The Grand Coulee Dam:

Anthropocentric Policies and the Effects on Upper Columbia Tribes

Seth Elsen

POL 4905

Professor Sheri Breen

April 24, 2012

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Now what we need is a great big dam,

To throw a lot of water out across that land,

People could work and the stuff would grow, 

And you could wave goodbye to the old Skid Row1

Introduction:

From the snow-capped mountains of Canada, the Columbia River roars across

Washington carving its way to the Pacific Ocean. Its turbulent waters are slowed only by a series

of colossal, hydroelectric dams. The Grand Coulee is the largest of these man-made dams.

For decades, American hydro power was credited as the safe, environmentally-friendly

alternative to nuclear and coal power. Despite these benefits, this great energy emancipator was

the focus of tribal protest for more than a century. Globally, indigenous peoples continue to fight

against hydroelectric dams for cultural, economic and environmental reasons. As executive

director of the International Rivers Network and author Patrick McCully notes:

“The impact of dams upon indigenous peoples is especially harmful as most of their communities have already suffered centuries of exploitation and displacement. …The trauma of resettlement is also exacerbated for indigenous communities because of their strong spiritual ties to their land, and because many of the communal bonds and cultural practices which help define their societies are destroyed by the displacement and by the loss of common resources on which their economy is based. 2

While Americans throughout the Pacific Northwest continue to enjoy cheap, natural

power, the Spokane and Colville Confederated Tribes lost thousands of miles of lands,

grave sites, and salmon fishing sites—the very heart of their life-ways and traditions. Famed

folksinger Woody Guthrie was hired to write songs which promoted the “wonderful attributes

of Grand Coulee Dam.” After an elaborate public relations campaign, the dam’s construction

throughout the 1930’s forever altered the relationship between Columbia River Tribes, the 1 Lyrics from “Washington Talkin’ Blues,” by Woody Guthrie, The Columbia River Collection, TRO Publishing, 19412 Patrick McCully, Silenced Rivers: The Ecology and Politics of Large Dams (New York: Zed Books, 2001), 70.

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federal government, and Washington. Hydroelectric dams fueled an intense Native Nationalist

movement to protect tribal treaty rights to harvest salmon. In 1974, this fishing rights movement

led to the famed Boldt Decision by the U.S. Supreme Court. Since this landmark decision, Tribes

in the region have created two key organizations, the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission

and the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fisheries Commission—each coalition actively protects and

manages precious natural resources.

Thesis:

This paper aims to unearth the untold story of the Tribes, and how federal policy, rooted

deep in anthropocentrism, and traditional Christian ecological theory, transformed these Upper

Columbia Basin Tribes from fishermen to farmers. First I will examine the policies and debate

that led to the creation of the Grand Coulee Dam. Secondly, I will discuss how the damn was

sold as a great machine, and more importantly, a machine that won the war for us. From there, I

will look at how the construction of the dam negatively affected both the Spokane Tribe and the

Colville Confederated Tribes, short and long-term, due to issues of flooded land, lost grave sites,

a significant change in culture and way of life, and most importantly, the loss of salmon. Lastly, I

will discuss the settlement efforts over the last twenty years for both tribes.

Literature Review:

Outside of research on the Grand Coulee Dam as a whole, not much has been

written on the impacts of the dam on indigenous communities, specifically the Colville and

Spokane Tribes. In order to learn and understand these impacts, one first has to acquire a general

knowledge of the Grand Coulee Dam itself. A handful of books exist that were used in my

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research to give me a basic understanding of the dam, as well as the policies and players that led

to its development.

The first of these books is Paul C. Pitzer’s Grand Coulee: Harnessing a Dream. Pitzer’s

research focuses primarily on the history of the Grand Coulee Dam, from the origins of the idea

to dam the Columbia, to the cultural changes it forced on indigenous communities, to its

importance in the development of the present-day Northwest. Grand Coulee gives a well-written

overview of the dam and how it came to be, and also includes key research on the impacts for

indigenous communities throughout the Columbia Basin. In his conclusion, Pitzer writes, “They

[the dams] represent a formidable, technological achievement, yet they have brought formidable,

unanticipated problems.3” This quote sums up much of Pitzer’s research and the thesis of his

work, that while the dam has been an important player in the development of the Northwest, it

has been incredibly detrimental to certain cultures, as well as the environment, and that is a side

of the story that has not been researched much to date.

The second of these books is Robert E. Ficken’s Rufus Woods, the Columbia River, and

the Building of Modern Washington. Ficken, a historian, tells the life story of Rufus Woods,

Editor of the Wenatchee World in Wenatchee, Washington. Specifically, Ficken focuses on

Woods’ role in the creation of the dam and his endless promotion of the Grand Coulee Dam.

Rufus Woods provides one with great background knowledge on the dam, and how great of a

player Woods was in its creation. Additionally, the book details the political struggles, both at a

state and national level, to get the dam built.

Beyond these key sources, a few of my sources went more in-depth on the dam and its

impacts on indigenous communities. Pitzer’s Grand Coulee dives into this subject throughout the

book, following up many notes of progress by sections on the sacrifices made for the progress of

3 Paul C. Pitzer, Grand Coulee Dam: Harnessing A Dream (Pullman: Washington State University Press, 1994), 361.

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non-Indians. In one chapter, Pitzer discusses in heavy detail the impact of the dam on cultural

resources and salmon, and how they relate to area tribes, such as the Spokane and Colville

Tribes. In talking about the government attempt to remove some Colville graves before the

flooding of Kettle Falls, Pitzer writes, “The government dealt with resident Native Americans

whose individual and Tribal economies often centered on the [Columbia] river. The job of

clearing, removing, relocating, and adjusting, which went on largely behind the scenes…equaled

the task of building the dam.”4

My other main source of information on the Grand Coulee Dam and its impacts on the

Spokane and Colville Tribes was Grand Coulee Dam and the Columbia Basin Project USA: A

World Commission on Dams Case Study. This report was compiled in 2000 and dives far into the

negative impacts of the dam on fish populations and indigenous communities in the region, both

American Indians and Candian First Nations. The report was compiled by Environmental

Engineering Professors Leonard Ortolano and Katherine Kao Cushing, of Stanford University

and San Jose State University, respectively. The report lists Tribes and First Nations as the

primary project cost-bearers, noting that:

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.5

In my research on anthropocentrism and Christian ecological theories, and how they

played into the policies that led to the Grand Coulee Dam, and dams around the world, I had

three main sources.

4 Pitzer, Grand Coulee, 2155 Ortolano, L., Kao Cushing, K. 2000. Grand Coulee Dam and the Columbia Basin Project, USA, case study report to the World Commission on Dams, Cape Town, www.dams.org, 103.

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Anthropocentrism vs. Non-Anthropocentrism: Why Should We Care? is a journal piece by

Philosopher Katie McShane that provides a great, overall view of what anthropocentrism really

means, and how it connects with environmental and ecological thought. McShane argues,

“Anthropocentrism, as I understand it, is the view that the nonhuman world has value only

because, and insofar as, it directly or indirectly serves human interests.”6 Through my research in

environmental political theory, and throughout my research on the Grand Coulee Dam, I agree

with McShane’s argument as to what defines anthropocentrism.

Anthropocentrism, Value Systems, and Environmental Attitudes: A Multi-National

Comparison is a working paper done through the Copenhagen Business School by Suzanne

Beckmann et al. Their research examines the gap between environmental concern and actually

engaging in environmentally-friendly behaviors throughout various countries. I focused

primarily on how they defined anthropocentrism, which included the thoughts that humans are

far superior to nature and property rights are far more important than any species.7 I felt this

research was quality, and their conclusions on anthropocentrism seemed to be in line with other

theorists and scholars in previous research.

The last primary work that was included in my research was Patrick McCully’s Silenced

Rivers: The Ecology and Politics of Large Dams. McCully’s book aims to convince readers that

while dams offer some benefits, there are far more drawbacks, and that dams are sold to

policymakers on false claims, such as manipulated statistics. His other main argument is centered

around the theory that controlled environments often lead to a controlled population. McCully

writes:

6 Katie McShane, “Anthropocentrism vs. Non-Anthropocentrism: Why Should We Care?” Environmental Values 16, no. 2: 169-186 (2007)7 Suzanne C. Beckmann et al. “Anthropocentrism, Value Systems, and Environmental Attitudes: A Multi-National Comparison” (working paper, Department of Marketing, Copenhagen Business School, Copenhagen, 1997), 4.

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Large dams are not built and operated by all of society, but by the elite with bureaucratic, political, or economic power. The dams give this elite the ability to direct water for their own benefit, depriving the previous users [in this case, the Indians of the Upper Columbia]…to riverine resources.8

I feel McCully’s work is crucial in any research on large dams and their unpublicized negative

impacts. While many scholars talk at length about the negative impacts of dams on fish

populations and the land surrounding the structures, little has been written about large dams and

how the control of power essentially is controlling populations.

The Start of the Debate:

In 1925, Congress authorized the Federal Power Commission, in conjunction with the

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, to produce the 308 report(s), with the first draft done by the

spring of 1926.9 The sole purpose of these reports was to:

. . .prepare and submit to Congress an estimate of the cost of making such examinations, surveys or other investigations. . . of those navigable streams of the United States and their tributaries . . . with a view to the formulation of general plans for the most effective improvement of such streams for the purposes of navigation and prosecution of such improvement in combination with the most efficient development of the potential water power, the control of floods and the needs of irrigation.10

The reports documented the potential for water power from the Columbia River, and that such a

water network could be the greatest system in the United States. Due to the overall potential, the

report further recommended the construction of ten dams. In a letter drafted by then Secretary of

War, Patrick J. Hurley, he informed Speaker of the House John Nance Garner that, “The

Columbia River and its tributaries are susceptible of being developed into the greatest system for

water power to be found anywhere in the United States. The power can be developed at low

cost.” One of the locations for the ten dams was the Grand Coulee area, near Colville and

8 Patrick McCully, Silenced Rivers: The Ecology and Politics of Large Dams (New York: Zed Books, 2001), 241.9 “Dams: History and Purpose,” Northwest Power and Conservation Council, accessed March 25, 2011. http://www.nwcouncil.org/history/damshistory.asp10 Ibid

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Spokane reservation land. An initial cost estimate in the letter for the Grand Coulee Dam was

$204,500,000.11 Not only was the dam a campaign promise by President Franklin D. Roosevelt

in his first election, but between the power potential, need for irrigation water to farmers in the

area, and for flood control, the dam could serve many purposes. In a speech delivered in

Portland, Oregon on September 21, 1932, Roosevelt stated,

We have, as all of you in this section of the country know, the vast possibilities of power development on the Columbia River. And I state, in definite and certain terms, that the next great hydroelectric development to be undertaken by the federal government must be that on the Columbia River. This vast water power can be of incalculable value to this whole section of the country. It means cheap manufacturing production, economy and comfort on the farm and in the household.12

With the promises of many jobs among many other things, Roosevelt was elected. Roosevelt and

many of his advisors within his administration held a “progressive” viewpoint on water policies.

As Law Professor Michael C. Blumm of Lewis & Clark Law School writes in Northwest Lands,

Northwest Peoples,

The basic tenets of progressive water policies exemplified this attempt to preserve the qualities of an older America by employing the efficiencies of corporate management principles. The equity side of progressive thought manifested itself in assertions that stream flows were part of the public domain, and that their benefits should be widely shared…. 13

Construction of the dam began during Roosevelt’s first year, 1933.

While the federal government was mostly in agreement about the need for hydropower,

irrigation, and flood control, many people in Washington State were split on the project, a split

that dated back to the last decade of the 19th century. In an 1892 issue of The Coulee City News,

11 “Patrick J. Hurley, 308 Report (1932), “Letter of Transmittal,” Center for Columbia River History, accessed March 26, 2011. http://www.ccrh.org/comm/umatilla/primary/308rprt.htm,12 “Dams: History and Purpose,” Northwest Power and Conservation Council, accessed March 25, 2011. http://www.nwcouncil.org/history/damshistory.asp13 Michael C. Blumm, “The Northwest’s Hydroelectric Heritage,” in Northwest Lands, Northwest Peoples, ed. Dale D. Goble; Paul W. Hirt. (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1999), 265.

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a possible dam was suggested on the Columbia. In addition, the Spokesman Review of Spokane

ran a similar story, but instead proposed a ninety-five mile canal carrying the whole river through

the historic Grand Coulee area.14 With the reclamation-friendly Theodore Roosevelt as

President, a committee was set up in 1902 to look into irrigation projects. Many possibilities,

including artesian wells, were all on the table.15 But in 1906, the U.S. Reclamation Service

rejected various irrigation proposals and as they were planning to leave the state, a riot broke out

and an angry mob began to stone committee members which forced their quick evacuation from

eastern Washington.16 From 1903 to 1915, the U.S. Reclamation service spent over $86,000 to

find ways to irrigate the area, but with no results.17 Eventually, these two ideas became the

gravity v. pump debate. The dam idea came to the forefront of local politics in 1917 when a

lawyer from Ephrata, Washington, Billy Clapp, gathered with others in the area to talk about

irrigation. He had recalled one particular story from a University of Washington geologist about

the natural damming of the Columbia by glaciers.18 He felt that if glaciers could dam the river, so

could man, with concrete, effectively irrigating land in Grant, Adams, and Franklin County. The

idea made it as far as the Grant County Commission, which felt that the idea was good, but the

cost was far too high.19

14 Paul C. Pitzer, Grand Coulee Dam, 10.15 Ibid, 1116 Ibid, 1217 Ibid, 1418 Ibid, 1519 Ibid, 15

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20

Eventually, Rufus Woods, editor of the Wenatchee World, a newspaper located in the heart of

Eastern Washington agriculture country, and about an hour from the proposed dam, caught wind

of this and joined Clapp’s effort. In One year later, Woods wrote:

Such a power if developed would operate railroads, factories, mines, irrigation pumps, furnish heat and light in such measure that all in all it would be the most unique, the most interesting, and the most remarkable development of both irrigation and power in this age of industrial and scientific miracles.21

20 A map of the Grand Coulee Dam and surrounding region, including the historic Kettle Falls. Seth Elsen21 Robert E. Ficken, Rufus Woods, the Columbia River, and the Building of Modern Washington (Pullman: Washington State University Press, 1995), 64.

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In another editorial from the Wenatchee World, Woods said, “Someday at Grand Coulee there

will be harnessed 2,000,000 wild horses--energy that today is wasting itself away day by day as

it flows down the Columbia River, the wildest big stream in the civilized world.”22 Woods

quickly became one of the biggest supporters of a dam in the Grand Coulee area, using his

position as Editor of the Wenatchee World to advocate for his positions. Aside from debate of a

dam versus a gravity canal, the debate for the region was also about the size of the dam; many in

the region believed that a small dam could easily be built to satisfy the needs of the area and

most people asserted that a high dam was beyond the needs of the small population in the region.

In 1937, Republican Representative Francis Culkin of New York stated, “Up in the Grand

Coulee area there is no one to sell the power to except the jack rabbits and the rattlesnakes, and

they are not amenable, as you know, to the ordinary processes of an electric meter .”23

The gravity plan was born out of Spokane, and was the brainchild of Elbert Blaine, a

Yakima Valley Resident and prominent Republican Party supporter with much political clout.24

Blaine’s idea was to divert water from the Pend Oreille River via a gravity canal to irrigate the

lands. He then took this idea to the Spokane Chamber of Commerce.25 Elected leaders joined on

both sides, and that debate was, “so fierce that it weakened the effectiveness of those who

advocated for the projects and almost prevented it from happening at all.26 The cities of Spokane

and Wenatchee were already natural rivals due to business, agriculture, and proximity, but many

other factors fueled the debate. Spokane’s Washington Water Power Company, an incredibly

influential member of the Spokane Chamber, knew a dam would require federal funds, which

22“Rufus Woods,” Center for Columbia River History, accessed March 26, 2011. http://www.ccrh.org/comm/moses/primary/rwoods.html23 “Opposition,” Center for Columbia River History, accessed March 27, 2011. http://www.ccrh.org/comm/moses/opposition.html24 Pitzer, Grand Coulee, 1725 Ibid, 1826 Ibid

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meant competition for the private company. The gravity backers also tried using the red scare

against any possible dam, arguing that a socialist takeover was what would happen if the dam

was created.27 The debate went on throughout the 1920’s, as tests were done and as Woods

continued writing editorials in favor of the dam.

Washington Water & Power were well aware that any significant power producing dam

in the Grand Coulee area would mean the end of Kettle Falls, so the company filed for the right

to build a dam in the Kettle Falls area as an attempt to block the future development of the Grand

Coulee Dam.28 Initial permits were granted by the Federal Power Commission, but the project

was eventually axed.29 Many, including Rufus Woods, initially opposed federal involvement,

only later to have lobbied in Washington, D.C. for federal funds. Woods stated, “We had gone

out on a thesis that the Columbia River was too big for private development--that it must be

developed by government money, either state or national, for it was both too big and too

important an asset to be nibbled at by low-head dam.”30 Despite the national and regional debate

over the size of the dam, or the type of project, almost no consideration was ever afforded to the

impacts upon the tribes in the region. This was significant as the Spokane Tribe, Colville

Confederated Tribes, and the Kalispel Tribe all were significantly affected. A report by the

World Commission on Dams stated that, “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.31 The report also indicated that, in an interview, a Spokane Tribal

member reported that the Tribe was never informed of the project, only told that it was a done

27 Ibid, 2228 Ray Bottenburg, Grand Coulee Dam (Arcadia Publishing, 2008), 12.29 “Grand Coulee Dam History and Purpose,” Northwest Power and Conservation Council, accessed March 25, 2011, http://www.nwcouncil.org/history/grandcouleehistory.asp30 Woods, Rufus. The 23 Years Battle for Grand Coulee Dam (Wenatchee, WA: Wenatchee Daily World, 1944), p.231Ortolano, L., Kao Cushing, K. 2000. Grand Coulee Dam and the Columbia Basin Project, USA, case study report to the World Commission on Dams, Cape Town, www.dams.org, 73

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deal and that there was nothing they could do about it.32 A minority of opponents to the dam

based their argument solely on land impacts. One protestor stated, “the inevitable collapse of the

giant and obviously unstable dam would release floodwaters of mega-Johnstown volume to carry

away farms, reclamation works, and entire towns. Grand Coulee is sure to become a worthless

drain upon taxpayers and settlers."33

Construction of the Grand Coulee Dam:

In 1933, the U.S. government broke ground on the construction of the dam.

Approximately, $63,000,000 had been appropriated for the initial stages of construction.34

Throughout the seven year construction period, the area economy greatly improved. At peak

times, nearly 9,000 workers were employed for the construction of the dam and in other support

positions. By the end of the main construction period, over 37 million man-hours had been spent

on the dam, according to the Bureau of Reclamation Histories.35 The construction workers at the

dam came from almost every state in the U.S. and nearly every country in the world. Hispanic

and African-American workers played a big role in the dam’s construction, but it has been well

documented that it was incredibly hard for any Colville or Spokane Tribal members to find work

at the dam.36

32Ibid, 20533 Ficken, Rufus Woods, 6334 Associated Press, “Allot $100,000,000 for Public Works, “Lewiston Daily Sun, August 2, 1933, accessed April 12, 2011,http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=_MwgAAAAIBAJ&sjid=2WoFAAAAIBAJ&dq=grand%20coulee%20dam&pg=5004%2C223043035 “Grand Coulee Dam: Leaving a Legacy,” University of Washington, accessed April 13, 2011. http://depts.washington.edu/depress/grand_coulee.shtml36 Ortolano, Kao Cushing, Grand Coulee, 65

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37

As the dam neared completion in the early 1940’s, the Grand Coulee Dam project began to take

its toll on some of the local Tribes, the Colville and Spokane Tribes.

Impacts of dam construction on the Spokane and Colville Tribes:

The Spokane and Colville Tribes both were severely impacted by the construction of the

dam. Paul C. Pitzer, author of Grand Coulee: Harvesting a Dream, wrote, “The government

dealt with resident Native Americans whose individual and Tribal economies often centered on

the [Columbia] river. The job of clearing, removing, relocating, and adjusting, which went on

largely behind the scenes,…equaled the task of building the dam.”38 Members of the Tribe who

had property confiscated or flooded by the project and its accompanying reservoir were notified

in 1939 and 1940.39 Around 281 allotments on both the Colville and Spokane reservations were

37 President Franklin D. Roosevelt tours the construction of the dam; Spokane Daily Chronicle, October 4, 1937, accessed April 12, 2011, http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=ErwzAAAAIBAJ&sjid=GfUDAAAAIBAJ&dq=grand%20coulee%20dam%20construction&pg=6244%2C68364438 Pitzer, Grand Coulee, 21539 Ortolano, Kao Cushing, Grand Coulee, 103

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subject to flooding.40 Passed in 1940, Statue 3766 supported the government’s use of eminent

domain, officially acquiring any lands needed for the project, including gravesites.

All right, title, and interest of the Indians in the lands within any cemetery so relocated shall terminate and the grant of title under this Act take effect as of the date the Secretary of the Interior authorizes the relocation. Sites of the relocated cemeteries shall be held in trust by the United States for the Spokane or Colville Tribe, as the case may be, and shall be nontaxable.41

Payment was supposed to be given to landowners, but payment was often delayed significantly

and living quarters on the land were not given proper or any value.42 Along with the promise of

payments, Congress mandated a quarter of the soon-to-be created reservoir, Lake Roosevelt, be

an “Indian zone,” to serve as an alternative to lost fishing and hunting grounds. However, by

1946, the National Park Service, Reclamation, and the Indian Office sponsored an agreement

under which the public was allowed equal use of the Indian Zone, stripping the exclusive rights

away from the Colville and Spokane Indians.43 The problem of Lake Roosevelt was a much

bigger than this, though.

The Loss of Kettle Falls:

When flooding took place and Lake Roosevelt was formed, the sacred site of Kettle Falls

was forever buried beneath. For centuries, Kettle Falls was one of the most important fishing

sites in the northwest. The site was used by over 1,000 Indians at times, serving as fishing and

trading spot for Tribes in all of the Northwest.44 A Tribal legend about Kettle Falls is that, “at

40 Ibid, 10641 U.S. Senate, Act For The Acquisition of Indian Lands for the Grand Coulee Dam, 1940, (Washington, DC:1940), http://www.ccrh.org/comm/moses/primary/acquisition.html (accessed April 14, 2011).42 Ortolano, Kao Cushing, Grand Coulee, 1343 Ibid, 7744 “Kettle Falls,” Northwest Power and Conservation Council, accessed March 28, 2011, http://www.nwcouncil.org/history/KettleFalls.asp

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one time, men could walk across the river at Kettle Falls on the backs of the fish.”45 An area

missionary, Pierre DeSmet, noted that, “it was common…to take 3,000 salmon in a day.”46 With

salmon making up nearly half of the diet of many Salish Indians, Kettle Falls was incredibly

important. When the local Tribes were finally notified that the Kettle Falls area would be

destroyed, a final ceremony was planned. In a local newspaper article, it was reported that,

“Hundreds of members of the Colville Indian Tribe will gather in May at Kettle Falls to hold a tearful ceremonial of farewell as the lake rising back of Grand Coulee dam blanks out the rapids… Partial plans for the ceremonial, which is expected to include protest meetings against infringements of Indian rights in connection with the building of the dam…”47

Aside from the fact that their fishing grounds were about to be flooded, there was great concern

about burial grounds as well. The Kettle Falls area had also served as a cemetery for the Colville

for many, many years preceding the flood. Thousands of bodies had to be removed in a small

window of time. The Bureau of Land Reclamation contracted with a local funeral home to take

care of moving graves, but many were not done in time. One Tribal elder stated,

We hardly had time to relocate graves. Thousands of our ancestors went floating down the river and lots of historical sites were inundated. Farms and homes were destroyed. If they had done this to another group of people, the mindset would have been different. The tribes were looked down upon and not given any consideration.48

The Ceremony of Tears took place starting on June 14th of 1940. The three day ceremony hosted

many dances and speeches. Representatives from many Northwest Tribes, including the

Blackfeet, Tulalip, Spokane, Colville, Nez Perce, Umatilla, and Coeur d’ Alenes, as well as

Tribes from even the Plains, showed up to take part in the ceremony. One of the keynote

45 Pitzer, Grand Coulee, 22746 William Dietrich, Northwest Passage (Seattle, WA: University of Washington Press, 1996), p.15447 Author Unknown,” Tears to mark Indians’ Rites, “Spokesman Review, April 17 1940, accessed April 14, 2011 http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=V3NWAAAAIBAJ&sjid=Y-QDAAAAIBAJ&pg=4950,476115&dq=kettle+falls&hl=en48 Ortolano, Kao Cushing, Grand Coulee, 137

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speakers was U.S Senator Clarence Dill from Washington, who had been a longtime supporter of

the Grand Coulee Dam. During his remarks, Senator Dill stated that,

Long ago, this government told the Colville Indians they could have this reservation and everything on it as their own. But science and invention have given the rolling waters of the Columbia a new value. The white man’s government has invaded the reservation and will soon destroy Kettle Falls. We should see to it that the electricity which the great dam at Grand Coulee produces shall be delivered to all people without profit so Indians of future generations as well as the white man, will find the change made here a great benefit to all the people.49

After three days of gathering, the ceremony ended. There had been a carnival, boxing matches,

and much more as whites and Indians joined together in the festivities.50 A short time after,

Kettle Falls was flooded and Lake Roosevelt was created and the Colville and Spokane culture

as they knew it was over. The transformation from fisherman to farmer was being forced upon

them by one of the biggest projects in United States history.

After nearly a decade of construction and $157,000,000 later, the completion of the dam was

finally near. On March 22nd, 1941, the Grand Coulee Dam officially started operating.51

49 Associated Press, “Ancient Fishing Grounds Doomed by Grand Coulee, “Lewiston Morning Tribune, June 17 1940, accessed April 14, 2011 http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=A7JeAAAAIBAJ&sjid=xi8MAAAAIBAJ&pg=2666,5997419&dq=grand+coulee+dam+colville+indians&hl=en50“Ceremony of Tears,” Northwest Power and Conservation Council, accessed April 14, 2011, http://www.nwcouncil.org/history/CeremonyOfTears.asp51 United Press, “Grand Coulee Dam Operating,“ Telegraph Herald, March 23, 1940, accessed April 14, 2011 http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=sxNRAAAAIBAJ&sjid=IssMAAAAIBAJ&pg=6789,5492609&dq=grand+coulee+dam&hl=en

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52

Marketing the Machine:

Now that the dam had been built, the operator, the Bonneville Power Administration

(BPA), wanted to once again make the case that this dam, as well as the Bonneville Dam in

Oregon, was a good idea. Residents of the region were still hesitant to become fans of the new

dam. In the cities of Spokane, Portland, Tacoma, and Eugene, voters rejected a proposal to hook

up to the BPA grid. Some called the new public dam a “Socialist boondoggle.”53 Obviously, the

BPA needed a great marketing campaign to change some minds, so for $300, they hired none

other than famed musician Woody Guthrie to carry out the task. Guthrie worked for a month

writing songs about the region and its dams that could be played at local public power rallies. In

that one month, Guthrie wrote 26 that supported the Grand Coulee and Bonneville Dams as

amazing structures. Forgotten in his words were the very negative impacts that the dams had on

the effected Tribes. In one of his songs, Guthrie sings, “I climb the rocky canyons where the

Columbia River rolls, Seen the salmon leaping the rapids and the falls, The big Grand Coulee

52 A Colville Indian Chief joins engineers as the switch is officially turned on at Grand Coulee. “Grand Coulee: Savior for Whites, Disaster for Indians,” Alicia Patterson Foundation, accessed April 03, 2011, http://aliciapatterson.org/APF1504/Harden/Harden.html53 “From War to War,” Washington State Historical Society, accessed April 14, 2011, http://columbia.washingtonhistory.org/anthology/fromwartowar/woodyGuthrie.aspx

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Dam in the state of Washington Is just about the biggest thing that man has ever done.”54 The

lyrics are ironic as the Columbia was midway in a transformation from a once-rolling river to a

series of lakes and also for the fact that the Grand Coulee Dam was far too high for fish ladders,

so there were hardly any salmon runs in the Upper Columbia basin. Regardless, Guthrie’s songs

went on to become quite popular, eventually having “Roll On Columbia, Roll On” become

Washington’s official state folksong. The BPA’s publicity campaign was aided partially by

World War II. With the war effort, the Grand Coulee Dam shifted strictly to hydropower use to

power aluminum and airplane industries, as well as the Hanford Complex near Richland,

Washington. In 1948, Earl Warren, a Vice President candidate, stated, “Probably Hitler would

have beaten us in atom bomb development if it had not been for the hydroelectric development

of the Columbia, making possible the big Hanford project which brought forth the bomb.”55 In

addition, Interior Secretary Harold Ickes said,

The lord must have been with the United States on this day of our great decision [to build the dam]. Although we continued to be criticized and even ridiculed for building in that great desert area, the greatest structure so far erected by the hand of man, in order to generate great quantities of power, we of course kept steadily ahead and even pushed the work to the best of our ability. …If it had not been for the Grand Coulee during the war…we may still be fighting that war.56

Many local boosters also believed that the dam was responsible for victory over Japan and

Germany. Whether overstated or not, the Grand Coulee did play a very important role in winning

World War II and the victory, along with the words of Woody Guthrie, each made the dam

increasingly popular with residents throughout the Northwest.

Long Term Impacts – The Loss of the Livelihood:

54 Ibid55 “Grand Coulee Dam: History and Purpose.”56 Pitzer, Grand Coulee, 249

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While residents of the region may have been convinced that the Grand Coulee Dam was a

positive project, it was still very clear that the impacts on local Indians were very negative. There

could not be a better example of the negative impacts than the loss of fish. All anadromous fish

were blocked from the Spokane, Coeur d’ Alene, Kooteani, and Kalispel Reservations. Colville

runs were mostly depleted. With runs at Kettle Falls previously in the thousands daily, the

change was both enormous and devastating. The Grand Coulee Dam cut off over 1,000 miles of

spawning habitat, from the Upper Columbia above the dam to the Canadian Rockies to the north,

nearly one-half of the watershed.57 Aside from the fact that salmon were completely wiped out in

most areas above the dam and in the Columbia’s tributaries, the effects of the lost salmon led to

even bigger problems. With fish making up over 40% of the diet of Colville and Spokane

Indians, the loss meant a drastic change in diet. New diets consisted of foods with high amounts

of sugar and fats, leading to a significant increase of Diabetes and Heart Disease on both

reservations.58 In fact, Indian Country has the highest rate of diabetes, 2.8 times the rate of the

rest of our population.59 It also greatly impacted their economies, as fish was traded and sold

between other Tribes and the general population.

Quite startling is the fact that little attention that was given to the fish by the U.S.

Government. In Grand Coulee, Pitzer writes, “although the bureau [of land reclamation] took

steps to preserve the salmon, had its measures failed, it was ready to see the salmon disappear,

deeming the economic contribution of the dam as far more important than the fish.”60 At the

time, the eventual effects of the downriver dam at Bonneville were unknown, but the dam was

predicted to be a huge killer, as Washington State Game Commission Chair Thomas Lally

57 “Opposition,” Center for Columbia River History58 Ortolano, Kao Cushing, Grand Coulee, 1359 “Indian Country Diaries, Diabetes” Public Broadcasting Service, accessed August 14, 2011 http://www.pbs.org/indiancountry/challenges/diabetes.html60 Pitzer, Grand Coulee, 223

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figured the dam would wipe out 90% of the salmon run.61 The dam was far too high for any

ladders, so the possible solutions for the salmon runs were few. The main solution that the

government had in mind was to capture the salmon during spawning season and transport their

eggs above the dam to other rivers and fisheries in the area.62 This was done for about a year

until it was discovered that many fish died during transportation. The other flaw was that while

passing through downstream dams, many fish died. This is because water that pours down the

spillways at dams saturates the water with nitrogen, creating fatal conditions for the salmon.63 To

further show how unprepared and inattentive the government was to the salmon, three years into

the Bureau of Reclamation’s management period of the dam, an engineer wrote the following

note to Commissioner John C. Page.

The Bureau of Reclamation has no one in its employ familiar with the solution of problems of that nature and and considering the importance of the matter, it is desired to secure the advice and assistance of at least two engineers with knowledge and experience in the work of fish conservation, control, and protection.64

It’s very clear that the salmon run was a distant second as far as importance goes, behind development of the Columbia Basin. This is a problem not only at Grand Coulee Dam, but throughout the Columbia Basin and its dam system. Below is a chart showing salmonoid populations in north-central Washington Columbia River Tributaries.

61 Ibid, 22462 Ibid63 Ibid, 22764 Ibid, 225

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Fish Status, as of 2000,

River Basin Stock Status5-Yr Avg.

Catch

EntiatSummer Chinook Extinct  

MethowSummer Chinook

Risk of Extinction 666

OkanoganSummer Chinook Special Concern 491

WenatcheeSummer Chinook Healthy 7,012

Entiat Spring Chinook Endangered 89Methow Spring Chinook Endangered 355

Okanogan Spring Chinook Extinct  Wenatchee Spring Chinook Endangered 328

Lake Osoyoos Sockeye Healthy 11,100Lake

Wenatchee Sockeye Healthy 19,000Entiat Steelhead Endangered n/a

Methow & Okanogan Steelhead Endangered 540Wenatchee Steelhead Endangered 800

65

Loss Land and Ghost Towns:

One of the other big effects on the Tribes was the loss of land. Not only was Kettle Falls

flooded, but whole Colville towns, such as Klaxta and Inchelium were lost, resulting in a

displacement of over 2,000 Colville Indians and over 100 Spokane Indians.66 In the Grand

Coulee Report by the World Commission on Dams, it is noted:

The towns lost a number of services with the move, and Congress did not provide Reclamation with the authority to finance new water, electrical, or telephone services. Inchelium had no source of water at its new site, and it was 30 years before its residents regained phone service. The government auctioned off buildings on land it purchased, including the Inchelium School. A member of the school board, Joe Kohler, later testified that he took out a personal loan to buy the buildings, but they were not able to move them to higher ground until after the floodwaters rose, then receded again. Keller had no

65 Ortolano, Kao Cushing, Grand Coulee, 6166 Ortolano, Kao Cushing, Grand Coulee, 106

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municipal water until 1973 when Congress authorized drilling a well, and the town got phone service that same year.67

Thousands of acres of Indian land were forever flooded.

Long Term Impacts – Cultural Resources and Looting:

Another major, long-lasting impact of the dam has been the loss of burial sites and crimes

related to it. Since before the dam was even finished, both Tribes have experienced problems

with the looting of artifacts. Around 1938, a group formed, calling themselves the Inland Empire

Indian Relic Society.68 The group offered to help the Bureau of Land Reclamation a place for any

found items. Unsure of how the Indians would feel, the Bureau continued with their work until

the next year when finally, the Colville Tribe formally objected to the removal. Many felt that

the government was looting their lands.69 Currently, when the water level of Lake Roosevelt is

low, it exposes artifacts from the flooding of Kettle Falls and the rest of the region. A prime

example of this problem took place in May of 2001. Central and Eastern Washington

experienced extreme drought conditions, creating extreme low water levels in the lake, thus

attracting artifact hunters who scavenged areas with metal detectors, trying to find whatever they

could. According to the Spokane Tribe’s Cultural Preservation Department,

“Every year at Lake Roosevelt, looters destroy historic and archaeological sites to find artifacts they can keep for themselves or to profit from. Vacationers pocket artifacts as souvenirs. ATV users turn ancient homes and resting places of our Ancestors into their own muddy playgrounds.”70

67 Ibid, 7668 Pitzer, Grand Coulee, 22069 Ibid, 22170 “Cultural Preservation,” Spokane Tribe, accessed April 14, 2011, http://www.spokanetribe.com/culture

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The Colville Tribe has also expressed similar concerns. To protect artifacts from looters, the

National Park Service, in conjunction with the Colville and Spokane Tribe, enforce the area and

work very closely. Under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act of 1990,

federal agencies work closely with Tribes to enforce federal, state, and Tribal laws regarding

graves and artifacts. Despite a strong relationship between the National Park Service and the

Cultural Resource Management Departments’ of both Tribes, there have many documented cases

of theft in the past few years alone.

One of the most recent cases was that of Sandie McNiel, a Kettle Falls resident. McNiel

had multiple run-ins with enforcement officers and many artifacts were found in his home by

federal agents. While the crime is very serious, it took federal agents five years to move forward

with the case and prosecute McNiel. He was charged a total of $4,000 and ordered to serve 30

days of home detention, essentially a slap on the wrist.71 In the case, U.S. Attorney Michael

Ormsby argued, “It is nothing less than stealing the cultural heritage of our ancestors.”72

Ignorance about these laws continues, but all parties work closely together to enforce laws and

educate individuals on the effects and repercussions of tampering with artifacts. It’s an

unfortunate problem that continues to take place regularly in the Lake Roosevelt area.

Compensation and the Continued Fight:

While some of the negative impacts of the Grand Coulee Dam have been noticed and

attempts have been made to mitigate these impacts, such as the salmon runs with hatcheries, one

of the other major on-going problems is financial compensation for the dam’s effects on the

71 Chelsea Bannach, “Collector sentenced for stealing Indian artifacts,” Wenatchee World, November 4, 2010, accessed April 16, 2011, http://www.wenatcheeworld.com/news/2010/nov/04/collector-sentenced-for-stealing-indian-artifacts/72 Chelsea Bannach, “Collector sentenced for stealing Indian artifacts.”

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regional Tribes. In 1940, the Spokane Tribe was given a payment of $4700. According to

Spokane elder Bruce Wynne, the government told members, “If you Indians are fair, you’ll take

what we’re offering you.”73 In 1978, the Indian Claims Commission awarded $3,000,000 to the

Colville Tribe for loss of salmon.74 However, the award did not cover the Spokane Tribe, nor did

it fulfill the promise of power revenues, among other things. Despite the promises of revenue and

free or cheap electricity, Colville Reservation residents were paying twice as much for electricity

from the dam as residents of Grant County across the river.75

A Settlement for the Colville Confederated Tribes

In 1994, The Colville finally got a settlement offer to cover the revenue from the dam

that was never shared. The settlement awarded $53,000,000 to the Tribe, which was then split up

among tribal members.76 In addition to the lump sum settlement, the BPA agreed to share

revenue annually, which has resulted in an income between $14,000,000 and $21,000,000.77

Colville Chairman Eddie Palmanteer, after winning the settlement in 1994, stated,

No amount of money can truly compensate the tribes and its members, especially our elders, for the way of life that Grand Coulee Dam took away, and to that extent the settlement is inadequate,… but because the settlement is structured to provide continuing benefits for our children, the settlement is one that we had to take.78

73 Grand Coulee Dam, Spokane Tribe video, http://www.spokanetribe.com/grand-coulee-dam, accessed March 28, 201174 Ortolano, Kao Cushing, Grand Coulee, 1475 Blaine Harden, “The Grand Coulee: Savior for Whites, Disaster for Indians,” Alicia Patterson Reporter, Vol 15. #4 (1993) accessed March 28, 2011, http://aliciapatterson.org/APF1504/Harden/Harden.html76 John Craig, “Paying for lost salmon,” High Country News, June 12, 1995 accessed April 2, 2011 http://www.hcn.org/issues/37/109877 Grand Coulee Dam, Spokane Tribe video78 Associated Press, “Colville Tribes OK Settlement Over Grand Coulee Dam Losses,” Seattle Times, April 17, 1994, accessed April 16, 2011, http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19940417&slug=1905951

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The settlement came with many mixed feelings from Tribal members. In an interview with

Colville Tribal members Rodney and Colleen Cawston, the feelings were explained. Rodney,

who is a Tribal Liaison for the Washington State Department of Natural Resources, explained:

I voted against it…I remember one area that many members tried to bring up was that there were many members who just wanted the salmon back, wanted to see if the federal government would find a way to bring the salmon back to the waters above the damn, and that wasn’t ever really addressed. Many members would bring this up, but no responses were ever given. They [the Tribe] just came back with financial figures of how it would benefit members, using forecasts for 20-50 years out. When you’d go into the room, the Tribe had all these fancy charts and posters. They’d almost grab you by the shoulder and bring you to the charts, and show you this is what you’re going to get, before the vote occurred, but they never addressed the salmon, and there were a lot of Tribal members who would have just liked to see the salmon come back. If we could harvest salmon annually, how does that stack up dollar for dollar? Some studies showed projections of salmon being worth more than any settlement we could have gotten. …It’s true the money could be beneficial, but I felt it was more of an important message if we could have just voted no. I felt that the salmon was more important to the people. I felt that the salmon was more important to the people, and I really thought we should have negotiated to have the government attempt to bring back some of the fisheries.79

Colleen, who is former Chairwoman of the Tribe, and presently the Director of Washington

State’s Department of Social and Health Services Office of Indian Policy added:

This was unlike any other vote. You had to be present on the reservation to vote. It was sad hearing Tribal members that were in their 50’s that had never been to the reservation, that their one purpose was to vote to accept the settlement. I think many voted for it because it took so long. There was concern that if we don’t take this, will we get anything? Our team from the Tribe, as well as our legal team, pushed for a long-term settlement, perpetuity, which I think was very smart. They [the Tribe] also added a stipulation that for 18 year olds and younger, the money is held in trust. You have to graduate, or receive your General Equivalency Diploma to draw out money at 18.80

One problem that has arisen from the settlement is how it affects the social services status of

many Tribal members. Colleen Cawston detailed the problem:

The settlements are exempt, but it has been very challenging for some Tribal members who are receiving assistance from the federal government through the Washington state because they [the state] claim that settlement income. It’ll then kick people off their

79 Cawston, Rodney & Colleen, Interview by author. Tape recording. Olympia, WA., August 01, 201180 Ibid

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public assistance, although federally settlements are supposed to be exempt. But because most states utilize citation of law, if you were to ask most tribal members, they wouldn’t know the federal law that created the settlement, only that they get an annual payment.81

While the settlement was a contentious issue, Tribal members passed the measure

overwhelmingly with a 2,191 to 154 vote. At the time, there were over 7,000 enrolled

members.82 Since the vote, much has changed. The BPA has removed a sign that showed how

much revenue the dam was generating. It’s also believed by some, such as Colleen Cawston, that

the U.S. has shifted how it utilizes the dam. Cawston believes the dam is used more for irrigating

purposes than electricity, a change that has come since the Tribe received their settlement, as the

settlement only pertains to revenue from electricity. Almost all information on the Tribes has

been removed from the dam. Cawston says, “There is such a stark contrast to what is important

to the Tribal people and what is visibly important to the federal agency that runs the dam. [BPA]

They are very much in conflict.”83

The Spokane Tribe of Indians and the Fight for a Settlement:

The Spokane Tribe, on the other hand, has been fighting for over 70 years to receive

compensation for their losses. In letters by Harold Ickes and others dated from 1935, it is

discussed that reasonable revenue should be given. The Spokane Tribe first started lobbying for

payments in December of 1941, only for talks to be disrupted by the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

Ever since, it’s been a never-ending struggle. The Tribe has argued that the government has paid

out for the events of September 11 and Hurricane Katrina, both natural disasters, so they should

pay for a disaster forced upon their people. They also argue that there is no doubt the BPA has

81 Ibid82 Associated Press, “Colville Tribes OK Settlement83 Cawstons, interview by Author

E l s e n | 27

the money to pay, stating that between tourism revenue and money in reserve accounts, there is

over one-billion dollars available.84 There have been bills introduced into both Congress and the

Senate annually. Over the past few years, Senator Maria Cantwell, (D-WA) has introduced a

Senate bill titled, “Spokane Tribe of Indians of the Spokane Reservation Grand Coulee Dam

Equitable Compensation Settlement Act.” The bill would,

…establish the Spokane Tribe of Indians Settlement Fund. [The bill] requires the payment of compensation to the Spokane Business Council for the use of tribal lands for the generation of hydropower from the Grand Coulee Dam.

[The bill] requires the use of such funds, in part, for a Cultural Resource Repository and Interpretive Center concerning the culture and history of the Spokane Tribe.

[The bill] directs the Administrator of the Bonneville Power Administration to make specified settlement payments to the Tribe.

[The bill] allows payments made to the Spokane Business Council or Tribe to be used or invested by the Business Council in the same manner and for the same purposes as other Spokane Tribal governmental funds.

[The bill] confirms the Secretary of the Interior's delegation of authority to the Tribe over land located within the exterior boundaries of the Spokane Indian Reservation.

[The bill] provides that the Secretary's delegation of authority over such lands and the payments by the Secretary and the Administrator constitute full satisfaction of the claim of the Spokane Tribe to a fair share of the annual hydropower revenues generated by the Grand Coulee Dam project for the past and continued use of the Tribe's land to produce hydropower at Grand Coulee Dam.85

A Congressional Budget Office cost estimate states that the BPA would make payments as long

as electricity is generated at the Grand Coulee Dam, roughly $6,000,000 annually. In addition to

that, BPA records show that the agency has nearly $8,000,000 set aside to cover a portion of

expected payments should legislation like this pass. The estimate also states:

84 Grand Coulee Dam, Spokane Tribe video85 “S.1345 Bill Summary,” U.S. Library of Congress, accessed July 29, 2011. http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d112:SN01345:@@@D&summ2=m&

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Payments to certain tribal trust funds that are held and managed in a fiduciary capacity by the federal government on behalf of Indian tribes are treated as payments to a nonfederal entity. As a result, CBO expects that the entire amount...would be recorded as budget authority and outlays in that year. …The trust fund would be non-budgetary, and any use of such funds and interest payments to the Tribes would have no effect on the federal budget.86

Unfortunately, the bills that have been introduced over the past few sessions have died in

committee. The outlook for passage anytime soon is not great, with many Tea Party members

generally unsupportive of any spending and in addition, Tribes as well. One Senator likely to be

part of the opposition to any settlement would be Rand Paul. (R-KY) Senator Paul has not been

shy about his feelings on Indian Country, as a proposed budget his office put out earlier in 2011

called for complete defunding of the Bureau of Indian Affairs and a 50% cut on the Indian

Health Services budget.87 Another probable blocker of any settlement is Senator Tom Coburn.

(R-OK) In his own deficit reduction plan, Senator Coburn has called for the end to the tax-

exempt Tribal Economic Development Bond, which helps Tribal communities with funding for

businesses and housing. Senator Coburn argues, “…this provision does not require bonded

projects to fulfill an ‘essential government function,’ and thus can be used for a wide variety of

initiatives including tourism development, convention facilities, golf course, and marinas. The

bonds are not always put to the best use.”88

86 “Budget Report,” GovTrackUS, accessed July 29, 2011. http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billreport.xpd?bill=s111-1388&type=cbo 87 Rob Capriccioso, “Sen. Rand Paul Set to Ignore Treaty Obligations to Indians,” Indian Country Today, February 08, 2011, accessed July 23, 2011, http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2011/02/sen-rand-paul-set-to-ignore-treaty-obligations-to-indians/88 Gale Courey- Toensing, “Coburn Proposes Ending Tribal Tax Exempt Bonds, CDFI Funding, Tax Credits,” Indian Country Today, August 04, 2011, accessed August 27, 2011, http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2011/08/coburn-proposes-ending-tribal-tax-exempt-bonds-cdfi-funding-tax-credits/

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It is ironic that Tea Party politicians want to cut and limit the rights of Tribes. One

lawyer, Philip Baker-Shenk, points this out. “Ironically, even as we see a resurgence of interest

and veneration for the U.S. Constitution, there appears to be a blind spot when it comes to the

obligations owed Native American Indians in federal treaties solemnly negotiated and ratified as

the ‘supreme law of the land.”89 However, the Spokane Tribe settlement bills have been

sponsored by both Democrats and Republicans. John McCain has co-sponsored a few of the

bills. The struggle to right this wrong will unfortunately continue, as the Spokane Tribe

continually is forgotten and the Colville, despite a financial settlement, can never replace the

losses.

Grand Coulee and Environmental Political Theory:

As stated at the beginning of this paper, I believe that the federal government’s

hydroelectric dam policies were rooted deeply in anthropocentrism and traditional Christian

ecological theory, in regards to the “great chain of being.” There are many different definitions

for anthropocentrism. Dr. Katie McShane of Colorado State University defines anthropocentrism

as a concept that:

…claims that the nonhuman world and/or its parts have value only because, and insofar as, they directly or indirectly serve human interests. It is worth noticing that in first instance, this is not a claim about how we ought to behave. It is a claim about which features of nonhuman things can make them matter in which ways. Anthropocentrism says that only one feature- serving human interests, directly or indirectly – can make a nonhuman thing valuable.90

89Rob Capriccioso, “Sen. Rand Paul Set to Ignore Treaty Obligations.” Indian Country Today Media Network. 8 Feb 2011 90Katie McShane, “Anthropocentrism vs. Non-Anthropocentrism: Why Should We Care?” Environmental Values 16, no. 2: 169-186 (2007)

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Furthermore, anthropocentrism can be defined as, “the belief that humans are separate from and

ethically superior to the rest of nature. As a result, humans consider themselves to be rightfully,

the masters of nature, subduing it for their own instrumental purposes.”91

Secondly, there is a connection between the policies of dams in general throughout the

world, and Christian beliefs in regards to ecological theory. Dr. John Barry, Reader in Politics at

Queens University in Belfast, Northern Island, describes the concept of Christianity and ‘the

great chain of being’ in relation to environmental theory.

In the Christian bible, one can trace some of the roots of how the environment has been viewed and treated within Western society and social theory. Typically, people point to a passage in Genesis in which God ordered Adam and Eve to ‘dominate and subdue’ the earth… which demonstrates the extremely anthropocentric character of Christianity. …Humans are permitted and indeed encouraged to use the environment and value it insofar as it is useful to human ends or purpose. 92

93

91 Suzanne C. Beckmann et al. “Anthropocentrism, Value Systems, and Environmental Attitudes: A Multi-National Comparison” (working paper, Department of Marketing, Copenhagen Business School, Copenhagen, 1997), 3.92 John Barry, Environment and Social Theory (New York: Routledge, 2007), 37.93 The Great Chain of Being, adapted from David Pepper, The Roots of Modern Environmentalism (Wolfeboro: Croom Helm, 1984), 70.

E l s e n | 31

Thirdly, many have linked the domination of nature to the domination of people. This

belief is shared by many philosophers, including Max Horkheimer.94 Furthering this argument,

environmentalist Patrick McCully, author of Silenced Rivers, argues:

The domination of rivers is one of the clearest illustrations of the link between the control of nature and the control of people. Large dams are not built and operated by all of society, but by the elite with bureaucratic, political, or economic power. The dams give this elite the ability to direct water for their own benefit, depriving the previous users [in this case, the Indians of the Upper Columbia]…to riverine resources.95

Many regarded the Grand Coulee area as a wasteland, with no intrinsic value. The idea of

damming the wild Columbia River for irrigation and electricity would fall under the concept of

subduing nature for instrumental purposes. Furthermore, nearly all of the policies leading up to

the creation of the Grand Coulee Dam were centered on how a dam could benefit humans and

development in the west, while concerns about its impacts on the non-human world were hardly

explored. Additionally, these impacts were not planned for, exhibited by the previously-stated

fact that a request had to be made partway through the construction process for a fish biologist.

This, in my opinion, shows a clear connection between federal policies for Columbia River

hydroelectric development and anthropocentrism. Also, the fact that there was not much of a

concrete mitigation plan in place for the impacts on salmon, as well as the fact that Reclamation

would accept the loss of salmon due to the fact that the economic benefits of the dam were more

important, shows a connection between the Columbia River’s development and Christian

ecological theory in regards to the ‘great chain of being.’96 Throughout the process of

construction, and even in the years immediately after the completion of the dam, it is clear that

salmon were far below humans along the chain.

94 Patrick McCully, Silenced Rivers: The Ecology and Politics of Large Dams (New York: Zed Books, 2001), 241.95 Ibid96 Pitzer, Grand Coulee, 223

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Conclusion:

The Grand Coulee Dam is by far one of the largest structures ever built. It was successful

in creating jobs, winning the war, irrigating the Columbia basin, and so much more. The dam

produces enough hydroelectric power to supply power nonstop to two cities the size of Seattle.97

The dam has done much good for the region. Washington would not be where it is at today

without the dam. However, at what cost can we accept projects such as the Grand Coulee Dam?

While the Columbia Basin and other areas have benefited, the actual region around the dam has

yet to see much growth. Hardly any water from the dam was used for irrigating the land near the

dam, but rather farms in Grant and Benton counties. Although a busy area during the

construction, the life of the region has died down since. The Seattle Times profiled the area

recently, on the heels of the dam’s 75th anniversary, noting that, “It is still one of the state's least-

developed recreational paradises. The pace is slow, the land is affordable and the bars, burger

joints and bait shops have yet to be replaced by bistros, breweries and bookstores.”98 A local

businessman jokes, “Even the cops get bored around here. They used to have a saying: 'Come for

vacation, leave on probation.”99 Kirby Billingsley, cousin of former Washington State

Representative Sam Hill said in 1962,

Had Grand Coulee construction not been started when it was, the dam never would have been built…because the fish people were just coming to life with the realization that hundreds of miles of fish spawning streams would be cut off from the great annual Columbia River salmon migrations.100

Paul C. Pitzer summarizes the dam well at the end of Grand Coulee: Harnessing a Dream.

97 “Wonders of the World Databank-Grand Coulee Dam” Public Broadcasting Service, accessed April 05, 2011, http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/buildingbig/wonder/structure/grand_coulee.html98 Nancy Bartley, “Grand Coulee Dam’s immensity dominates Columbia River Basin,” Seattle Times, July 23, 2008, accessed July 29, 2011, http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/travel/2008067443_onlywa23coulee.html99 Ibid100 Pitzer, Grand Coulee, 359

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The construction of Rock Island, Bonneville, and Grand Coulee dams began what historian Stewart Holbrook called the “dam building era” in the Northwest. …It left the Columbia River a series of lakes, and a series of problems that may require dramatic solutions. Those dams, and the irrigation, power, and navigation they provide, have over-burdened the river, devastated fish, polluted waterways, and brought jurisdictional disputes over finite supply of water. They [the dams] represent a formidable, technological achievement, yet they have brought formidable, unanticipated problems.101

As more research is done into the long-term effects of the Grand Coulee Dam on the region’s

Tribes and the environment, it will continue to show that this dam has been an environmental

disaster and a major social justice issue. Rodney Cawston sums it up best in saying, “So much

was taken, but nothing was ever given back. The federal government, as our trustee to look out

for the welfare of our people, really lost this, and failed to step up and look after the true interests

of the Tribes.”102

We'll still be here when the dam goes away,

And the river will flow like it did one day,

And the salmon will swim ‘cause our people did pray,

That we'd still be here when the dam goes away.103

101 Ibid, 361102 Cawstons, interview by Author103 Lyrics from “When the Dam Goes Away,” by Jim Boyd, Voices From the Lakes, Thunderwolf Records, 2010

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Bibliography

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