COLUMBIA RIVER: ECONOMIC LIFE LINE OF THE NORTHWEST

Year Published: 1967

Creator: Bailey Films

Description: This 1967 film "Columbia River: Economic Life Line of the Northwest" provides a geographical overview of the Columbia River, highlighting its historical significance, the challenges of its basin (flooding and drought), and the transformative impact of major dam projects like Grand Coulee and Bonneville on irrigation, hydroelectric power, industry, and commerce in the Pacific Northwest. 0:00 Main title. The Columbia River starts in the Rocky Mountains, near the Continental Divide. It was first explored by Lewis and Clark , who followed the river to its mouth on the Pacific Ocean by 1805. 0:42 The river is fed by glacier streams and waterfalls in the Canadian Rockies. It officially begins at Columbia Lake between the Canadian Rockies and the Selkirk Mountains. Other streams join to form the largest river on the Pacific coast. 1:17 The river flows southwest through Washington. Its largest tributary is the Snake River , which was the route Lewis and Clark took to reach the Columbia. Other major tributaries mentioned are the Kootenay and Clark Fork rivers. 2:04 The river basin suffered from years of flooding and times of drought. Early farmers relied on rainfall, which was often insufficient or came at the wrong time, leading many to abandon their land and crops. The irony was that the huge river basin had to be "protected from its own river." 3:24 The U.S. began constructive work in 1933, culminating in the Grand Coulee Dam, described as the largest concrete dam in the world (550 ft high). Its primary jobs are: 1) Pumping irrigation water 280 ft up from Franklin D. Roosevelt Lake (the reservoir); and 2) generating hydroelectric power via torrents of water rushing through the turbines. 4:54 Electricity from the dam is used to power the pumps that regulate the basin's irrigation systems. Ditch riders travel the canals daily to account for water usage. This irrigation has enabled over 200,000 people to make a living from the land, farming crops like onions, potatoes, beans, and sugar beets. 5:59 Downstream is the Bonneville Dam. The film highlights the importance of fish ladders in helping salmon swim upstream from the ocean to lay eggs in freshwater lakes and streams. Conservation programs assure the continuation of the salmon population, with millions leaving the sea annually from May to October. 7:32 During WWII, electricity from Bonneville and Grand Coulee Dams made the Hanford Atomic Works possible. The facility uses uranium rods inserted into piles by automatic machinery governed by remote control. Heavy concrete walls and water shield workers from the hazardous radiation. 8:34 McNary Dam as an example of how the dam system along the Columbia makes economical inland waterway transportation possible. Large cargo ferry boats navigate the river through a series of carefully designed locks and canals. 9:58 The vast forests are raised like crops, cut, and replanted for a continuous source of lumber. The logs are trucked from the forest to the river, then towed downstream to mills for processing. 12:18 The rivers provide inexpensive trade routes for barge traffic, and seagoing traffic from the Pacific Ocean can travel the Columbia as far as Portland . 13:03 Washington's Wenatchee-Okanogan District, supplies one-third of the nation's apple market. 13:46 Portland is located where the Columbia meets the Willamette River. 15:07 Portland, Oregon's modern port. 15:49 Nearly one-third of the Columbia's flow comes from Canada. At the lower end of Arrow Lake, a new series of Canadian dams is under construction that will regulate the river's flow, bringing an end to the annual threat of devastating flood damage in British Columbia, Washington, and Oregon, and developing the full potential of the Columbia River.

Online Copy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1imHg9eKm8

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