Every Lake
Banks Lake
Filled by pumping Columbia River water uphill into a canyon the Ice Age carved.
- 21 ft · first step
- 41 ft
- 62 ft
- 83 ft
- 103 ft
- 124 ft · bottom
About Banks Lake
Banks Lake sits inside the Grand Coulee, a canyon cut by the ancestral Columbia River and enlarged by Ice Age glacial floods thousands of years before any dam existed. The Bureau of Reclamation turned the dry coulee into a reservoir in the early 1950s as part of the Columbia Basin Project, sealing the north and south ends with North Dam and Dry Falls Dam. Unlike most reservoirs, it isn't filled by a river running through it; pumps at Grand Coulee Dam lift water out of the Columbia and send it uphill into the coulee.
Electric City, Grand Coulee, and Coulee City sit along its shores, towns built up around the dam-construction era and now leaning on irrigation and tourism. Steamboat Rock, a basalt butte that was once an island in the ancient river channel, rises from the middle of the lake and anchors a state park with a campground and boat launch. Anglers come for walleye and smallmouth bass, and the long, narrow, cliff-lined basin draws houseboats and sailboats in summer, when the lake also stores water for the Columbia Basin's irrigation canals.
- 6 depth layers, each step engraved with its depth in feet
- Compass rose, title block with coordinates, max depth and area; keyhole hanger on the back
Turn it in your hands
Live 3D of the actual cut files — drag to orbit, pinch to zoom. Every road you see is engraved on the real thing.
Viewer not showing? Open it full screen.
Banks Lake depth chart, in wood
This is a Banks Lake depth chart you can hang: 6 stacked layers of birch, each one a depth contour — 21 ft, 41 ft, 62 ft, 83 ft, 103 ft and deeper, down to the deepest hole at about 124 ft. The lake covers about 42.7 square miles. The shape of the bottom is the real one from published soundings, so anglers recognise their drop-offs and points.
A Banks Lake map for the wall — or a gift
Most of these go to a cabin wall, a lake house entry, or a home office; a lot are gifts — the family that has been on Banks Lake for three generations, the retirement move, the first boat. The 12-inch is the desk-and-shelf size; the 24- and 30-inch boards read across a room. Add a line under the title and star your place on the shore, and it becomes the map of your Banks Lake.
Banks Lake map — the details
How big is the map?
Four sizes: 12, 17, 24 and 30 inches on the long side, from $149. Every size is cut from the same depth data of Banks Lake; the bigger boards carry more shoreline roads and place names.
Is it made from real depth data?
Yes. Banks Lake is cut layer by layer from published bathymetric soundings — each layer of birch is a depth contour, so the shape of the bottom is the real one, not decorative.
Can I add my own place on it?
Yes. At checkout you can add a line under the title (a family name, a cabin name, a year) and star the spot on the shore that matters to you.
How long does it take?
Made to order in Waterford, Pennsylvania and shipped in 7–10 days; shipping is free in the lower 48.
Can you make a lake that isn't listed?
Any lake in the United States — we hold depth data for 104,419 of them. Search for yours; if it isn't built yet we build it when you order.
- 6 depth layers down to 124 ft
- 42.7 square miles of water
- Title block, compass rose and depth markers
- Birch plywood, keyhole hanger, made in Waterford, PA
