Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1935-07-07

- WV
TINE Pacific Northwest, where a
great social laboratory is open
ing up with the Columbia
River Basin development, is
an empire presided over by river.
Rising among the lakes and snowy
peaks of the Canadian Rockies, the
Columbia. fed by innumerable lesser
streams and lakes. steadily gathers
more and more power as 1t pursues
its meandering course of l,400 miles
from British Columbia through
Washington and Oregon to the sea.
1t covers in its drainage area nearly
300. 900 square miles.
Long before the Oregon country
was known to explorers a great river
known as the River of Kings engaged
the dreams of explorers of many
lands. It's sands we're said to be of
pure gold. After another fashion,
today the great river casts its spell
over the imaginations of men.
The Columbia's story has always
been written in the large. In prehls-
toric days the earth dubbed up IN
the Northwest region in great vol
canoes, pouring streams of lava one
upon another in intervals of thou
sands of years. Along the rivers
banks these lava layers are clearly
seen, carved into great cathedral
walls, rising five hundred to thou
sand feet high and turned into the
colors of barbaric jewels.
After the lava, when the earth had
cooled, ice sheets swept over the land
and torrents of water carved courses
known as coulees. The Columbia
was once one of these torrentS-a
much greater stream than it is today.
Trade Route of Indians.
The Columbia was the trade route
of the Indians and of the first voy-
ayers. Through the gap it had cut
in the mountains the early adVen-
turers strayed overland; those who
came by water entered through the
mouth of the Columbia on Puget
Sound. Lewis and Clark crossed that
same gap of the Columbia. followed
by the homesteaders and farmers, the
timber lords, driven by the era OF
building and the need for lumber for
homes, factories, railroad ties.
This is the backdrop for the drama
that is opening the Columbia River
basin today.
Two great dams are under way on
the Columbia, one at Bonneville In
Oregon. Just east of Portland, and
the other at the Grand Coulee, 80
miles northwest of Spokane in what
is known as the Big Bend OF the river.
Eight minor dams are projected for
development, the whole plan to be
spread perhaps over hundred years.
This project is as great in scope as
the Panama Canal. 1t will create a
region of superpower. changing the
whole economic picture of the West
Coast and, it may be, long before the
development is complete, shifting the
social axis of the Nation.
Rivals Boulder Dam.
The Grand Coulee dam is to be the
greatest structure ever built by man
larger than Boulder Dam, greater
than the Pyramids. When the water
flows over its spillways and power Is
being generated in the great power
houses, the story of hcw the project
of the dam began may be forgotten.
And it is story as fantastic as any
that ever came out of the West, where
even the coolest business deal seems
to take on the color Of romance and
the great and the small Intervene in
a fashion that upsets all the values
of the fastener.
One July day II years ago Rufus
Woods, editor of the Wenatchee Daily
World, dropped into Jim O'Sullivans
one-story law Office in the little town
of Ephrata, Wash. He found Will
liam, better known as Billy, Clapp
there. Il am telling the story as it
was told to mel Woods has habit
of scouting the country for news and