Grand Coulee Dam: Columbia River at mile marker 596.6, completed in 1941,federally owned, concrete gravity type, hydroelectric and irrigation. No fish passage facilities were designed, resulting in a loss of access of 1140 miles of upriver spawning grounds for salmon. Grand Coulee is the largest producer of hydroelectric power in the U.S. Some in Congress who thought that such a large power plant in a remote area of Washington state was unnecessary opposed its construction. Indian people in both the United States and Canada also opposed the dam.
Grand Coulee Dam was a disaster for Columbia River Indian tribes. In the 1930s most tribal members relied heavily on a traditional subsistence economy, supplemented by gardening, stock raising, and occasional wage labor. With the loss of all or most of their anadromous fish, the upper river tribes lost the centerpiece of their economy and 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 Spokane to move from their homes with minimal compensation. Relocated tribal towns lost essential services that took decades to replace. Some graves were relocated, but many more were covered by the reservoir, and during periods of low water are now threatened by artifact hunters. . . . Grand Coulee Dam severly damaged the physical and spiritual health of tribal members throughout the region.
— Excerpted from “Grand Coulee Dam and Columbia Basin Project, U.S.A.”
We had awful good fishing on the Spokane river. There was a Washington Water Power dam at Little Falls. We had to run to there until Grand Coulee Dam . . . everybody ate fish. You could go down to the river in the morning and catch 8-10 fish. People still fish a little. You used to be able to catch all you wanted. Now you can go out for 18 hours and get 1 fish.
— Joe Brisboys, Spokane Elder, 30 August 1999
We lost quite a bit. What we got from the claims payments was just peanuts compared to what we lost. We have to go to the Coast hatcheries to get salmon for our dinners here. When I was younger I went fishing at Chief Joseph dam. I’d get 80 or 90 salmon and put them in the freezer, then I’d have dinners and give them away. By the end of the winter they were all gone. I like that. At Keller and Kettle Falls they didn’t sell their salmon. If someone wanted any, they’d just give it to them. If someone had hukleberries, they’d trade those for salmon, or if someone had a lot of deer meat, they’d trade that.
— Alex Sam, Colville Elder, 20 September 1999
