"Water Resource Development of the Columbia River Basin." I (1958): 70 – 85. U.S. Army Engineer Division, North Pacific. (reviewed by Jennifer Lenhardt)
Summary of Chapter Four (Navigation) of the study on Water Resource Development:
The fourth chapter of the study on water resource development is devoted to navigation. The chapter includes evaluations of proposals for dams and locks on the Columbia and Snake rivers. It notes the changes in amounts and types of river traffic and the corresponding need for changes in river management to accommodate the traffic. It also attempts to put a dollar sign to the proposals by noting the reduction in cost (mostly convenience) if the changes were implemented. It ultimately summarizes the improvements necessary to maximize the potential for navigation in the Columbia River Basin.
The writing is easy to understand and doesn't delve too far into the technicalities of dam and lock changes. The graphs, charts, and tables summarize data nicely and make it easy to follow the argument. The focus of the majority of the tables is the changes in the river over time. Nearly all the tables in the chapter are devoted to showing the change in something, be that river transportation types, amounts, or frequency, over a period of time including a projection into the future.
The study sheds light, for example, on the change in deep-draft navigation, noting that the change from ships with a draft depth of 28 feet to ships with a 35 foot draft changes remarkably the types of maintenance needed on the river and the distance upriver that the ships can travel before transferring cargo to barges. It notes that the primary products being shipped on the waterways are oil (inbound) and wheat (outbound). The projected increase in cargo for these two industries is significant. Interestingly, the chapter also notes that although the tonnage being shipped on the river has increased dramatically, the number of trips has not, indicating that larger and larger vessels are being used for transportation.
The chapter also charts the development of barge traffic on the river, beginning in 1938. This section on barges is broken down into reaches of the river between pools and dams that are slated for improvements or simply maintenance. The tonnage in terms of barge traffic through the Bonneville locks has increased from 161,920 tons per year in 1938 to 1,518,924 in 1956 (p 75). With figures like these, it is easy to see the importance of evaluating and monitoring the progression of river navigation.
Critique of Chapter Four (Navigation) of the study on Water Resource Development:
This study was completed by the U.S. Army Engineer Division in the North Pacific in 1958. The most telling sentence in the chapter is on p. 81 where the report reads, “Economic justification for extending navigation beyond McNary pool was not clearly demonstrable…but minimum provisions for future lock installation in the initial construction of both dams was recommended.” This illustrates the type of development that was being fostered in the late fifties. There is absolutely no mention of effects of river deepening on wildlife or long term sustainability. There is mention only of development, of building, of more traffic and more commerce. There is discussion of the ability of ports to handle increased cargo transportation and as soon as it is determined that the ports can handle it, a recommendation is made to dredge up the river, put in dams, put in locks, and get those huge ships moving up and down the river.
I am not particularly surprised by the layout of this study nor am I surprised by its selectivity in incorporating findings. It is clear, however, how bad policy perpetuated itself on a national level when the likelihood that any of the congressmen to whom this study was presented had ever even seen the Columbia, much less were aware of the detrimental effects of increased traffic and industrialization along the river.
The chapter on navigation especially illustrates the lack of consideration for complicating factors in development of rivers and is a very informative section that illustrates the atmosphere in which developmental legislation was passed and is possibly still passed.
Robert D. Clark Honors College, University of Oregon
HC 441: Science Colloquium, Columbia River Ecology
Fall term, 2005
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