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The Columbia River was energy to every socio-cultural group that encountered it, be it the caloric value of salmon as the manifestation of solar energy or the motion of the water to move gears to power a machine or the channeling of the river to water crops. However, it was not until the invention of alternating current electricity that the energy could be tapped and carried so far from the river itself. When Thomas Edison invented the lightbulb and direct current he was called a god for illuminating the dark and grimy sections of America, a devil for bewitching the fire to stay in the glass bulb, and an inventor of the greatest kind for re-creating the nation. However, his powerful position was soon usurped by George Westinghouse whose alternating current allowed the conveyance of electricity for many miles from the source. In 1889 the Willamette Falls Electric Company carried electric light 14 miles from Willamette to Portland (White, 49). Hydroelectricity was churned through the invention of the turbine, called "one of the most marvelous machines ever fabricated by the hand of man" (White, 50). Hydroelectricity was cheap, efficient, and clean for its time. The only problem with harnessing the energy of the Columbia was that all electric companies were private and none could possibly finance the great undertaking that was taming the wild Columbia. Moreover, damming such a powerful river would create far more electricity than regional markets demanded. Factories burned coal the population of cities like Portland was far inferior of such production. The demands of World War I spurred the nation into conservation and production of electricity. This was a gigantic undertaking for "reorganizing energy production was but a means to reorganize society; social engineering would allow increased power production 'to effect immeasurably for good the lives of all the people'" (White, 51).
The prospect of public power was tainted with fears of communism. Governmental control of public utilities seemed to usurp the power of private enterprise, so that no matter the dire straits of some western farmers, they continued to think of public power as un-American. However, when the Rural Electrification Administration was created in 1935 to finance electricity production to areas not served by private companies, a national campaign was launched to disseminate information to Americans regarding the opportunities of public power.
The Bonneville Power Administration was established in August 1937. It became the main distributor of cheap hydroelectric power for the Pacific Northwest. Moreover, it was harnessed a tool of the World War II production industry. The new administrator of the BPA Paul Raver came to power in 1939, enabling a rapid expansion driving out almost all private power installations with its wholesale prices (Lowitt, 161). President Roosevelt1s Executive Order No. 8526 demanded that all power networks in the Pacific Northwest go to wartime production (Lowitt, 163) providing cheap electricity for aluminum, plastic, and manganese. Eventually the powerlines of the BPA would outline the social structure of the Pacific Northwest and symbolize the international power of the United States.
The BPA produced two documentary films with propaganda as their main objectives; first entitled Hydro (1940), then second entitled The Columbia (Murlin, 10). The first film attempted to blur the lines between capitalism and socialism and place emphasis on local communities. A narrative voice-over boomed, "For not a kilowatt of electricity will be retailed from these lines. That is the People's job. It is the responsibility of each community. It is up to the People to decide how they will get this power through their publicly owned systems or through private power companies. The decision is theirs to make" (Jeffe, Modern Marvels). The voice-over continued, manipulating American myths and symbols of farming and family. It read, "The promise of power for every corner of the Northwest. Power to make a million and a quarter acres bloom again. Power to push the city to the farthest county lines. To bring better crops and better living to farmers of the region. Power for the home: good lights for Billy's eyes, electric cooking for Mother, the comfort of electric heat and electric coal, leisure to replace the burdens of an outworn era. Power for millions of Americans who look westward hopefully, for land and jobs, for security and happiness. Power to make the American dream come true" (Jeffe, Modern Marvels).
For the second film, the BPA Public Affairs committee envisioned a folk artist embracing the old-fashioned, pastoral Americans ideals to explain the benefits of the federal projects. Woody Guthrie was Alan Lomax's recommendation. At that time, Guthrie was a starving singer-songwriter with a wife and three children. He made his way to Portland without so much as a contract. Administrator Raver made a personal appointment with the American west's new bard. His dust bowl ballads, depicting through stories and rhyme the hardships of the common man, provided the charm to win over the federal government (Murlin, 10). He was hired for 30 days, wrote 26 earnest and enchanting songs, and was paid $266.66 (Murlin, 10). As did all folk songs, Guthrie1s music changed with every performance but the lyrics remained the same for the most part. Famous for his acoustic guitar with the words "This Machine Kills Fascists" written upon it, Guthrie was paradoxically a troubadour for unions. His intentions were to simply tell the story and trials of the common man, raising the American laborer far above the rest.
Even after the war, when hydropower was an obvious hero to the United States' effort, public power continued to have a bad reputation. In 1935 the idea of a Columbia Valley Authority, much like the Tennessee Valley Authority, was posed by Representative Prosser and Senator Pope. The CVA would be a three-person committee, controlling power, irrigation, and condemn private power (Pitzer, 234-235). The battles went on for some time, even after the war it was still a possibility. However, the postwar period harbored many fears of communism. Historian Paul Pitzer sights a typical article from Pacific Builder and Engineer that read, "Personally, we prefer red in our nation's flag only when it is in close juxtaposition to white stripes, and to white stars in a blue field. We prefer to support our candidates for Congress who believe in the Constitution of the United States. We oppose candidates who would attempt to dilute our constitution with the ideologies of the socialists or of the commies" (Pitzer, 242-243). Centralized planning heard its death knell, but the BPA today continues to be the focus of the Pacific Northwest's power pricing battles.
Today there are 58 hydroelectric dams on the Columbia. Grand Coulee is by far the largest of these hydro projects, with 6,809 megawatts, 27 turbine-generators, and containing six of the largest generators in the world in the Third Powerplant. The Left Powerplant consists of 1,155 MW, the Right Powerplant 1,125 MW, and the Third Powerplant, finished in 1975, 4,215 MW. The Third Powerplant is by far the most powerful; it contains three 600 MW unites and three 805 MW units. The Third Powerplant and Forebay Dam were built where the original Right Powerplant switchyard sat. Originally the Right and Left Powerhouses had their own switchyards on respective sides of the dam. The Third Powerplant generates power through 5-inch-thick cables to the 525 kV Cable-Spreading Yard. The cables have insulation that is very costly but also very effective. While carrying electricity to 1.8 million people, the cable would do no harm to the touch of a human hand. The electrical production at Grand Coulee is truly an engineering feat. Had it not been for the demand pressures of WWII, the oversupply of electricity would have been a slippery construct certainly. As it was, almost no one installed insulation in their Pacific Northwest homes, meaning that those who had the cheapest power in the country were paying the most.
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