Evening star., 1934-08-05
TOUR
/. REVIEWS FAITH
People of Northwest Look
Upon Visit as Project
Insurance.

President Roosevelt's visits to the
Grand Corlee and Bonneville Dams
in the Columbia River Basin to make
personal inspection of these out
have imbutd the people of the North
west with renewed faith and hope IN
the success OF the Governments n
gantic program for power and navi-
cation.
Tomorrow. after q glimpse at the
wonders Of the Glacier National Park.
the President and his party will push
on to Fort Peck, on the scared Mon
tana plains, where more than 5000
men are at work on dam and reser-
voir, which will enable engineers 10
control the fow Of the Missouri River.
second largest In the United States,
for its entire length. At Fort Peck
he will see the amazing spectacle of
hundreds of pontoons and barges now
resting fiat on the ground, surrounded
by endless miles of prairie land, which
are TO be used in constructing a giant
earthen dam which will create q lake
ITS miles long.
To Visit Channel Work.
From Fort Peck the President and
his party. under the personal guidance
of Harold L. Ickes, public works ad-
ministrator, will visit the work that
is being done In the Upper Mississippi
nine-foot channel to st. Paul and
Minneapolis. Completion of this will
insure an adequate channel from Min
neapolis to the Gulf of Mexico, con-
Meeting with the Great Lakes by the
Illinois River, with the steel and coal
traffic OF the Ohio River and It's tribu-
taries. With the major development
now under way on the Missouri River,
it insures cheap water transportation
to the interior Of the country. Under
such a program the Mississippi and
the Ohio are expected to recover their
long-lost prestige, dating back TO
pioneer days when cargoes Of cotton,
coal and grain we're interviewer with
the romance of the West.
Into these four great projects the
Public Works Administration is pour
ing upward of SITS, ZOO, 900 in pledge
of its plans to develop cheap electric
power, irrigation and navigation for
this great Northwestern area and its
millions of beneficiaries. In Wash
ington, Public Works officials are
weighing every word the President
speaks in discussing these plans and
his hopes for their fulhllment. Al
ready, at Bonneville, he has an
nounced that II Army engineers re-
port favorably, he would approve ex-
panding the plans to build enough
locks to admit sea-going vessels.
Cheap Power Seen.
Such an announcement is regarded
as sufficient to touch of a bonn
Dardment of petitions and visits of
delegations to Washington to press
the proposal while it is still hot. The
project at Bonneville has two pur-
poses, one to provide cheaper power,
the other to make the Columbia River
further inland to the rich
agricultural land in Central Oregon.
Oregon has seen what a ship canal
extending As miles into the fiat praries
of Southern Texas has done .or the
city Of Houston. That compiratiely
small inland city has become one Of
the greatest exporting ports in Amer
lea, with steamers carrying oil, cotton
and grain to the ports of the world.
The Bonneville Dam, for which
an allotment Of $31 ,25o, 900 has been
made to date, is one of the largest
p. w. A. projects In the country. On
September 81, 1888, an initial allot-
ment Of $20,250, 900 was made for the
construction of this dam In the Co
lumbia River. about AZ miles above
Portland. Besides utilizing the
natural resources Of the river to vi
project will also provide 9-foot navi-
cation to the Dalles, distance of A
miles, eliminating the hazards of the
Cascade and other rapids.
Army Engineers Used.
Army engineers are building this
dam and plan to install two power
units of $4,000 kilowatts each, with
provision for the ultimate installation
of 10 additional and similar units, or
a total of $4,000 kilowatts. Engineers
estimate the cost of power at the
switchboard from the fully developed
plant will be less than ! mill per
kilowatt hour-a rate so low that
much human drudgery viii be done
by electricity.
1t will require three years to build
Bonneville Dam. Direct employment
at the site is being provided for about
l,z00 men. If the fullest advantage