“There is great controversy going on between the Fed. Government & the state over the dam at Albeni Falls. The gov. wants more water for Coulee & Bonneville & proposes to flood most of the meadows around here to get it — also wants Flathead Lake. The state wants to build a lower dam. Either way our meadows will be covered. They never pay much for that sort of thing. Some want it & some do not — mostly, not, in Idaho & Mont. They have even proposed a high dam later which would cover every town in Bonner Co. except Blanchard and Granite. We’d just be a chain of islands.”
Helen Ashley Hawkins, June 1943.
Residents of the Pend Oreille region divided over the proposed dam at Albeni Falls. Those living near the site favored the idea, and the Priest River Chamber of Commerce unanimously supported the immediate construction of a low dam at the falls. Upriver, however, where acres of farmland and large portions of towns were threatened, residents vehemently opposed the dam.
Bonner Bee article regarding local opposition
Dal Hawkins talks about the decision to dam Albeni Falls.
