Two rivers.. Niagara -- not really a river but more of a strait between two lakes. The famous falls of the Niagara attracted travelers since it was first encountered by European explorers. The city of Buffalo's name is thought to derive from "Beau Fleuve" [sp?]. Small waterfalls and rapids were spread generously throughout the northeast part of America, giving rise to mills and proto-industrialization. By the year 1800, there was hardly a stream in New England unharnessed at several points along its course. A long tradition of "home industries", coupled with investment by merchants looking for alternate sources of income during the years of trade uncertainties around 1812, resulted in the birth of the north's industrialization. While there were waterfalls in the south, and there was capital and merchants looking to invest -- there was a relative lack of skilled labor, and a history of investing in land and slaves for agricultural expansion. As an example of how money was invested, between 1804 and 1808, the slave trading center of Charleston, South Carolina (through which something over 25% of American Blacks originally passed through upon "immigration") received over 200 slave ships, with over 30,000 slaves sold in just those 4 years. During the same period, a roughly equivalent amount of money was being spent in New England in the construction of waterwheels and mill ponds. Early water-powered mill sites tended to be gristmills, grinding corn and small grains, and sawmills, producing lumber. Also common were carding and fulling mills, preparing wool, flax, hemp, cotton, etc, for spinning. After the invention of the spinning jenny, cotton -- from the south -- was spun into yarns almost completely by New England mills. Water-power also began to be used for power-looms. By the middle of the 19th century, manufacturing plants had spread throughout New England. This water-powered industrial complex was firmly rooted before coal began to replace water as the most common source of power. Generally, a mill town would grow up around a waterfall and as the demand for power grew, coal would be used to supplement the water-power -- eventually replacing it altogether. Nonetheless, the spatial distribution of industry was scattered about, with each site relatively small and specialized. This scattering produced a transportation network, with major hubs at places like Boston. North of Boston, and more detached than it is today, was "perhaps the first concentrated industry in the United States" at the town of Lynn, which specialized in making shoes. As early as 1788, travelers remarked on the large number of shoes being made. It appears that one of the early uses of local water-power was in leather tanning. Women there, as in most places, had developed skill in the home industry of making shoes -- which coupled with the leather tanning, resulted in the ability to mass produce and export shoes. In the year 1800, the town of Lynn turned out over 100,000 pairs of shoes, with the local waterfalls providing the power. In any case, the great falls of the Niagara was locked away deep in the interior for many years -- visited in passing only. Until the 1780s, the frontier line had remained stable at Rome, New York, for generations. To the east was the old trading town of Albany / Fort Orange. To the west were the lands of the Mohawk and Onondaga Indians -- the "vanguard" of the Six Nations of the Iroquois. These Indians sided with the British during the Revolutionary War, and were therefore subjected to military attacks -- or perhaps they would have been attacked long before, had not the British forbade it. Military invasion began in 1779, and ended in a series of treaties -- most notably the Treaty of Canandaigua of 1794. Those few Indians remaining (many fled to Canada) were put on small reservations, and the land was opened up for settlement. Because the land was so accessible, desireable, and so long off limits, upstate New York experienced a major boom in the 1790s and early 1800s. This process of forcing land cession treaties on Indians and experiencing land booms, as first done on a large scale in upstate New York was later repeated in the Ohio and Indiana regions. Unsurprisingly, the first sites to be snatched up were waterfalls. The two falls of the Genesee River were harnessed, and resulted in the city of Rochester. Niagara Falls, however attractive as a site of beauty, was a bit too large, and anyway, most of it was in Canada. Settlment in the far west of New York state tended to take up the sites of old Indian villages, now abandoned. There were "countless" Indian fields, already cleared of trees and ready for farming. The Iroquois were, after all, "sedentary and agricultural in their unmolested state". For some time, Niagara Falls provoked awe and not a little controversy, rather than just another power-source ready to be harnessed. One issue was the gorge below the falls. Many assumed (correctly) that the gorge had been carved out by the falls as it slowly ate away at the rock and moved "upriver". But this interpretation conflicted with Biblical views. A Mr. Robert M'Causlin observed the falls for nine years and in 1793 wrote "If we adopt the opinion of the Falls having retreated six miles, and if we suppose the world to be 5,700 years old, this will give above 56 inches a year, or sixteen yards in nine years, which I can venture to say has not been the case since 1774." So, in the earlier times, Niagara Falls was just too big to be put to use. Instead, it inspired rapture, terror, and the sublime. It was remote until the Erie Canal opened in 1825 (the first canal boat carried casks of water from Lake Erie to the Hudson River, dumping the water into the river in a symbolic gesture) -- remote, but famous, and therefore inspiring visions of a fabulous, overwhelming place in the deep wilderness. Coinciding with the canal and the new wave of visitors came the Romantic Era's poetic fascination with death -- and the brink of Niagara Falls was related to death in many poems; and the falls acquired a new layer of mythology relating to visions of the afterlife, heaven, hell, death. In addition, the size of the falls inspired a kind of sublime terror, feelings of "raw nature or chaos", and a sense of "otherness" -- not of this world.. or at least not of the *human* world. All of these symbols were tied up with ideas and dreams of the future of America.. the vast possibilities of the country, the "blank slate" awaiting the right time and person to come along. So in the 1890s, as hydroelectric power began to be seen as a possibility for the falls, all this symbolism became tied up with the various projects. If the brink of the falls was a break in the flow of time, its future rich but obscured in the mist and chaos in the gorge, how appropriate for that very brink to become the future of the falls. Until World War One, visions of the future tended to be highly optimistic and utopian. The hydroelectric projects at the falls in the 1890s were quickly seen as symbolic of the final victory of humankind over nature. In 1904, a poet put it: "With power unrivaled thy proud flood shall speed / The New World's progress toward Time's perfect day." The commonly held view was the same that Niagara Falls had inspired for a century -- that the power of the falls was inexhaustible. Developers could harness the power without limit. The benefit it would provide to people was unimaginably vast. Interestingly, the first town founded on the American side of the falls was named Manchester -- after the British industrial city. The name was changed to "Niagara Falls", but the vision remained -- an industrial metropolis with unlimited power. The village was founded in 1805, but it wasn't until the 1890s that projects to harness the falls actually began to be attempted. Many plans were made, some were begun. Only in hindsight is it clear which ones were wildly utopian and which were practical -- for at the time, all plans were tinged with the image of the falls as inexhaustible, practically magical, and sublime. Naturally, the plans tended to be fabulous, magical, and sublime. Starting in 1875, diversion canals were made to run watermills, but these were relatively small scale. In 1890, construction began on a deep tunnel running from the base of the falls, beneath the town, to a point 2.5 miles distant on the upper river. Water was diverted into a series of shafts, each with a hydroelectric turbine in it. This was the first large scale attempt to generate electricity at Niagara Falls. George Westinghouse received the contract to install and operate the turbines, and he was persuaded by Tesla to use an AC system. The result was the first long distance electrical transmission lines, which began providing power in 1896. There is a large statue of Tesla at the falls today. The so-called Niagara Falls Power Company had more in mind than electricity. They secured large amounts of land for industrial and residential development, calling their electroindustrial utopian city "Echota". Echota was meant to be not only a model of industrial progress, but also of social and aesthetic progress. In a word, the future. There was great excitement as the project continued. Tesla predicted that soon the power generated at Niagara Falls would run streetcars in London and streetlights in Paris. A large mural was painted in the Schoellkopf Power Plant, which the president of the Niagara Falls Power Company, Edward Dean Adams, described: "This allegorical painting tells in vivid and powerful tone, but with errie lightness, the romantic birth story of humanity's modern servant -- electrical power. Torrents of energy tumble into the eddying pool of human waves from which emerge two poles imparting the spark of life to the giant genie POWER." Mural by Willy Pogany, "The Birth of Power". Why a genie? Niagara Falls was magic. Another project began in 1893, by the entrepreneur William Love, who purchased a huge tract of land extended north from the Niagara Escarpment (a couple miles below the falls) all the way to Lake Ontario. His plan was to build a "model city" which was "destined to become one of the greatest manufacturing cities in the United States". He offered "unlimited water" via a canal running from above the falls to far below it, capable of harnessing not only the drop of the falls itself, but also the many rapids in the gorge below. Love predicted his Model City would quickly reach a population of 1,000,000 -- and would be a perfectly planned community -- "the most perfect city in existence". And in 1893 he managed to convince the New York State Legislature, which gave him the right to divert as much water as he wanted. He managed to get about a mile of his canal dug before the depression of the mid-1890s forced him into bankruptcy. Later, Love Canal was used to bury toxic waste.. and still later filled over and a housing development and school built on it. When toxic waste started to bubble up through the basements of houses and into the school, Love's name did became famous, but not quite the way he had hoped. Also, Model City still exists, but as a tiny hamlet rather than a perfect metropolis. In 1894, the man who would later be famous for razors, Mr. Gillette, published a book called "The Human Drift", in which he projected into the future the trends of increasing concentration of both capital and industry -- concluding that eventually there could be only one corporation and one city in North America, perhaps the world. He called this future city Metropolis, and predicted it would be at Niagara Falls, due to that site's "basically infinite" supply of power. He calculated that Metropolis would eventually contained at least 60 million inhabitants. His vision of Metropolis -- and Niagara Falls -- was "perfectly rational" -- it would replace the chaotic and scattered system of production with a single, logical, orderly system, realizing all the economies of scale by consolidating all industry under a single corporation at a single site. There would be only one steel mill, one shoe factory, one flour mill, etc, for all North America, or even the world. In addition, all the workers would live in harmony in a single logically planned community. Due to all the excess power and automation by machines, people would be free to choose whatever occupation they wanted. In short, centralized, logical industry would naturally result in social harmony and happiness. Further, the falls at Niagara was clearly nature in chaos -- a waste of power. Gillette's vision was to divert all the water and eliminate Niagara Falls completely. The falls would be completely encased in layers of industrial power generators and factories, and the city of Metropolis, with its orderly hexagonal street grid, would be built directly on top. Interestingly, Gillette's metaphor of choice for the victory over nature is a "genie" called "Man Corporate". He wrote, "We have found Aladdin's lamp, let us profit by its possession". In 1896, yet another promoter published detailed plans for covering Niagara Falls completely with a gigantic city and industrial complex, called "The Great Dynamic Palace and International Hall". Such futuristic plans continued to be pushed for many years, until it began to dawn on people -- around World War One -- that Niagara's power was, in fact, limited. After World War One, the utopian visions of a future in which everything is made perfect via industry was hard to believe. A few people saw this darker future even before the war. Jules Verne published his last book in 1905, called "The Master of the World". Most of Verne's books portray an exciting future, but as his life neared its end, he "apparently had some apprehensions about the future". In this last book, a "mad scientist" creates a powerful invention -- a vehicle capable of speeds over 150 miles per hour! He terrorizes pedestrians and motorists for a while before demonstrating that his vehicle is also a boat, capable of similar unbelievable speeds. Then the mad scientist reveals that it is also a submarine. Governments offer to buy the invention, but he refuses, saying that with it, he is "the master of the world". But things begin to go wrong, and soon the mad scientist is being pursued by gunships on Lake Erie. The gunships force him into the Niagara River. Just as the boat reaches the falls, it sprouts wings and takes off into the air! Victory for the mad scientist! He cannot even be stopped by Niagara Falls. But a few pages later, a hurricane does him in. In 1908, H.G. Wells wrote "The War in the Air", in which nations of the world build huge fleets of airships. A German fleet crosses the Atlantic and destroys New York City, and then flies to Niagara Falls to take control of its "enormous power works". Attempts to dislodge the Germans fail, until a united Asian airship fleet crosses the Pacific and attacks the Germans. A huge air battle takes place over Niagara Falls. The German flagship is shot down. It falls into the river and is swept over the falls. The Battle of Niagara, as it is called, spread over the continent, then the world, eventually destroying all civilization. Wells puts a moral on the story -- that human's attempt to achieve mastery over nature will be their own undoing. The image of the German flagship being crushed by Niagara Falls is the key image of nature's victory over humankind. Columbia -- and the Grand Coulee Dam -- and why the airplane construction industry flourished in the Pacific Northwest. Franklin Roosevelt was at the time and today seen as one of the greatest presidents the country has ever had. When he assumed office in 1933, the nation was deep in the Great Depression. Unemployment levels were approaching 25%. The west region of the Great Plains -- once known as "the Great American Desert" -- had experienced a boom time of wheat farming during the unusually wet years of the 1910s and early 1920s, but by 1933 when Roosevelt took office had experienced seven years of hard drought, culminating with many large wind storms in 1933 and 1934: the Dust Bowl. One of Roosevelt's solutions to the depression in general was large public works projects like bridges, tunnels, highways, and parks. Dams and irrigation works took care of both unemployment and the Dust Bowl. The first large dam/irrigation project focused on the region where most of the Dust Bowl refugees ended up -- California's central valley, the San Joaquin Valley. The Central Valley Project began before the Dust Bowl, and was "the biggest water project in history" even then. It was to be funded by the State of California, and would capture almost 70% of the water runoff in the state. But when the economy collapsed, California could not pay for it. In 1935, FDR turned the project over to the federal Bureau of Reclamation. With the great plains destroyed and hundreds of thousands of "Okies" making their way to California, the dams began to go up as quickly as possible. The project, the largest water project in history, would irrigate 1-3 million acres (depending on various factors), and provide jobs for 100,000 people. These were impressive figures, but even so, they fell far short of what was needed. FDR could see that the Central Valley Project would not be enough even before the project was officially underway -- and so he announced that the next such project would be on the Columbia River. By then, wheat farming had spread through eastern Washington's Palouse region. Due to the glacier-made loess soil, wheat could be grown even in what at first seemed extremely dry conditions. So in the late 1800s, wheat farming slowly spread until the limits were found -- the large areas in the center of the state where it really was too dry to grow wheat, even on the rich loess soil. In many places, the giant floods of the ice age had scoured away not just the soil but the very bedrock, creating giant gashes, dry canyons called coulees. Farming was obviously impossible on the exposed rock, but all around and intermeshed with the "scablands" and coulees were areas of rich loess soil, wanting only sufficient water to become productive agricuturally. And gosh, flowing through it all was the giant Columbia River. Everything was there -- excellent soil, a huge river, and giant coulees -- empty of water but clearly able to hold vast amounts as resevoirs. All that was needed to put the parts together was a dam -- a very large dam. No one had ever dammed a river as large as the Columbia. It was larger, in volume and flow, than the Colorado, or the Snake, or the Rio Grande, or the Klamath -- in fact it was twice as big as all of those rivers combined! At the Dalles rapids, it had an average flow above 200,000 cubic feet per second -- one of the largest rivers anywhere with enough of a drop in elevation to create rapids. And conveniently, the rapids at the Dalles were in a confined canyon, making the site ideal for a hydroelectricity producing dam. "Ideal", but still way out of proportion: in 1933, a hydroelectric dam at the Dalles would be able to produce more electricity than was used by the whole country west of the Mississippi. The Bonneville Dam was going up downriver, for just this purpose. So the idea of building a dam at Grand Coulee for producing electricity was seen by many people as "insane". But to FDR an insanely colossal project was just the thing: it would be a purgative of national despair during the Great Depression, it would employ tens of thousands, and create farmlands for tens of thousands more. The original plan (and funding from Congress) was for a "low dam" (less than 300 feet high), that would be able to produce electricity and control flooding, but unable to get water into the giant, waiting resevoir of the Grand Coulee, to irrigate the dry loess plains. After a giant foundation was built, large enough, oddly, to support a 550 foot "high dam", the project was changed from a low to a high dam, and appropriate money acquired from a Congress that would not have funded a high dam project unless it was already so deeply invested in it. The original funding was the largest single sum Congress had ever granted -- $63 million. A high dam would have required $270 million. Did the Bureau of Reclamation and FDR trick Congress into funding a high dam? Those involved claim they were not being tricky, although "it does appear that way". A high dam would fulfill the giant irrigation goals that FDR had already put into motion in California and envisioned as the future of the Columbia. A high dam, however, spelled doom for salmon. The Columbia was by far the largest salmon run river -- more salmon than in all the rivers of Oregon and California combined. The low dams already built had reduced the salmon run, but did not present unpassable barriers to the fish. And fish ladders were being built, if slowly. At Bonneville Dam -- a "low dam" -- fish ladders were eventually built, at a cost over 25% that of the dam itself. A high dam at Grand Coulee would present to salmon a completely hopeless obstruction. And fish ladders would have be run for many miles, cut into the sheer canyon walls -- costing more than the dam. No one even suggested fish ladders at Grand Coulee. But, as Marc Reisner puts it, even if the high dam spelled doom for most of the Columbia's salmon, it performed a miraculous and totally unforeseen service: "It probably won the Second World War". Today large public works projects take a terribly long time, requiring endless legal issues and battles -- so it is hard to imagine the projects of the 1930s. In 1936, the four largest concrete dams yet built were all being built at the same time -- Hoover, Shasta, Bonneville, and Grand Coulee. Many more dams were built after these four, but none as large or... aesthetic. Hoover Dam became the epitome of dam beauty. Shasta Dam is run down now, but was larger and nearly as majestic as Hoover when built. Hoover Dam is big. Shasta Dam is larger by half. Grand Coulee is bigger than both together. Many of the workers who built Grand Coulee came after finishing Hoover. "When they worked on Hoover they thought it made everything else look like nothing. When they say what we were going to build [at Grand Coulee] they said it made Hoover look like nothing," said Phil Nader, the director of the project. The phrase "largest in the world" became tedious and repetative -- largest mass, largest crest length, largest concrete mixing plant, largest spillway, largest generators, largest powerhouse, penstocks, pumps, reservoir, largest amount of lands irrigated, largest concentration of brothels within 5 miles, etc. Grand Coulee Dam is about the size of the Golden Gate bridge -- not quite as tall or long, but completely solid and, at the base, five times as wide. It was an era when people just went and built things without any idea of just how it would be done, without special studies, commissions, environmental impact statements, alternate plans, etc. It was finished in 1941, just in time for World War Two -- a war won not so much by military strategy but by overwhelming industrial production. It was also a war in which airplanes proved decisive. The critical industrial material, therefore, was aluminium (and, later, uranium/plutonium). Aluminium production requires electricity, and large amounts of it. In the late 1800s, it was so expensive to make, it was worth almost as much as gold by weight. In the USA, the production of aluminium was basically a monopoly of the Aluminium Company of America, or Alcoa. Their only serious competitor was Adolf Hitler, who made Germany the world's leading producer of aluminium shortly after seizing power -- "for reasons the Allies did not immediately discern". When Bonneville Dam began to produce electricity, the government tried to lure Alcoa to the area by offering bargain rates, but Alcoa declined. After Pearl Harbor, however, the government did not feel it had the luxury of persuasion, and so built the aluminium plants itself. When the war began, the USA had no military to speak of -- did not have enough rifles to equip even a single regiment. But by 1942 the USA had something no other nation had: a huge surplus electricity. By June of 1942, almost all the power of Bonneville and Grand Coulee were being used for war industry -- mostly airplanes. More than half of the 60,000+ planes built and used by the USA in the war were built with Grand Coulee power alone. By the middle of the war, almost half the aluminium production in the USA was located in the Pacific Northwest. American planes were being shot down almost as fast as they were being built, but German planes were being shot down in equal numbers -- far beyond the ability of the German industry to replace them. Not only did they lack sufficient bauxite, they seriously lacked the electricity required. In 1940, as Grand Coulee Dam was nearing completion, it was widely believed its power would "go begging for a hundred years". Its production was simply far too large. Two years later, Grand Coulee was running at and beyond its full capacity and it still was not enough to meet the potential of aluminium and airplane production. Two of the giant turbines were still being built and would not be ready for "several weeks" -- which was too long. So the Bureau of Reclamation took 2 generators about to be installed in Shasta Dam and put them into Grand Coulee instead -- nevermind they were completely inappropriately designed for the system there -- they were made to work. After the work engineers had to invent and build giant excavation machines to get them out. The six non-Shasta generators were built by Westinghouse and rated for a maximum ouput of 105,000 kilowatts each -- the equivalent of a good-sized oil plant at the time and enough power for run something like, say, Duluth. For the entire war, all six ran at 125,000 kilowatts, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The engineers knew they were overheated, and that history itself depended on them. None failed. by the end of the war, Grand Coulee was producing 2,138,000 kilowatts, the biggest single source of electricity in the world. It was so much power, two generators were eventually devoted completely to powering Hanford's plutonium facilities. The amount of electricity used by Hanford's 8 plutonium producing nuclear reactors is still classified -- estimates range around 15-20 megawatts each, or up to 160 megawatts altogether. Why was Hanford sited in Washington State? Why did the airplane industry thrive in the Pacific Northwest? Simply because there was no other place that could provide anywhere near as much electricity so quickly. Dam data from the Atlas of Oregon: Columbia Dams to Canada: 1. Bonneville 1938 Corp of Eng 1,224 MW 2. The Dalles 1957 Corp of Eng 2,080 MW 3. John Day 1968 Corp of Eng 2,480 MW 4. McNary 1953 Corp of Eng 1,120 MW 5. Priest Rapids 1961 Grant PUD 907 MW 6. Wanapum 1964 Grant PUD 1,038 MW 7. Rock Island 1933 Chelan PUD 623 MW 8. Rocky Reach 1961 Chelan PUD 1,347 MW 9. Wells 1967 Douglas PUD 774 MW 10. Chief Joseph 1961 Corp of Eng 2,069 MW 11. Grand Coulee 1942 Reclamation 6,465 MW Snake Dams 1. Ice Harbor 1962 Corp of Eng 603 MW 2. Lower Monumental 1975 Corp of Eng 810 MW 3. Little Goose 1970 Corp of Eng 810 MW 4. Lower Granite 1969 Corp of Eng 810 MW 5. Hells Canyon 1967 Idaho Power 450 MW 6. Oxbow 1961 Idaho Power 220 MW 7. Brownlee 1959 Idaho Power 585 MW --from www.dams.org/docs/kbase/studies/csusmain.pdf As the US prepared for war, the availability of low-cost power in the US Northwest made it the obvious place to build power-hungry aluminium production facilities needed in producing warplanes. The federal government established a programme in which the Defence Plant Corporation built aluminium plants and leased them to private companies. As of mid-1942, industrial loads for war production accounted for 92% of BPA’s commitments to provide electricity (Norwood, 1981: 123). Power consumption increased in 1943, when a new “mystery load” appeared from the Atomic Energy Commission’s work in producing plutonium-based atomic weapons at Hanford Reservation in Richland, Washington. BPA also provided power for shipyards at Portland, Oregon and Vancouver and Seattle, Washington for plants that used aluminium to manufacture airplanes. After the war, the Defense Plant Corporation sold its aluminium plants inexpensively to invite competitors to Alcoa, which had long held the dominant position in the aluminium reduction and fabrication field (Norwood, 1981: 135). As a result, four large companies came to establish a major presence in the region: Alcoa in Wenatchee and Vancouver, Washington; Kaiser Permanente in Tacoma, Washington; Reynolds in Longview, Washington and Troutdale, Oregon; and Harvey Metals at The Dalles in Oregon. During the late 1940s, these companies were able to negotiate favourable rates for both firm and “interruptible power”28 from BPA. Inexpensive hydroelectric power generated by GCD and other FCRPS projects in the basin has attracted many energy-intensive industries to the area such as aluminium, food processing, aerospace, defence, mining, and others. This has produced numerous jobs and increased the economic output of the US Northwest tremendously since the 1930s. This is a working paper prepared for the World Commission on Dams as part of its information gathering activities. The views, conclusions, and recommendations contained in the working paper are not to be taken to represent the views of the Commission Direct and indirect effects of the project were felt primarily by the Colville and Spokane tribes, whose reservations overlapped with the project area. Other tribes that were significantly affected were the Coeur d’Alene, Kootenai, Kalispel, Nez Perce, Umatilla, Warm Springs, and Yakama. With the loss of all or most of the anadromous fish, these tribes lost the centrepiece of their economy and culture. Grand Coulee Dam and Columbia Basin Project 70 GCD, Lake Roosevelt, and CBP also damaged livelihoods by destroying or limiting access to gathering and hunting grounds both on and off the reservations. Inundation of the river valleys above the dam took much of the best reservation farm land and forced half or more of the Colville tribe's population and a number of Spokanes to move from their homes with what they viewed as minimal compensation. Fishing by individuals and family groups continued in all the rivers and streams that still supported runs. Every year until the construction of GCD, Indians from all the reservations of the region gathered at Kettle Falls, the town of Keller on the Sanpoil River, the mouth of the Okanogan, and other principal fisheries of the upper Columbia. White residents of Spokane and other cities gathered also as tourists to watch the colourful display of Indians fishing, racing, playing games, and the carrying out of the salmon ceremony (Scholz et al, 1985: 36). Anthropologist Verne Ray later reported that when he first began doing field work on the Colville Reservation in 1928, every household he visited offered him salmon as part of the meal. Boys still learned to hunt from their fathers and grandfathers. Children of the 1930s learned to gather and prepare foods and medicinal plants, travelling and camping with their families for weeks at a time into the mountains or onto the Columbia Plateau, following a pattern that has existed for thousands of years (Ray, 1972; Ackerman, 1988). The bountiful salmon and steelhead runs of the Columbia River provided the Plateau people with their chief means of subsistence, and they occupied a central place in their cultural and spiritual life. Each tribe had a narrative of how, in an earlier time, Coyote brought salmon to the people. Tribes eagerly awaited the first arrival of fish in the spring, and marked the first catch of the season with five days of ceremony and elaborate ritual behaviour. In practising the first salmon ceremony, the people assured the yearly return of the fish ¬ó both by following the laws laid down by the Creator, and by allowing sufficient fish to escape to spawn the next generation. Nineteenth-century white visitors to the Plateau described with awe the tens of thousands of pounds of fish harvested and prepared by the Indians at their principal fisheries (Lewis & Clark, 1953: 353, 358; Wilkes, 1845: 431, 438; Parker, 1967: 298). Salmon and other fish were caught in all the rivers and streams of the region. Each tribe had its own fishing locations, and also shared in the harvest at the large intertribal fisheries, following the anadromous fish in their course upriver. The Dalles and Celilo falls on the middle Columbia River, and Kettle Falls on the upper Columbia River were the most important sites, but 19th-century observers also reported 1 000 or more Indians gathered to fish at the Wenashapam (near present-day Leavenworth) on the Wenatchee River, the mouth of the Okanogan River, and Spokane Falls and Little Falls on the Spokane River (Scheuerman, 1982: 25, 79; Scholz et al, 1985: 66). The tribe that controlled a particular fishery appointed a salmon chief to oversee the harvest, distribution, and proper observance of ritual. Each man got his turn at the fishing stations, and each woman received a share of the catch to dry for winter use. Mourning Dove, born in 1888 and the granddaughter of a Colville chief, wrote: "Everyone got an equal share so that the fish would not think humans were being stingy or selfish and so refuse to return." (Miller, 1990: 101) In most years there was a surplus that could be traded for materials and crafts not found in their own territory, such as shells and baskets from the coast. Games, horse racing, gambling, and trade took place at the camps surrounding the fisheries. Salmon nourished the Indian people physically, providing one-quarter to one-half of caloric needs for most of the Plateau tribes.103 The annual salmon ceremony and the salmon stories told throughout the year were central to spiritual life; they reflected the reverence native peoples held for all life forms. The distribution of fish to all members of the community and to all visitors reinforced core cultural values of egalitarianism and generosity. The intertribal gatherings that accompanied the salmon harvest promoted reciprocal and peaceful relationships across the Plateau. The Colville and Spokane tribes were informed that GCD would be constructed, and at least one meeting was held on the Colville reservation (US House, 1994: 11; Sam 1999; Seyler 1999a). The reservation superintendent, or Indian agent, was the major conduit of information from the government to the tribes, and from the tribes to Washington, DC. Surveyors were at work on the Spokane and Colville reservations through the mid-1930s, marking the eventual height of the reservoir. Members of the Colville and Spokane tribes whose individual allotments were to be flooded by the reservoir were notified in 1939 and 1940, in some cases both in person and in writing (see Section 3.7.4.2 below). However, according to practices of the time concerning “executive order reservations,” the US pursued no formal process of involving the tribes in decision-making or gaining the tribes' consent for the taking and inundation of lands or the destruction of the tribes’ fisheries.104 Construction of GCD devastated the way of life of upper Columbia River tribes. The loss of anadromous fish, destruction of wildlife habitat, loss of access to gathering grounds, and loss of prime agricultural lands and homes eliminated the economic base of many members of the Colville and Spokane reservations. Those who lost land received a small cash compensation, but the government made no serious effort to mitigate resource losses or assure that relocated towns had basic utilities until over 40 years later. Cultural practices and community life were also affected in both the long and short runs. The immediate economic and cultural damage to other upper Columbia River tribes and the four middle Columbia River (Indian) treaty tribes was less profound, but also severe. The dam blocked all anadromous fish runs to the Spokane, Coeur d'Alene, Kalispel, and Kootenai reservations, and to their traditional off-reservation fishing locations. The Colvilles lost a significant portion of their runs, including communal fisheries at Kettle Falls and on the Sanpoil River. Those living on the eastern half of the reservation now had to travel long distances over rough roads to reach the depleted fisheries of the Okanogan River, if they continued fishing at all.106 The immediate effect on the livelihood and health of the people was severe, and the loss of cultural practices was painful. Fishing was a spiritual as well as economic activity. Members of the Spokane reserve and other upper Columbia River tribes could no longer hold the first salmon ceremony, and the Colvilles had difficulty obtaining enough fish (WDW, 1945; Sam 1999). The position of salmon chief disappeared, along with parts of the language and crafts associated with fishing. Fishing had been a communal activity that bound families and tribes together, with elders transmitting the values and history of the tribe to children while teaching them to catch and preserve fish. In June 1941, Indians from throughout the Northwest gathered at Kettle Falls for a three-day Ceremony of Tears, mourning the loss of that great fishing ground. Within the month, the rising reservoir had completely covered the ancient falls (CCT, 1977: 50; Pitzer, 1994: 227). The upper Columbia River tribes stopped gathering annually at Kettle Falls and Keller once the fish stopped running. Powwows have replaced the inter-tribal fishing festivals to some extent, but nothing could replace salmon in the lives of the people. Some have attributed cases of alcoholism and support for tribal termination in the 1950s and '60s to the cultural despair resulting from loss of salmon (Harden, 1996: 100, 113; CCT, 1975: 307). In the 1930s, most of the people of the Colville and Spokane reservations lived, as in the past, along the rivers. The upland areas of both reservations are mountainous, rocky, and arid. The river valleys were milder during the winters: land was flatter, the soil was richer for gardening; wood and a variety of foods and medicines could be gathered easily from the rich riparian habitat. The riverfront land inundated on the Colville and Spokane reservations by Lake Roosevelt displaced many families and communities, destroyed valuable wildlife habitat, and made it significantly harder for people to earn their livelihoods. On 29 June 1940, Congress enacted legislation entitling the US to all Indian lands needed for the Grand Coulee reservoir, and providing that at least one-quarter of the reservoir be set aside for the paramount use of the Indians of the Colville and Spokane reserves for fishing, hunting, and boating purposes (54 Stat. 703). The Department of Interior then abandoned the policy of acquiring Indian consent. Thereafter, the government simply notified landowners by mail of the lands to be taken and the price they would be paid. Although the new policy still gave people the right to appeal their assessment, they had no encouragement or support to do so, and many people later claimed that their property had not been fairly appraised. Some people lost personal possessions when the waters rose more quickly or higher than they had anticipated (CCT, 1975: 363-365; Fredin 1999). By early 1941, all the Indian owners had been paid, except for Albert Louie of the Colville reserve who refused to accept his $483 (Gross, 1941). For centuries, Indian peoples of the Plateau had buried their dead near their homes and villages, on the banks of the rivers that provided the necessities of life. Reclamation planners gave low priority to relocating tribal graves. In April 1939, Reclamation contracted for the reopening, removal, and reburial of graves at 27 sites along the Columbia and Spokane rivers. Many of the sites were small family plots with fewer than 15 graves, but several were larger including the San Poil Mission Cemetery with 106 identified graves, the Whitestone Tribal Cemetery with 58, and the Hall Creek Cemetery with 194. The funeral home of Ball and Dodd managed the work and hired a number of young tribal men to assist (Arnold et al. 1999; Brisboys 1999; USBR, 1939). As reservoir waters rose, relocation work became rushed. Some gravesites were identified too late to be removed (Pitzer, 1994: 220). In the decades since, as reservoir levels have fluctuated and the banks have eroded and slumped, many additional burial sites have been exposed. Both the tribes and Reclamation have attempted to prevent artifact hunters from desecrating the remains, with limited success. Reclamation now provides the Colville and Spokane tribes with some funds to patrol the area during low water periods, and to relocate burial sites as they are exposed. However, from a tribal perspective, neither the NPS nor Reclamation has been willing to accept full responsibility. For many tribal members the flooding and disruption of their ancestors' remains continue to be distressing (Seyler 1999b; Fredin 1999; Sam 1999). Archaeological evidence indicates at least 10 000 years of continuous aboriginal occupation of the Canadian portion of the Columbia River Basin. Salish-speaking tribes (eg, the Shuswap, Okanagan, and Sinixt-Lakes) lived in the western part of the Columbia River Basin in Canada, while the linguistically isolated Ktunaxa (aka, Kutenai) occupied the eastern portion. Okanagan, Sinixt-Lakes, and Ktunaxa tribes joined with other tribes at the Kettle Falls salmon fishery, which was also an important site for trade and celebration. 3.8.1 Pre-Project Conditions As with the US Columbia River Basin tribes, salmon were also central to the economic, cultural and spiritual life of the Columbia River Basin First Nations in Canada. These First Nations marked the first salmon harvest with special ceremonies and rituals to confirm the relationship between humans and salmon, thereby ensuring the annual return of the salmon. Salmon were particularly important to Canadian First Nations since they created opportunities for communal gathering and group action. The description of the economies and cultures of US Columbia Basin tribes in the 1930s presented in Section 3.7 applies equally well to Canadian First Nations. However, in contrast to the situation in the US, Canadian First Nations were unaware of the plans to construct GCD. The dam was partially completed when the US applied to the International Joint Commission for approval of the dam. There is no evidence that either the Canadian government or the International Joint Commission consulted with Canadian First Nations prior to IJC approval of the dam. Indeed, when GCD construction was being considered in the US in 1934, the Deputy Minister of the Department of Fisheries advised the Canadian embassy in Washington that “…the assumption that there is no commercial salmon fishery on the Columbia River in Canada is correct, and hence Canadian interests in that respect will not be affected if the dam at Grand Coulee is not equipped with fishery facilities” (Pitzer, 1994: 224). As was the case for US Native American tribes, GCD also caused major adverse effects for Canadian Columbia River tribes. Salmon runs to the upper Columbia River provided an important foundation for the subsistence economies of the Canadian tribes, particularly the Ktunaxa and Lakes/Sinixt. The construction of GCD was the final blow, in addition to commercial overharvest in the lower Columbia River and the construction of Rock Island and Bonneville dams, which virtually extinguished the livelihoods of these tribes. While the Columbia River Basin in Canada provided spawning, rearing, and migration habitat for a large number of spring, summer, and fall chinook, sockeye and steelhead populations, completion of GCD left only one chinook and one sockeye population remaining in the Canadian portion of the basin within the Okanagan sub-basin. The near elimination of Canadian-origin salmon populations caused by construction of GCD had major adverse effects on Canadian First Nations. For example, the almost complete loss of access to salmon had severe dietary, health, and economic consequences for Canadian First Nations. Salmon had formerly provided a foundation for the subsistence economies of First Nations, and, at the time GCD was built, these economies were far more important than the wage or commercial economy to First Nations. The loss of salmon also had severe cultural and spiritual consequences, including the elimination of traditional social and communal practices, and celebrations integral to First Nations’ way of life. GCD blocks all anadromous fish runs to the Ktunaxa, Shuswap, and Lakes-Sinixt territories. Because of dam construction, the following fish populations or stock aggregates became extinct: • Arrow, Slocan, and Whatshan sockeye populations (Fulton, 1970); • Columbia and Windermere Lake sockeye populations (Bryant & Parkhurst, 1950); • Spring/summer chinook populations, which spawned downstream of the Columbia/Kootenay confluence, in the lower Pend d’Oreille River and the tributary Salmon River, in the Slocan River downstream of Slocan Lake, downstream of Bonnington Falls in the Kootenay River, between the Arrow Lakes, intermittently upstream in the Columbia River main-stem between Upper Arrow Lake and Radium Hot Springs, and heavily downstream of Windermere and Columbia Lakes (Fulton, 1970; Scholz et al., 1985); and • Fall chinook populations that spawned in the lower Pend d’Oreille River, intermittently downstream of the Columbia/Kootenay confluence, in the lower Kootenay below Bonnington Falls, in the lower Slocan River and in the Columbia River downstream of lower Arrow Lake (Fulton, 1968). In contrast to the mitigation efforts for Native Americans in the US, there has been no mitigation for the impacts of GCD on First Nations salmon fisheries in Canada. First Nations are not party to US v. Oregon, and until 1999, the NPPC had not supported funding for projects to mitigate for the impacts of US dams on Canadian fish or wildlife populations. Unlike their counterparts in the US, Canadian First Nations have not had access to the legal mitigation and compensation mechanisms and funds. Canadian First Nations are actively pursuing mitigation and compensation for their salmon losses, particularly through efforts to achieve their long-term goal of salmon restoration. Chief Joseph Dam, built by the Corps in 1958, has also been influenced by GCD. This run-of-the-river project lies 51 miles (82km) immediately downstream of GCD and is one of the Corps' largest power- producing dams in the basin. When all 27 generators are operating, the dam can produce over 2.6 million kilowatts. Currently, the value of electricity produced at Chief Joseph Dam exceeds $200 million annually (USACE, 1998). To produce more power for the US Northwest, the Corps raised the height of Chief Joseph Dam by 10ft (2.64m) and installed 11 additional turbine generators in 1980 (USACE, 1998). After the dam was raised, the Corps raised the level of Rufus Woods Lake (the reservoir created by the dam) by 10ft (2.64m), bringing the lake level to 956ft (254m) above sea level. With the higher lake level and a total of 27 generating units, Chief Joseph Dam is now the second largest hydropower producer in the US ¬ó second only to GCD. The powerplant at the dam produces enough power to supply the electrical needs of over 1.5 million people (USACE, 1998). The ability of the Chief Joseph Dam to generate this much electricity is directly tied to the upstream regulation of flow by GCD. The operation of the two dams is closely linked. As stated by Reclamation, “The water levels between Grand Coulee Dam and Chief Joseph Dam are a complex function of the operation of both dams and their powerplants” (USBR, 1976: I-105). Since the Chief Joseph Dam is run- of-the-river, it is not designed to control large amounts of water flow.117 Therefore, power generation activities at the dam are closely synchronised with activities at GCD. Another major influence of GCD on Chief Joseph Dam concerns its lack of fish passage facilities. As mentioned in Section 3.5, GCD was built without fish passage facilities. This condition set the stage for the subsequent decision not to provide fish passage facilities at Chief Joseph Dam. While there are no major spawning tributaries between GCD and Chief Joseph, the fact that Chief Joseph Dam was built without fish passage facilities eliminated the possibility of using the area between the two dams as spawning habitat (ICC, 1978a; ICC 1987b; Peone et al 1999; NPPC, undated; Bosse 1999). Before construction of GCD (and the two main-stem dams that preceded it, Rock Island Dam and Bonneville Dam), salmon migration to the upper basin involved a nutrient transfer because salmon were an important food source for other animals. Spawning and spawned-out salmon comprised an important source of nutrition for animals such as bears140 and eagles, effectively transferring nutrients from the ocean to the relatively sterile rivers and streams where the fish ultimately spawned. Bears ate the salmon, and they also recycled salmon-derived nutrients important to plant growth (eg, nitrogen and phosphorus) through their faeces (Olsen, 1998). Additionally, decaying salmon formed a nutrient base for organisms lower on the food chain that fed on decomposed fish bodies. The presence of an extensive dam system, including GCD and the other major projects in the basin, has severely compromised the traditional flow of nutrients to ecosystems in the upper basin region. Scientists are only beginning to unravel the implications of this alteration in nutrient flow. GCD and CBP have been instrumental in the socioeconomic development of the US Northwest. During dam construction, the project provided jobs to thousands of workers. After the project was completed, low-cost power attracted important industries to the area, such as aluminium processing, shipbuilding, weapons development, and aeronautics. The defence industry that sprang up in the region contributed to employment and technology helped the Allied Forces emerge victorious from World War II. Additionally, inexpensive power supplied to publicly owned utilities has facilitated the growth of regional hubs such as Seattle, Washington and Portland, Oregon. The groups of people that bore the major cost of the project were US Native Americans and Canadian First Nations tribes whose livelihood and culture were permanently and significantly altered by the project. The project’s main direct effect was the inundation of lands and the elimination of anadromous fish runs upstream of the dam site. The creation of this physical barrier resulted in the termination of spawning that had traditionally occurred in the Columbia River Basin upstream of GCD.Tribes dependent on catching salmon upstream of GCD, such as the Colville, Spokane, and Nez Perce, were forced either to go elsewhere to fish or to cease fishing for salmon and steelhead entirely. This change caused adverse economic, cultural, and social changes because salmon had previously played a central role in the cultural, religious, economic, and social activities of the tribes. Additionally, the construction of the reservoir forced the relocation and resettlement of approximately 2 000 members of the Colville tribe and between 100 and 250 members of the Spokane tribe. The project has brought net economic benefits to the Pacific Northwest, even in retrospect, it seems like a worthwhile endeavor from the power perspective, but not for irrigation . . . The Columbia Basin Project is the poster child for subsidized agriculture in the Pacific Northwest. It was a signal that agricultural development would not be market-based, but involved heavy federal intervention . . . Irrigators got subsidized power, subsidized water. They [the irrigators] made out like bandits. I can’t see any costs that they incurred . . . The aluminum companies didn’t locate here for the bauxite, they located themselves near dams because of cheap power. One-third of the power in the Federal Columbia River Power System goes to them. The tribes were most adversely affected. They lost their traditional fisheries. Their culture was destroyed. (Bosse 1999, Idaho Rivers United) below-market rates were provided to aluminium companies and other DSIs as an incentive for them to expand production in the US Northwest, thereby assisting with efforts to win World War II and promote regional economic development through the post-war period (Norwood, 1981: 131-136). BPA has been criticised for setting prices of electricity at below-market levels for some consumers (as BPA must as a matter of federal law) because these below-market costs failed to encourage parsimonious use of electricity. Although this criticism could apply to homeowners who found it financially advantageous to minimise their investments in home insulation because electricity rates were so low, this type of criticism centres most frequently on the rates charged to aluminium companies and other DSIs. For example, Palmer (1997: 62) observes that the aluminium industry in the US Northwest uses between 20% and 33% of BPA’s electricity, and it pays a lower rate then BPA’s residential users. Electricity from hydropower facilities in the US Northwest has been sold at retail rates that are much below the national average. “As a result of low electricity rates, per capita consumption is 61% above the national norm” (Palmer, 1997: 62). from www.historylink.org Boeing B-29 Superfortress Bomber -- A Snapshot History Famed for its World War II exploits, Boeing's Superfortress was conceived before the war. The B-29 was born near the war's midpoint, flying on September 21, 1942, built and employed in large numbers during the conflict. It successfully performed several roles during 15 months of combat, including bomber, minelayer, photoreconnaissance, search and rescue, and electronic warfare. B-29s fought in the Pacific theater, flying mostly from small islands with the world’s largest airbases, over vast stretches of ocean to enemy targets that could be more than 2,000 miles distant. Known as the only aircraft to drop atomic bombs in war, the B-29 contributed a major share to the Allied victory over Japan with its firebomb attacks and mine laying missions in the waters surrounding the home islands. Cabin pressurization enabled the B-29 to over-fly most of Japan’s defenses. Some late war Superfortress models flew above 40,000 feet altitude where they were invulnerable to attack. The B-29 built upon the earlier pressurization system Boeing developed for its 307 Stratoliner airliner, being the first mass production pressurized (by design) airplane and bomber. This key technology, perfected by the U.S. during World War II, would stand Boeing and America in good stead during the post war airliner boom, when it became essential. Much of Boeing's success today as a jet airliner manufacturer can be attributed to its pressurization expertise. The first raids on Japan were doctrinaire high altitude, precision-bombing missions, for which the B-29 had been expressly designed. They only minimally affected Japan’s war production capacity. A change in leadership put General Curtiss LeMay in command, he soon switched tactics. Low altitude, area bombing with unarmed B-29s dropping firebombs on Japanese cities proved highly successful. These attacks were the most destructive in history, atomic bombing included, leveling cities and crippling their war manufacturing efforts. The two atomic bombs dropped by B-29s on Japan remain the only ones ever used in warfare. On August 6, 1945, a B-29 named Enola Gay bombed Hiroshima. Three days later, without a Japanese offer of surrender, a B-29 named Bockscar bombed Nagasaki. Contrary to popular belief these attacks did not end the war. It continued unabated with the largest B-29 force of 828 bombers striking on August 14, 1945. Even after the Japanese agreed to the cease fire of August 15, fighting continued until August 18, when the last action probably occurred. Japanese fighters attacked two B-32 photo aircraft flying over Tokyo, two crewmen were wounded and one was killed. hree B-29s fell into their hands during the war, and from these pattern aircraft, Soviet designers reverse-engineered a near replica designated the Tupolev Tu-4. Three manufacturers built 3,960 Superfortresses in five factories. Boeing’s Seattle, Renton, and Wichita plants completed 2,766 aircraft, 70 percent of the total. The Renton facility, today the home of Boeing's single aisle jet airliners, built the last B-29 on May 28, 1946. Washington, a comparatively small and undeveloped state, played a disproportionately important role in the country¹s efforts to gear up for war. In January 1943, Washington Secretary of State Belle Reeves issued a report titled War Production in Washington. A year and a month after Pearl Harbor, she wrote: "No state has been more profoundly affected economically by the expansion of war industries than Washington. By the middle of 1941, migration of war workers was already at full tide and the relation of prime military contracts in the Puget Sound area to the value of manufacturing products in 1939 was relatively five times greater than for the country for a whole. The relationship of war work to normal activity has been about twice as great as for Los Angeles and four times greater than for San Francisco." Seattle ranked as one of the top three in the nation in war contracts per capita, and Washington state ranked as one of the top two in the nation for war contracts per capita. Airplane and ship contracts in 1943-1944 were valued at three times the total of all manufacturing in the state in 1939. The National War Production Board in August 1942 revealed that up to July 1, 1942, more than $1 billion in contracts had been awarded Seattle's aircraft industry and $709 million had been awarded shipyards in Seattle. Secretary of State Reeves added that by 1944, "floor space of Seattle airplane plants increased from 800,000 square feet to 2.4 million square feet by early 1942 and has since been increased another 1.7 million square feet. The Boeing Aircraft Co. employed about 7,500 persons in 1940. The Seattle plant now has over 22,000 workers and the new Renton plant about 10,000." Boeing's Seattle and Renton plants produced 8,200 planes, including 6,981 B-17s and more than 1,000 giant B-29s. Civilian use of Boeing Field was greatly curtailed to accommodate the production of thousands of Boeing bombers. The military also annexed Tacoma's McChord Field Renton gained a huge Boeing airplane factory early in the war that turned out hundreds of B-29 Superfortresses. The Pacific Car and Foundry plant there produced 926 Sherman tanks during the war On November 23, 1916, Pacific Aero-Products tested its first all-original airplane, the Model C naval trainer. The plane was designed by a Chinese American engineer, Tsu Wong, and first flown from Lake Union with Herb Munter (1897-1970) at the controls. The success of the Model C led to Boeing’s first military contract in April 1917 and prompted both its reincorporation as the Boeing Airplane Company and relocation from Lake Union to a former shipyard on the Duwamish River. On May 9, 1917, William E. Boeing (1881-1956) reincorporates Pacific Aero-Products Co. as the Boeing Airplane Co. and moves his aircraft assembly from Lake Union to the so-called Red Barn in a former shipyard on the Duwamish River. This action comes just 20 days after America’s entry into World War I and is prompted in large part by the U.S. Navy’s acceptance of Boeing’s Model C trainer float plane. Four US Army planes take off from Sand Point Airfield on the morning of April 6, 1924, on the first flight around the world. One plane could not take off, but the removal of some unauthorized tools and a case of Scotch whiskey reduced the weight and it soon followed the others. The fate of the Scotch is not recorded. The large, single-engine biplanes hopped along a 30,000-mile route north to Alaska, south and west along the coastline of Asia to India, across Turkey, Europe, and the United States to San Francisco, and finally up the coast to Seattle. Two of the Douglas Air Cruisers were lost en route, but without injury to their crews. A cheering crowd of 40,000 greeted the two original planes, plus a third plane that had joined the flight in Nova Scotia, when they touched down at Sand Point at 1:37 p.m. on September 28, 1924. wo of the large, single-engine biplanes were lost (without crew injury) as they hopped along a 30,000-mile route north to Alaska, south and west along the coastline of Asia to India, across Turkey, Europe, and the United States to San Francisco, then up the coast to Seattle. On April 15, 1952, the huge YB-52 Stratofortress takes wing from Boeing Field. The plane surpasses anything then flying with eight engines slung below swept wings measuring 185 feet from tip to tip. It is capable of carrying nearly 120 tons of bombs, including the largest nuclear devices available, over a range of 5,000-plus miles. Between 1954 and 1962, Boeing will manufacture more than 740 B-52s, first in Seattle and then Wichita The success -- or irony -- of the B-52 is that it never had to complete its primary mission: the dropping of a nuclear weapon in war. Rather, hundreds of aircraft remained aloft on rotating shifts to provide the Strategic Air Command with an assured means of retaliation in the event of a surprise nuclear attack by the Soviet Union or other power. On July 15, 1954, the "Jet Age" begins in Seattle with the maiden flight of the Dash-80 from Boeing Field. The Dash-80 is the prototype for the commercial airliner Boeing 707. The sleek, four-engine jet transport was an outgrowth of the development of the KC-135 jet tanker for the U.S. Air Force begun by Boeing in 1951. The plane was officially listed as the 367-80 but became widely known as simply the "Dash-80." The commercial airliner variant, marketed under the company model number "707," flew in 1958. On February 1, 1961, Boeing launches its prototype Minuteman Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) from Cape Canaveral. The three-stage, solid-fueled rocket is designed for storage in and rapid launch from underground silos or special railroad cars to retaliate for any surprise nuclear attack. Design of the Minuteman system began in 1959 and the Strategic Air Command ultimately deployed more than 1,000 later generation Minuteman II and III missiles at six vast silo launch complexes around the United States. Boeing’s little known 307 Stratoliner, affectionately dubbed "the flying whale" for its portly lines, ushered in a new aviation era when it entered into airline service in mid-1940. It was the first in-service pressurized airplane and airliner. The Seattle-built, propeller driven Stratoliner took the first practical step on the journey to safe high altitude passenger flight. Although only 10 aircraft were built, it was very successful in airline service; one was reported still carrying passengers in 1986. Boeing, the oldest major aircraft manufacturer, entered the jet airliner business third, after the British and Russians. Success long eluded Boeing in the art and science of building and selling airliners Britain and Germany pioneered the development of the jet-propelled airplane, and were the only nations whose jet airplanes engaged in combat during World War II. The British had long been major players in the airliner business, which appeared to them to be becoming an American dominated industry with the end of the war. Piston engine airliners being built by Douglas, Lockheed, and Boeing were far in advance in capability of their European competitors. Those West Coast manufacturers of long-range airliners were then joined by Convair and Martin covering the short haul segment. Seattle residents saw their first flying machine, a dirigible, during the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition in 1909, and Charles Hamilton demonstrated the city's first airplane the following year. Herb Munter (1897-1970), a self-educated engineer, was building his own aircraft on Harbor Island by 1915. His efforts attracted the interest of William E. Boeing (1881-1956) and Navy Lt. Conrad Westervelt, who hired Munter to help them build their first airplane, the B&W, in 1916. America¹s entry into World War I in 1917 lifted the new Boeing Airplane Co. to dizzying heights. Peace two years later sent it into a near-fatal nose dive. William E. Boeing may have been among Hamilton¹s spectators. The 29-year-old timber magnate had attended the first American air races in Los Angeles in January 1910 The Boeing Airplane Company nearly collapsed following the end of World War I military orders. Pioneer pilot Eddie Hubbard (1889-1928) helped William E. Boeing (1881-1956) deliver the first bag of international airmail on March 3, 1919, and urged the company to pursue U.S. Air Mail contracts. A skeptical Boeing bid on and won the Chicago-San Francisco route in 1927, and quickly developed faster aircraft culminating in the Model 247, the first true airliner. Boeing developed or purchased airlines to build its own passenger system, United Air Lines. It also expanded its holdings to create the giant United Aircraft and Transportation Company, but federal anti-trust regulators broke up the combine in 1934. An embittered Bill Boeing quit the company and sold his stock that same year. Technological advances, funded in part by military contracts, led Boeing to develop all-metal monoplane designs in the late 1920s and early 1930s. In rapid succession, Boeing introduced the fast, low-wing Monomail, the famed P-26 Peashooter pursuit, and twin-engine B-9 bomber. At the same time, Boeing began to assemble an industrial empire. On February 1, 1929, William Boeing and Fred Rentschler, president of Pratt & Whitney engines, incorporated United Aircraft and Transport, led by executives Claire Egtvedt (d. 1975) and Philip G. Johnson (d. 1944). United quickly acquired Hamilton and Standard propellers, Chance-Vought, Northrop, Sikorsky (a major seaplane builder before it pioneered helicopters), and Stearman, which established Boeing's future base in Wichita, Kansas. The new corporation was officially headquartered in New York City, although Seattle remained its main production center. With his former empire in ruins and deeply embittered by his treatment in Congress, William Boeing retired and sold most of his Boeing shares. His only consolation in 1934 was receipt of the prestigious Guggenheim Medal for aviation leadership, but William Boeing never again played a significant role in the company that still bears his name or in the industry that he, perhaps more than any other single individual, had helped to create. Boeing: -nationwide network of production -Puget Sound area handled only 5% of work; other work done in Cleveland (wing tips), Detroit (engine housings), Milwaukee (landing gear), Chicago (engines) -Still, Boeing grew enormously -- from almost dead in 1939 with a first quarter loss of $2 million; federal contract received of $30 million plus a New Deal loan (Reconstruction Finance Corporation) of $5.5 million saves the company. -Factories built in Renton, later Everett -Of $4 billion spent on warplanes, $3.5 billion went to Boeing. -Employment figures for Puget Sound area: 4,000 (1939), 50,000 (1944) -1,119 B-29s built in Renton during the war and 7,000 B-17s in Seattle. -Columbia electricity key for making aluminum. -Similar pattern for aerospace industries in southern California (Hughes, Northrup-Ryan, Lockheed, etc) with electricity from Colorado River and California grid; plus good seaport (San Fran). Aluminum: -Alcoa's monopoly broken when federal government sets up Defense Plant Corporation (DPC), increases hydro power capacity on Columbia, and builds six plants (Alcoa ends up owning 4 of the 6) -DPC owns 50% of all aluminum production in the name of the federal gov -regional network: bauxite ore from Jamaica, Brazil, Zaire; smelters at Longview (?) -After war, DPC sells off to companies like Alcoa, Renyolds. -By the 1950s, aluminum production takes up 50% of electrical use, creating shortages.. so much for Columbia's unlimited power! -Seattle population jumps from 300,000 in 1940 to 500,000 in 1945. WA state gains 533,000 between 1940-1945. -Small towns like Kirkland and Vancouver become industrial sites from: http://www.wa.gov/esd/lmea/sprepts/indprof/pmetal.htm WWII aluminum plants in PNW: Vancouver WA (Alcoa) Longview (Alcoa?) Mead (near Spokane) (DPC? after war: Kaiser Aluminum and Chemical Corporation) Tacoma (DPC? after war: Kaiser Aluminum and Chemical Corporation) Trentwood rolling mill (near Spokane) (Defense Plant Corporation) (DPC? after war: Kaiser Aluminum and Chemical Corporation) Korean War plants: Wenatchee (Alcoa, 1950) upgrades to existing plants 1960-1971: new hydro power on Columbia existing plants increased, & 2 new plants: Ferndale (Intalco Aluminum) Goldendale (Harvey Aluminum) (last new aluminum smelter in PNW) historical peak in 1992 of 1.4 million short tons of aluminum in PNW; decline since then, but holding fairly stable. Just prior to World War II, the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) signed its first industrial contract with the Aluminum Company of America (Alcoa) for a new aluminum reduction plant in Vancouver, Washington; the plant was the first primary aluminum facility west of the Mississippi River. Later, as part of the build-up in aluminum capacity required for the war effort, additional aluminum reduction plants were built in Longview, Mead near Spokane, and Tacoma. Besides these reduction facilities, the federally funded Defense Plant Corporation (DPC) built the Trentwood rolling mill near Spokane to supply Boeing and other west coast aerospace manufacturers. Altogether, the Federal government spent over $180 million on nine aluminum reduction plants between 1941 and 1945. Built to produce aluminum as rapidly as possible for the nationÕs defense needs, these plants were built wherever there was a surplus of electric power, with labor shortages, transportation bottlenecks and construction material deficiencies also influencing location choices. Washington StateÕs share of U.S. aluminum production soared from 2 percent in 1940 to nearly 30 percent by 1945. The industryÕs cycle of rapid wartime build-up was repeated during the Korean War in the early 1950s. Between 1951 and 1955, 781,000 short tons of primary aluminum capacity was added in the United States; about one-third of the national expansion in capacity was in the Pacific Northwest. In 1950, Alcoa was allocated new plant capacity located near Wenatchee with a power supply combining interruptible Federal power and firm power from Chelan Public Utility District and later from new capacity added to the Federal power system. Kaiser and Reynolds also added capacity to their existing facilities in Washington. The next distinguishable period of expansion for the regional aluminum industry was between 1960 and 1971, with the development of additional hydroelectric facilities on the Columbia River system. Coupled with the increased power supply was a resumption of a vigorous regional industrial power sales program by the Bonneville Power Administration. As a result, most of the aluminum smelters within the region expanded their production capacity significantly and two new aluminum smelters at Ferndale (Intalco Aluminum) and Goldendale (Harvey Aluminum) came on-line during this period. The Goldendale plant represents the last greenfield aluminum smelter built within the Pacific Northwest. [New plant construction is often termed greenfield; expansion of existing facilities is labeled brownfield.] Clearly, the 1960s and early 1970s were the most expansive period for the Washington State primary aluminum industry. Over 662,000 short tons in annual production capacity were added within Washington State over the period--more than double its 1960 level. At the end of 1960s, the statewide industry represented over one-fourth of the U.S. primary aluminum production capacity, even though it was far removed from most of the industryÕs markets. The historically oligopolistic structure of the world aluminum industry has in recent years broken down. The creation of the oligopolistic structure of the aluminum industry in its early years resulted from control over the Hall-Heroult aluminum smelting patents by Alcoa in North America and by Pechiney and Alusuisse in Europe, all of which entered the aluminum industry in 1888. This control over the key technological process permitted these firms to gain control over the best bauxite deposits and hydroelectric sites in their respective regions of operation. From the industryÕs inception in the United States, Alcoa was the sole producer of primary aluminum. Beginning in 1940, the Federal government embarked on a program that expanded aluminum production capacity two-fold over the next four years to meet the demands of the military. The government-owned Defense Plant Corporation built the new smelters, some of which were operated by Alcoa; others operated by industry newcomers. In bringing in new firms, the Federal government was responding to antitrust action against Alcoa, which in 1944 resulted in a finding that Alcoa had monopolized the production of primary aluminum in violation of the Sherman Act. In 1946, the government-owned plants were first leased and later sold to Reynolds and Kaiser, creating the present-day "big three" producers. These firms became vertically integrated from bauxite to fabricated products and secured major foreign holdings. An aluminum industry CEO once said that "there are three key issues in this industry: power, power, and power." Historically, the aluminum companies in Washington State have relied upon the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) for all their electricity needs. Initially, it was an ideal combination for the aluminum industry and BPA. BPA had huge quantities of low-priced hydroelectric power for sale while the aluminum industry provided a large stable market and certain economies of scale that reduced rates for all consumers. Today, the Northwest electric utility industry--as elsewhere in the United States--is changing from a market dominated by regulated monopolies to one of open competition. One striking feature of the aluminum industry is that the Bayer process for alumina developed in 1888 and the Hall-Heroult smelting process for aluminum invented in 1886 have been in use since the founding of the industry. Technological change has certainly occurred since then, but it has taken the form of successive improvements in these two existing processes as opposed to the development of entirely new processes. One result of these technological improvements is the progressive reduction in electricity requirements for aluminum smelting. Over its 65-year existence, the Washington State aluminum industry has grown from the first smelter west of the Mississippi to the largest concentration of primary aluminum reduction plants in the United States. Today, the state is the nationÕs top producer of aluminum. There are six companies that operate seven primary aluminum reduction plants. The aluminum industryÕs presence throughout Washington State is not as extensive as other industries such as forest products and agricultural production and processing. Primary aluminum and fabricated aluminum products firms are located in only eleven of the stateÕs 39 counties. The primary aluminum industry in located in both rural and urban counties; most of the fabricated aluminum products firms are established within the stateÕs urban counties. In 1998, the largest number of aluminum industry jobs were located in Spokane County. With over 2,700 employees in primary aluminum and fabricated aluminum products, Spokane County had 37 percent of the total statewide employment in the industry. Eastern Washington (i.e., counties located east of the Cascade Mountains) accounted for about 60 percent of the total aluminum industry jobs in the state. This region dominates both primary aluminum and fabricated aluminum products sectors. With three primary reduction plants, Eastern Washington garners about 45 percent of the stateÕs total 1997 employment in primary aluminum. For fabricated products, four out of every five jobs in this subsector are within Eastern Washington. Manhattan Project Hanford: plutonium Oak Ridge: U-235 Los Alamos: assembly Trinity: testing California, Illnois, Massachusetts: academic facilities Later: Yucca Mountain: testing (1951) Pantex Lab TX: assembly (1942) National Reactor Testing Station / Idaho National Engineering Laboratory, Arco (1949) Rocky Flats: plutonium processing (1952) --Graph 1910-1960 and/or 1930-1950, electricity produced in PNW, population, economy, airplane production, GNP, aluminum production, Prairies