The Long Wait for the Priest Rapids Dam
For six years, settlers have waited for the federal government to allow the development of the Priest Rapids power site, hoping it would turn their land into productive farms.
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The Shields water power bill, intended to regulate power sites on navigable rivers, passed the Senate 46 to 22. Supporters, including 1,200 landowners in the Priest Rapids Land Owners’ Association, see this as the key to building a dam that would provide irrigation water for farms located 200 feet above the river. The association, led by Vice President Milton I. Dam, has urged Senator Miles Poindexter to support the bill without amendments, arguing that 'unreasonable and unjust restrictions' from conservationists like Gifford Pinchot have blocked progress for six years. While Washington's congressional representatives debate federal regulation, the settlers see the bill as their final hope to make the land support their families.
“These settlers have waited for over six years for congress to take some action that would give them the facilities of developing their land.”
The Priest Rapids Dam was eventually built, and the debate over the balance between ecological conservation and agricultural development continues to shape the Columbia River Basin today.
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