Uncle Sam in the Pacific Northwest; Federal Management of Natural Resources in the Columbia River Valley
Uncle Sam in the Pacific Northwest; Federal Management of Natural Resources in the Columbia River Valley

Author: Charles McKinley

Publisher: Sagwan Press

Published: 2018-02-07

Total Pages: 700

ISBN-13: 9781376879476

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This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

The Organic Machine
The Organic Machine

Author: Richard White

Publisher: Hill and Wang

Published: 2011-04-01

Total Pages: 148

ISBN-13: 1429952423

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The Hill and Wang Critical Issues Series: concise, affordable works on pivotal topics in American history, society, and politics. In this pioneering study, White explores the relationship between the natural history of the Columbia River and the human history of the Pacific Northwest for both whites and Native Americans. He concentrates on what brings humans and the river together: not only the physical space of the region but also, and primarily, energy and work. For working with the river has been central to Pacific Northwesterners' competing ways of life. It is in this way that White comes to view the Columbia River as an organic machine--with conflicting human and natural claims--and to show that whatever separation exists between humans and nature exists to be crossed.

The Wired Northwest
The Wired Northwest

Author: Paul W. Hirt

Publisher: University Press of Kansas

Published: 2012-10-18

Total Pages: 472

ISBN-13: 0700618732

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The Pacific Northwest holds an abundance of resources for energy production, from hydroelectric power to coal, nuclear power, wind turbines, and even solar panels. But hydropower is king. Dams on the Columbia, Snake, Fraser, Kootenay, and dozens of other rivers provided the foundation for an expanding, regionally integrated power system in the U.S. Northwest and British Columbia. A broad historical synthesis chronicling the region's first century of electrification, Paul Hirt's new study reveals how the region's citizens struggled to build a power system that was technologically efficient, financially profitable, and socially and environmentally responsible. Hirt shows that every energy source comes with its share of costs and benefits. Because Northwest energy development meant river development, the electric power industry collided with the salmon fishing industry and the treaty rights of Northwest indigenous peoples from the 1890s to the present. Because U.S. federal agencies like the Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation built many of the large dams in the region, a significant portion of the power supply is publicly owned, initiating contentious debates over how that power should best serve the citizens of the region. Hirt dissects these ongoing battles, evaluating the successes and failures of regional efforts to craft an efficient yet socially just power system. Focusing on the dynamics of problem-solving, governance, and the tense relationship between profit-seeking and the public interest, Hirt's narrative takes in a wide range of players-not only on the consumer side, where electricity transformed mills, mines, households, commercial districts, urban transit, factories, and farms, but also power companies operating at the local and regional level, and investment companies that financed and in some cases parasitized the operators. His study also straddles the international border. It is the first book to compare energy development in the U.S. Northwest and British Columbia. Both engaging and balanced in its treatment of all the actors on this expansive stage, The Wired Northwest helps us better understand the challenges of the twenty-first century, as we try to learn from past mistakes and re-design an energy grid for a more sustainable future.

Rufus Woods, the Columbia River, and the Building of Modern Washington
Rufus Woods, the Columbia River, and the Building of Modern Washington

Author: Robert E. Ficken

Publisher: Washington State University Press

Published: 2022-01-24

Total Pages: 477

ISBN-13: 1636820603

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Rufus Woods, editor and publisher of the Wenatchee Daily World for more than forty years, has been called the “High Priest of the Columbia River.” From his editorial platform, Woods tirelessly promoted Wenatchee and north central Washington and advocated for Columbia River development. He pegged his brightest hopes on a huge dam to be built in the isolated Grand Coulee region. A founding member of the “Dam University,” Woods--through the World--helped to keep the drive for the structure alive. From 1918 through Grand Coulee’s completion in 1941, he was the leading promoter of the largest dam-building project in American history. Utilizing his newspaper and his extensive political contacts at state and national levels, Woods helped convince President Franklin Roosevelt, Congress, and the Bureau of Reclamation that the grandiose scheme was attainable. Where others despaired, he never faltered. Speaking before the 1942 Grand Coulee High School graduating class, Woods proudly boasted of the accomplishment that he helped see to reality. “So here it stands, a monument to the idea and the power of an idea; a monument to an organization; a monument to cooperation. You, class of 1942, could you come back here in a thousand years hence, you would hear the sojourners talking as they behold this ‘slab of concrete,’ and you would hear them say, ‘Here in 1942, indeed, there once lived a great people.’” Woods got his dam, but not the Wenatchee boom he desired. Possible only because of federal financing, those in control imposed a vast maze of power lines emanating from the dam’s huge hydroelectric plant. Cities like Portland and Seattle benefited from its power much more than Wenatchee. Even so, Woods’s beloved adopted home grew tremendously during his lifetime, and much of that economic development can be attributed to his single-minded efforts.