people + place

O ur regi O n ’ s dams represent many things to many people. We describe them in language which reflects our own preoccupations and prejudices — the spirit of our times, the economy, our politics, our interpretations of history.

The positives are familiar: flood control, drylands irrigation, improved shipping, and a rich supply of abundant hydroelectric power. The negatives, too: fish kills, natural habitat wiped out, native heritage destroyed, an indentured slavery to the demands of commerce.

Before we damn the dams, though, or damn them with faint praise, read some history. Read it not just for observed errors and miscues and regrettable decisions, but for the sighs of relief, the self-satisfactions, the lessening of toil, the goal of the moment, the spirit of the place. The context.

In his book The Columbia , reporter Stewart Holbrook wrote a sensitive, sophisticated treatment of the plight of salmon in the new culture of dams — especially since he was writing in the “go-go” expansionist 1950s. But he also harkened back, in a following paragraph, to the now submerged and subdued Cascade Rapids:

At last the “Great Shute” of Lewis and Clark, the place of labored portage alike of trappers, immigrants, and steamboat freight and passengers, lay untroubled in the quiet waters behind Bonneville Dam. The dreaded barrier was gone.

The “labored portage.” “The dreaded barrier.” “The quiet waters.” History misleads us if we strip it of its context, of its time and place, of its emotional charge. Our 20/20 hindsight may still condemn it. But we’ll leaven our judgments with empathy, perspective and thoughtfulness.

where we’ve Been • where we’re GoInG

The Long View project pairs history with modern context. To celebrate Longview’s 100th birthday, Columbia River Reader is expanding its monthly “People+Place” feature to contrast the historical “Then” with the contemporary “Now.”

“It’s important to look back and celebrate the past,” said publisher Susan Piper, “but equally important to track the changes that make us what we are today. How close are we to the founders’ vision? What remains? What’s entirely new?”

Thanks to tremendous community support (see Partner Spotlights, page 26), the Reader will present 12 months of “People+Place Then and Now” reportage, then combine and expand these features into a commemorative book. The Long View: A Planned City and

America’s Last Frontier written by Hal Calbom, with a foreword by John M. McClelland, III.

The Reader is coordinating with the Longview Centennial Committee, led by Reed Hadley, to publicize civic activities and celebrations (see Centennial Countdown, page 26) and will host a Book Launch Gala June 30, 2023.

Then And Now

1. Developing Dreams

2. Empire of Trees

3. Heavy Lifting

4. Work Force

5. Waste Not, Want Not