The Early Campaign to Develop the Columbia River and Bonneville Dam
By
eternauta3k
Summary
A historical account of early 20th-century efforts to develop the Columbia River through the Bureau of Reclamation, focusing on the Bonneville Dam project. The piece details how the Department of the Interior investigated irrigation and hydroelectric potential in the Pacific Northwest, with the Oregon State engineer advocating for the Bonneville site as a national-defense measure to produce fertilizer in peacetime and nitrates for munitions in wartime.
Source
Hacker NewsThe Early Campaign to Develop the Columbia River and Bonneville Damcomputer.ripKey quotes
· 4 pulledIn 1914 the Department of the Interior, through the Bureau of Reclamation, investigated the possibilities of developing the Columbia River.
Thousands of arid but potentially fertile acres needed only water to become the Imperial Valley of the Northwest.
Locked in the mountain ranges were valuable ores awaiting electricity to turn them into needed metals.
Two years later the State engineer of Oregon urged the development of the Bonneville site as a national-defense measure: he saw in the proposed power project a source of fertilizer in time of peace and nitrates in time of war.
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