Snake River
Another beautiful day on the river. Two thirty am we passed through McNary locks. Sunrise at Ice Harbor dam where we shared space with a tug and its empty bargesheading upriver. Ice Harbor Dam, completed in 1961 and dedicated in 1962, was sold to Congress as a dam needed for defense – to power the Hanford nuclear facility nearby. Hanford made plutonium for atomic warheads. “Power for defense” was the slogan used by Herb West who’s relentless lobbying to make Lewiston, ID a deepwater port finally took hold when Senator Warren Magnusson (D-WA) managed to get appropriations to allocated $1 million to begin construction of Ice Harbor Dam. Biologists had fought this dam, knowing it would further harm salmon and steelhead runs. They knew that when Ice Harbor Dam went in, their battles to save fish runs was lost; the next three dams would soon follow.
I was impressed that West’s promises of mighty cities along the Snake from a barging trade on an “open river” were indeed never realized. The banks of the Snake are barren, and the river slowly moves along devoid of life and spirit. Barged grain can be carried by rail and truck at little more cost when one factors in federal subsidies to run the waterway.
We spent a beautiful afternoon on the Palouse River near the confluence from the Snake. Some in kayaks, others in Zodiacs. Sunset was wonderful.
Another beautiful day on the river. Two thirty am we passed through McNary locks. Sunrise at Ice Harbor dam where we shared space with a tug and its empty bargesheading upriver. Ice Harbor Dam, completed in 1961 and dedicated in 1962, was sold to Congress as a dam needed for defense – to power the Hanford nuclear facility nearby. Hanford made plutonium for atomic warheads. “Power for defense” was the slogan used by Herb West who’s relentless lobbying to make Lewiston, ID a deepwater port finally took hold when Senator Warren Magnusson (D-WA) managed to get appropriations to allocated $1 million to begin construction of Ice Harbor Dam. Biologists had fought this dam, knowing it would further harm salmon and steelhead runs. They knew that when Ice Harbor Dam went in, their battles to save fish runs was lost; the next three dams would soon follow.
I was impressed that West’s promises of mighty cities along the Snake from a barging trade on an “open river” were indeed never realized. The banks of the Snake are barren, and the river slowly moves along devoid of life and spirit. Barged grain can be carried by rail and truck at little more cost when one factors in federal subsidies to run the waterway.
We spent a beautiful afternoon on the Palouse River near the confluence from the Snake. Some in kayaks, others in Zodiacs. Sunset was wonderful.
