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I'm getting off a Boeing 747." The spirit of dedication and pride of workmanship must surely be the most understated aspect of this history.

Finally, the Nation faces an uncertain future with respect to energy. Energy has become more dear. Public concern has increased. Scarcity of fuels and rising prices are sharpening national awareness of the importance of energy for modern living, and it is a worldwide issue. In the Pacific Northwest the people expect Bonneville Power Administration to be on their side and to do something about energy. This awareness and concern is part of what lies behind the title, "Columbia River Power For The People."

Special Acknowledgements

Gus Norwood

Graphics Designer Daniel Ferguson was able to expedite the printing schedule by asking for rush jobs by Sue Bellucci, Paul Ewing, Sara Hill, Francis Jackson, Jay McAlonen, Jack Parrott, Dick Rothrock and Richard Strode.

In addition to pictures credited, photos were made available by Oregon Historical Society, Boeing Historical Archives, Columbia River Maritime Museum.

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1. WHERE ROLLS THE OREGON

What do we want with the vast, worthless area? This region of savages and wild beasts, of deserts, of shifting sands and whirlwinds of dust, of cactus and prairie dogs - to what use could we ever hope to put these great deserts and these endless mountain ranges, impenetrable and covered to their base with eternal snow? What can we ever hope to do with the west coast, a coast of 3,000 miles rock-bound, cheerless and uninviting, and not a harbor in it? What use have we for such a country?

Mr. President, I will never vote one cent from the Public Treasury to place the Pacific Coast one inch nearer to Boston than it is now. - Senator Daniel Webster of Massachusetts 1840.

Geography influences history. This is particularly evident in the Pacific Northwest. Powerful geologic forces shaped the earth and changed its weather. Geography gave this land scenic beauty and habitability. Geographic remoteness, however, hindered discovery and exploration of the region and the Columbia River, once called the Oregon. Many other geographic factors delayed settlement and economic development.

The Pacific Northwest is part of the newest large geographical addition to North America, and the newest major continental uplift on Earth. Prior to this uplift, the ancient Pacific Ocean shoreline followed the present line of the Rocky Mountain western foothills, except for a peninsula projecting westward to the Blue Mountains of Oregon, and 300 miles off the coast an island in the SiskiyouKlamath area. The rest of what was to become the Pacific Northwest was a shallow submarine shelf.

According to the theory of drifting continental plates, the Pacific Ocean plate began grinding against the North American plate about 300 million years ago, uplifting offshore submarine areas. Lyman called it "a land of old upheaven from the abyss." The first uplift occurred during the Mesozoic Era of geologic time, a period of 230 million years. Much of western North America and central United States consisted of shallow seas. The ancestral Rocky Mountains began rising about 305 million years ago, reached completion in 5 to 10 million years, and eroded away in the next 40 million years. They had disappeared by about 260 million years ago.

Their sediments accumulated in the inland seas to a thickness of several thousand feet, resulting in much marshland. The warm climate and tropical growth supported a large variety of animals, including the dinosaurs which dominated the life of the world for about 130 million years from 190 million years ago to 60 million years ago.

Celilo Falls forced Lewis and Clark to
make a portage in 1805 and again in
1806, dragging the heavy dugout
canoes over the ground. Their diaries
noted all such obstructions to naviga-
tion and commerce. The Indian fishing
platforms at Celilo as well as the falls
have disappeared under the placid
waters of the reservoir behind The Dal-
les Dam.
Ray Atkeson photo

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