Welcome to the Street Prophets Coffee Hour cleverly hidden at the intersection of religion and politics. This is an open thread where we can share our thoughts and comments about the day. We’re going to start today by looking at a museum exhibit about Grand Coulee Dam.
During the twentieth century, the United States viewed large hydroelectric dams as signs of progress, and as symbols of American technological superiority and modernity. In 1932, the Army Corps of Engineers submitted a 2,000-page report which called for the construction of 10 large dams on the Columbia River in Oregon and Washington. The report described the benefits of these dams, including improved navigation routes, electric power, irrigation water, and flood control. Boosters of the project promised that the electricity generated by the dams would change the culture of the area and bring in new, innovative industries. There was no concern for any possible impact on the Indian nations which have lived along the river for thousands of years, nor was there any consideration given to the spiritual meaning and use of the river.
In 1934, Congress authorized the construction of Grand Coulee Dam which would flood Spokan and Colville tribal lands in Washington.
For many unemployed workers, including many who were living in shanty towns known as Hoovervilles, the construction of Grand Coulee Dam meant an opportunity to work. An army of workers travelled to the site, many of them riding freight trains and then hitchhiking to get there. Many had only a bedroll and a change of clothes. Some came in broken down cars with all of their belongings stacked in the back.
The Washington State History Museum in Tacoma has a display on the construction of Grand Coulee Dam.
In 1940, the dam was completed, and the reservoir began to fill. The dam rises 350 feet. 10 towns and 1200 buildings had to be razed or moved for the reservoir. The new reservoir flooded 12,500 acres of Indian land, including the town of Inchelium where the Indian school and hospital were located. The Indians of the Colville Reservation had not been notified and soon many Indian homes were flooded. The Indian agent sent an urgent telegram to the President asking for action. In an emergency measure, Congress provided funding for the relocation of cemeteries; it acknowledged the Colville hunting, fishing, and boating rights on Roosevelt Lake; it called for just compensation for land inundated; and it assured the Colville that 25% of the lake would be for the paramount use of the Indians.
In his book Northwest Passage: The Great Columbia River, William Dietrich writes:
“Grand Coulee Dam inundated thousands of acres of prime Colville Reservation land and fishing sites, blocking salmon access to more than one thousand square miles of productive river. The tribe had to move their school at their own expense, lost telephone service along the shore that was not restored until 1975, were stuck with some of the highest electricity rates in the state, and got no compensation for their lost salmon.”
As a reclamation dam, Grand Coulee came under the Reclamation Act of 1902, rather than the Federal Power Act of 1920 and, therefore, did not need to provide any fish facilities. There was no concern for the spiritual and economic importance of salmon to the Indians.
With regard for the rationale for dams, such as Grand Coulee, William Dietrich writes:
“Damming rivers for water and power would free agriculture in the West from monopolization by huge ranches and big business, giving new life to Thomas Jefferson’s dream of a democracy grounded on the values of yeoman farmers. Electricity would also bring to rural America the labor-saving machines, already enjoyed by the city, and would allow the dispersal of industry to smaller towns, reducing pollution and crowding.”
Open Thread
This is an open thread—topics other than dam topics are welcome.