dam is a powerhouse.

It features 33 turbines,

an enormous pumping plant

providing irrigation to the region,

and three power generation plants

cranking out energy.

We have North America's largest machines in our power plant.

So, those big generators are

the biggest rotating machines in North America

with a rotating mass of about eight million pounds.

Dams are enormous systems

developed primarily for power generation,

but they're also used for flood control,

navigation, water quality,

and sediment control.

They are absolutely essential to our everyday way of life.

Harnessing water and directing its flow

was key to the rise of civilization.

The first dams, built in the Middle East and China,

date back to 3000 BCE.

Built from earth and gravel,

they held back water for irrigation.

Dams started as small, simple structures

built primarily for the purpose of irrigation,

to supply water for farming and growing crops.

As time went on, though,

engineers, especially Roman engineers,

developed advanced techniques incorporating things

like concrete, stone, and brick structures

that diverted water not only for irrigation and industry

but also for things like drinking and bathing.

During the Industrial Revolution,

bigger and bigger dams were built

to provide power to big factory machines

and provide electricity to ever-growing cities and towns.

Construction of the Grand Coulee Dam

began in 1933 at the height of the Great Depression.

It was part of President Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal...

You can invest your way

into a sounder future.

...a public works project aimed at providing jobs,

power, and irrigation to regions in need.

The Grand Coulee was one of the largest construction projects

ever undertaken.

Over nine years,

10,000 workers battled the elements

to carve this concrete colossus from the bedrock.

There is a solid connection to bedrock

from end to end and all the way across the bottom.

They played hell getting that granite shaved down

and trimmed down and shaped so that they could build it.

The Grand Coulee Dam

straddles the mighty Columbia River.

To prepare the site,

enormous amounts of sand, gravel, clay, and stone

were removed to uncover the granite bedrock

that is the foundation of the dam.

In total, 50 million tonnes

of rock and earth were moved,

an amount equal to the weight

of 46 Empire State Buildings.

Giant conveyor belts were used to carry all the material

several kilometres away to a canyon

on the west side of the river.

Sheets of steel were then driven into the bedrock

to build temporary dams in order to reroute the water

so construction could begin.

It was a herculean effort by the original engineers

who designed and built this place

with the technology they had,

the tools they had.

The work was grueling,

relentless, and often deadly.

We did have 77 people pass away during construction.

77 is always too many,

because one person lost is a tragedy.

After nine years of nonstop construction,

the Grand Coulee Dam was completed in 1941.

The amount of material needed to complete the project

was astronomical.

This is the largest concrete structure

in North America.

Approximately 12 million cubic yards of concrete

was used in building this dam.

The concrete it took to construct Grand Coulee Dam

would be enough to wrap a sidewalk twice around the world.

That's enough concrete to build a four-lane highway

from Seattle, Washington, all the way to Miami, Florida.

When the United States joined the Second World War,

the dam shifted into overdrive,

generating even more electricity

for the demand of wartime production.

The dam provided massive amounts of electricity

that were needed in order to produce aluminum for aircrafts

but also to power other defense industries.

The Grand Coulee was so vital that President Truman said

it would have been almost impossible

to win the war without it.

The fact that the Grand Coulee Dam is still working so well

and is so vital is a testament

to how far dam technology had evolved

at the time of its construction.

From the outside,

the dam appears to be a solid structure.

But step inside,

and you'll discover a vast labyrinth of walkways,

corridors, and tunnels weaving through its core.

There is roughly 14 miles' worth of tunnels inside the facility

between the left powerhouse,

the pump generation plant,

the right powerhouse, and then...

Because Grand Coulee is such critical infrastructure--

it's necessary to the daily operations

of the whole country--

the dam maintains a high level of security.

There aren't any maps or blueprints of the structure

available to the public,

and access is highly restricted.

So, the Ground Coulee Dam is very much like a large anthill.

Intricate tunnels.

All designed to work like an ant colony,

moving the equipment around and the workers around.

It's really just a huge, massive marvel of engineering.

The Grand Coulee Dam draws its power

from the Franklin D. Roosevelt Lake,

a manmade reservoir fed by the Columbia River,

33,000 hectares of power potential.

That's almost 100 times bigger

than New York's Central Park.

This is the water storage.

This is the fuel tank for Grand Coulee Dam.

The value of this is that it is

North America's largest battery.

We stop the flow of water at this dam,

and then everything from Grand Coulee on down

is all coordinated water flows.

A dam's water reservoir acts as a water battery,

because every litre of water

stored behind the dam's wall

with the built-up pressure of gravity

has a potential to create electricity

when it passes through the dam.

And to understand how this massive structure

generates all that electricity,

you have to follow the water.

From the Roosevelt Lake reservoir,

it travels down enormous concrete pipes

big enough to drive a car through.

The water rushes past one of 33 turbines.

The force of the water spins the blades and gets them turning.

That rapid movement is carried up the turbine shaft

to the generator.

As it spins, it creates an electromagnetic field,

which produces an electric current.

The generated electricity is then transmitted

through the regional grid to power businesses and homes.

The dam's generators have been the workhorses

of this region for generations.

Some of the original units from the 1940s

are still running today,

which is a testament

to the engineering brilliance of that era.

They built these machines to last.

There are three power plants

and a pump generating plant.

When the pump generating plant

is not moving water for irrigation,

it can also generate electricity,

and the Nathaniel Washington

is the largest of the power plants.

It houses six of the dam's generators.

The Nathaniel Washington Power Plant

was completed in 1974

and is really the beating heart of the Grand Coulee.

Its six generators are responsible

for 65 percent of the dam's power output.

We have six of the largest machines

in North America.

They're like the sports cars.

They're high-performance machines.

These heavy-duty generators are driven by water

flowing in from individual steel pipes known as penstocks.

The largest penstock is over 12 metres in diameter.

That's big enough to fit in four school buses.

You're looking at a 805-megawatt machine,

which is all the power used

from Seattle to Vancouver, Washington,

on the west side of the state,

with surplus.

Six massive generators inside this power plant

produce such enormous amount of electricity

that the Grand Coulee Dam ranks

as the sixth largest power producer in the entire world.

The original engineers were amazing.

They built it to harness the power.

Hydro power has really been the heart of economic development

of the Pacific Northwest.

It's been plentiful.

It is relatively inexpensive.

Every time it rains, we refuel.

It is the original green energy.

Long before wind turbines and solar collectors,

dams like the Grand Coulee have kept the skies clear.

Where's the smoke?

Where's the pollution?

There isn't any.

This is us doing our job

and in the same way being quite respectful

of nature and of the planet while we're doing it.

But the Grand Coulee's contribution

goes beyond electricity.

It's a giant well.

The water from the dam flows

to over 275,000 hectares of farmland every year.

The water helps contribute to growing

over 60 different types of crops to feed America.

That is a bigger picture of Grand Coulee.

It's not just power.

We're water, irrigation.

We keep the lights on,

plus we keep you fed.

The water moves from pumps housed inside the dam.

What you have here is 12 units

inside this pump generating plant.

The first six that you see are pump units,

each capable of pumping a billion gallons of water

into Banks Lake per day.

The 12 pumps inside the plant

suck the water from Lake Roosevelt

and move it uphill into Banks Lake,

which is a huge natural reservoir.

From there, the water flows into a large network of canals

to be delivered to farms in central Washington.

This pump, along with the other pumps

here in the pumping plant,

is properly one of the farmer's best friends, right?

This pump by itself will deliver

over 1,600 cubic feet per second.

That's a hell of a lot of water. Yep.

This gigantic fortress

delivers power and irrigation across the region,

so keeping it in top shape is critical.

Maintenance is everything.

The dam has an onsite machine shop

operated by a full-time crew of mechanics.

If you want to think of Grand Coulee as a big machine,

you have to have a machine shop

to keep that big machine running.

We deal everything from plumbing, pumps,

motors, welding, fabrication, tin shop.

We support everything that we need.

This is a critical piece of infrastructure.

You don't send out for parts.

The machine shop at Grand Coulee

was built to support the Grand Coulee Dam,

so everything here is big.

You're not going to just go find those parts

on a shelf somewhere in Spokane or Seattle.

Without the machine shop,

even a minor breakdown

could turn into a major shutdown,

which in turn would disrupt power generation

and interrupt irrigation.

All of that could lead to economic, environmental,

and other kinds of damage,

so the machine shop is vital.

This machine shop is like an onsite emergency room

filled with doctors and nurses at the ready.

The skilled machinists working around the clock

are not only doing routine maintenance

but are prepared for any major issues should the duty call.

This is probably the ultimate workshop. Yes.

If you can dream it, we can build it.

The Grand Coulee Dam is a colossal combination

of concrete and steel,

staggering in its size and scope.

I really do enjoy this facility,

the engineering of it and everything.

It's just amazing what the human mind is capable of,

what brilliant people can do when they try.

The Grand Coulee never sleeps.

It's a living monument to progress,

constantly evolving and upgrading to meet demands.

It's truly a mighty structure

that will ensure clean, renewable power

for future generations.

Born in the darkest days of the Depression,

the dam continues to power and water the Pacific Northwest

and will do so for as long as the water flows.