(Not printed at Government expense)

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Congressional Record

PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES OF THE 76th CONGRESS, FIRST SESSION

Vol. 84WASHINGTON, MONDAY, MAY 8, 1939 No.90

UMATILLA RAPIDS DAM ON THE COLUMBIA RIVER

SPEECHES

OF

HON. WALTER M. PIERCE

OF OREGON

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

Monday, May 8 and Wednesday, May 17, 1939

May 8, 1939

Mr. PIERCE of Oregon. Mr. Speaker, the Columbia River is the second largest river in the United States. It carries as much water annually as the Mississippi above the mouth of the Ohio. Umatilla Rapids, the location of the proposed dam, are 292 miles from the ocean, about 150 miles east of Bonneville Dam, and the same distance from Grand Coulee Dam, farther up the Columbia and to the north. More water per annum flows through the Columbia River at Umatilla Rapids than passes down the Mississippi at Keokuk, Iowa. These rapids form the stopper which now blocks full navigation utilization of this great river. The Government has spent millions of dollars on the lower Columbia River and has pro-vided safe navigation for ocean-going vessels across the bar, which has now more than 40 feet of free water at low tide. Navigation for ocean-going vessels extends up as far as Portland, Oreg., and its neighbor, Vancouver, Wash., across the river. Columbia River navigation is our goal; Umatilla Rapids is the obstruction.

Bonneville Dam, recently completed, is about 150 miles from the ocean and the ocean tides extend up to it. It was built for navigation and power. Sea locks were built at Bonneville as the first step toward upper river navigation, carrying the port inland 100 miles. The entire river below Umatilla is under improvement for transportation. The proposed dam will open the door at the threshold of the cargo storehouse. It will link Bonneville development at one end to Grand Coulee project at the other, increasing incalculably the economic benefits of each. Grand Coulee Dam is a tremendous irrigation project aided by power for pumping with a surplus for sale Umatilla Dam as now proposed is for navigation only.

UMATILLA DAM THE KEY

Umatilla Rapids is a bottle neck. It is the stopper that must be removed before any great amount of ocean-going commerce can be loaded on ocean-going vessels at the inland port of The Dalles. The stopper must be removed to justify the expenditure of $5,000,000 for the sea locks at Bonneville,

and the $2,000,000 for making a 27-foot open channel from Bonneville to Vancouver. The commerce to justify these improvements in the lower river is available in the upper river but it must be able to pass Umatilla Rapids, through locks, before it can safely be sent down the river to the seaport of The Dalles.

RELATION BETWEEN UMATILLA AND BONNEVILLE

The Umatilla Rapids Dam should be constructed now. It is justifiable as part of a going program. It can also be justified as a unit by itself. This dam is a navigation project which will regulate the flow of the Columbia River and will thus materially increase the value of the generating electric plant at Bonneville, 150 miles west. The dam should, at this time, be constructed for navigation only, carrying such foundations as Army engineers find necessary for the ultimate installation of wheels and generators for creating electric energy. The height of the dam, as planned by the Army engineers, will be 56 feet.

The total cost of the dam is estimated by the Army engineers at $23,700,000. It will take 3 years to complete construction The light power, and heat necessary for the construction can all be supplied by the Government power plant at Bonneville, as transmission lines have already been provided. The saving by buying the Government-generated power from Bonneville will materially reduce the cost of construction, perhaps as much as a million dollars, covering power, heat, and light, for construction and housing. It was expected that a similar use of Bonneville power would be made during construction at Grand Coulee, that great Public Works project, thus becoming one of the Government’s earliest and largest customers. Why a private utility was favored over Bonneville I have not been able to learn.

UMATILLA PROJECT READY FOR LABORERS

The Umatilla Dam project is ready for immediate construction. All surveys are complete; test holes have been dug. From an engineering standpoint it is perfect. It has been passed on and recommended by the Army engineers and by the Army Board in Washington. The climate at the rapids is mild, and the project will furnish year-round employment for 2,500 men directly, and as many more indirectly. It will afford a market for diversified farm products, garden, fruit, poultry, dairy, wheat, and meat from 10,000 farmers within easy trucking distance of Umatilla Dam. It will materially increase the tonnage of long-distance hauls for the railroads.

ARMY ENGINEERS APPROVE PROJECT

. . . Rivers must be improved for navigation and the interests of the people must be protected. Transportation should not be allowed to become a private monopoly.

FUBLIC WORKS THE BEST INVESTMENT

Many of us realize that we are living today in a twilight zone, between the old capitalistic system which received a terrible blow in the strain and stress of the great World War, and its regeneration and adaptation to that new era that lies ahead. We cannot picture today what that future development will be, nor how it will be brought about. We do know, however, that in the period of time that lies just ahead work must be found for the idle millions; yes; through W.P.A., P.W.A., C.C.C., or some kindred organization. What can be more desirable, what can we plan better than enduring public works–not “boondoggling,” raking leaves, painting sidewalks, or other forms of temporary diversion from entirely profitless idleness. We must expend the labor and funds in public works that will make something of value for our civilization-something which will make men happier, give them better living conditions, and renew hope and ambition. Can you think of anything better than the improvement of our rivers and the numerous resulting benefits? Such a project 18 Umatilla Rapids Dam. I am asking this Congress to pull the stopper out of the bottle neck which lies half way between Grand Coulee and Bonneville by accepting this item in the main rivers and harbors authorization bill. I have for some years had before Congress a bill providng for this dam. This will make certain the financial success of all the great public-works improvements of the Northwest in the vicinity of this magnificent river which opens into the Pacific Ocean, on whose farther shores live nearly half the people of the world. This river, the Columbia, flowing idly to the sea through the centuries, was unknown to civilized man until Washington had been President for 3 years. Then Captain Gray sailed his frail bark, the Columbia, over the bar and gave a name and fame to what has proved to be the most valuable stream in all the world for production of electric energy. Fully utilized, it will also remove transportation barriers and overcome the sectional handicap of uncertainties of moisture and rainfall. We of Oregon, Washington, and Idaho look expectantly and hopefully for the action of this House. I am hoping you have caught the vision.

Mr. WHITE of Idaho. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?

Mr. PIERCE of Oregon. I yield to the gentleman from Idaho.

Mr. WHIITE of Idaho. In considering the improvement of the Columbia and the Snake Rivers up to Lewiston, is it not a fact that the great resources of the country, such as timber and minerals, lie inland from Lewiston, and would not that benefit Portland?

Mr. PIERCE of Oregon. Seventy-five percent of all the traffic originates at and above Umatilla Rapids.

Speech of May 17, 1939

Mr. MANSFIELD. Mr. Chairman, I yield 5 minutes to the young gentleman from Oregon [Mr. PIERCE]. [laughter and applause.]

Mr. PIERCE of Oregon. Mr. Chairman, I wish to pay my respects to the chairman of the Rivers and Harbors Committee. I remember how kind he was 2 years ago when we had up the Bonneville legislation. At that time I was taken to the hospital for a major operation, and I shall always remember that when .1 came back I found he had embodied in the bill, which became the law, practically all the ideas that were so dear to me. He and I have many things In common. He was one of the first men I became acquainted with when I came to the National Capital. He and I were born in the same year. He is 3 months older, and like an elder brother he claims the right to instruct me.

Mr. MANSFIELD. You are 3 months younger.

Mr. PIERCE of Oregon. And I often take those instructions and I am glad to appear before his committee, where I always receive most excellent treatment. I am here on this particular occasion to defend Umatilla Dam.

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Mr. PIERCE of Oregon. Mr. Chairman, we of the Pacific Northwest have supported in Congress the great development projects of other sections of the country, rejoicing in every forward move. We have acquiesced in the demands of the South, the East, and the great Middle West. Our section is thinly populated, giving us but few voices here in Congress. Our numbers are few in response to the call of the House roll. Our section is practically the last frontier where pioneering is not yet finished. We will appreciate more than words can tell the continuation of the friendly attitude which has been shown us by so many Members of this House. Our situation is briefly and clearly expressed in the oft-quoted saying of the under-privileged one: “If my cup won’t hold but a pint, and your’n holds a quart, wouldn’t ye be mean not to let me have my little half measure full?”

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We of Oregon and Washington are vitally interested in the Umatilla Dam item in the rivers and harbors bill. This dam on the Co1umbia River is the key which will unlock the resources of the great inland empire. It is also the key to the utilization of the public works improvements already completed or under way on the Columbia River. It is needed in order to render most beneficial far into the future the investments in Bonneville and Grand Coulee Dams.

Umatilla Dam will result in submerging rapids which have proved insurmountable obstacles to efficient navigation. Its construction will make possible water navigation into the very center of the greatest irrigation project of the future now being built at Grand Coulee. There, In a wild, unprofitable stretch of desert will bloom a new civilization. The thousands of farm families which will live on these irrigated tracts will add to the pay rolls of your factories, as they will demand buildings, utensils, machinery, and all the things for which farm earnings are always spent. On the Coulee project alone there will probably be bui1t 30,000 houses, which will need lumber, plumbing, fixtures, pumps, garages, cars, fencing, paint, refrigerators, electric ranges. Other sections will furnish most of these necessities. This Coulee project has had the approval of Congress and is making unprecedented progress in construction. Its ultimate success is dependent upon this other smaller construction at Umatilla Rapids, which will release the river for human service.

The only objections which I have ever heard are economy and the fear of other transportation agencies that they may lose some business. Our colleague from Mississippi has brought to your attention the fact that railroad men have never lost job nor wages because of river and harbor developments. It is especially true in this case that the project will aid all forms of transportation, because the improvements will stimulate business, with the railroads profiting richly from. the long hauls, the trucks sharing in the short hauls, and the waterway making it possible for agricultural producers to carry on their business, from which so many others will derive profit. Not only will there be trainloads of materials moving westward now, but long-haul westward freight traffic will continue through all the years to come.

The real economy of this authorization lies in the fact that it will make most useful other expenditures already made. It is the tie that will bind and strengthen developments between Bonneville and Grand Coulee, where Umatilla lies, closer than any other dam to the geographical center of the Pacific Northwest.

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I am hoping and believing that we of the far Northwest will receive that same vote of confidence which has been so often extended to us since I have been a Member of this Congress. Help us put the desert on the tax rolls. [Applause.]