White Bluffs spokesman. [volume] (White Bluffs, Wash.) 1907-1938, 1927-01-07
WHAT WILL HAPPEN
when Dam IS BUILT

CONSTRUCTION Work on the dam at
Pr.est Rapids will be started. Some
tunes we near rurnors that it is I'M
irent and again reports gain ci.cu-
lataon that the building of tine dam has
been postponed until some distant
date. But socneT or later it will be
I built and some of the things that viii
happen when this is done are con-
tanned in the following story taken
/ from the Grant County Journal pub
lisEed at Ephrata:
The Priest Rapids of the Columbia
river are located little south OF al
most the exact cente.' of the state of
/ Washington. The four principal citiei
of the tar northwest, Portland, Seattle,
Tadoma, and Spokane, having an ag-
! gregate population Of about 8OO,OUU
are each ''as the crow flies" ABOUT
| $50 miles distant from Priest Rapids.
The main line of the Chicago, Milwau-
kee and St. Paul R. K. crosses the
Columbia at Beverly IA miles above
the foot of the rapids. The Great
Northern railroad icrosses the river at
Trin:da 40 miles north, and the
Nedthern Pacific, the Union Pacific
System and the Spokane, Portland &
Seattle railroads cross the river at
Pasco, 90 miles south. A branch of
tina Milwaukee is now in operation
,, alnog the rives from Beverly, past
Priest Rapids to Hanford, a distance
acf 40 miles. An extension of this
line is projected north to Trinidad and
south to Pasco, known as the Wenat-
chez Southern railroad, which will give,
Priest Rapids the service of four of
the great taanscentinental railroads:
! The Great NORTHERN, the Chicago,
Milwaukee andi% ST. Paul, tile
Northern Pacific and the Union Pac-
ific system.
The Columbia is. the, twelfth larg-
est river in the world, ard second larg-
est in the United States, and carries
create, annual volume of water than
the Mississippi at Memphis. Its drain
age area is estimated at $4,000 square
mics. The Aver is navigable from the
Pacific Ocean to the foot of Priest
Rapids, distance of 400 miles. With
the installation of locks and dam at
Priest Rapids navigation will be ex-
tended fo.' further distance of 1870
miles into the interior of the state of
Washington, to within l10 miles of the
Canadian border. The Columbia is
now navigablc for ocean going YES
sells for 12O miles from its meath, and
for 1oO0-ton river steamers and barges
from that point 10 Priest Rapids.
Therefore, with one change Of bulk,
water transportation can be had to
and from Priest Rapids and any port
Of the world.
The Columbia sails go feet in 9
/ m'lss at Prizes. Rapids, and the install.
etIcn of the daE- and power Plant,
which is proposed tc be built at the
root es the rapids, will develop many
hundred thousand primary, all tile
year :'ound, horse power, and during
thu iigh water stage of the rive-, from
lie middle of Ma' ch to the middle ct
C,:rober an an additional amount Of
several hundred thousand secondary
power may be produced. The flow Of
the river during the low water period
averages $4,000 second feet, and dur
ing the summer months it reaches
over 100000 second feet. The aver
age flow Of the Niagara river is bur
250000 second feet. The dam will be
90 feet high and two miles long, the
longest in the world; longer than the
Assouan dam in Egypt.
The valley OF the Columbia from
Wenatchec to Pasco, distance of
about 100 miles, with Priest Rapids
lying about midway, is for the most
part desert silent land The soil
is a rich volcanic ash which, given
water, will produce every crop which
can be grown in the temperate zone.
At an experimental ranch at Priest
Rapids, the Egyptian long leaf cot
ton as we'll at the ordinary gro;'e Of
southern cotton has come to full
fruition by the middle of September.
Sugar beets, tobacco, peanuts soy
beans. sweet potatoes, every kind Of
vegetable, flax, barley, rye, wheat and
corn have given wonderfully abund-
ant crops. Alfalfa has yielded four
cuttings to the season. There are 800
days in the year of sunshine. The
summer days in that northern locality
are long; while the nights arc pleasant
ly cool, the days are hot, dry not
unpleasant heat, but it makes corn
grow nine feet high. There in that
silent valley lie hundreds of thousands
of acres of parched thirsty land only
awaiting water to become one of the
richest agricultural districts in the
world. And washing shores of that
land flows the mighty Columbia, and
the rushing rapids Of the river contain
the power necessary to raise the wa
ter to the land 1t is providential
that tha river is at its flood during
the irrigation season. For, without
calling upon or diminishing the pri-
mary power, it furnishes during the
growing season an abundance Of cheap
secondary power, and water for ag-
ricultural purposes. One horse mower
is required to pump water sufficient
for two acres.
The low water period west of the
Cascade Mountains is the high water
period at Priest Rapides. Therefore,
it is proposed to build transission
line ito miles long from Priest Rap
ids to connect with the already in
ter-connected lines Of the power plants
located west OF the Cascades which
supply electric energy to Seattle, Ia
coma and the western portion of the
state, and to transmit one hundred
tla3usand Priest Rapids secondary
power to make up the GUNNER short
age which is now sunplied by steam
D ans which lie idle for tie rena n
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