The Bonneville Lock and Dam

The amount of change that has happened in our generation, ninety years since the crash or 1929, is extraordinary. The Bonneville Dam was built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. It was part of the "New Deal" that created employment for masses of out of work U.S. citizens. It was started in 1933 during the "dirty thirties" and opened by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on September 28th 1937.
Another massive "new deal " project was the Grand Coolee Dam further upstream on the Columbia River. It was originally designed to provide mostly irrigation water to a vast area of Eastern Washington State to enable productive farming of this area. However during WW II more emphasis was placed on hydro electric power to provide the power needed for wartime industries like ship building and the production of nuclear materials (Hanford).
To-day the Bonneville power administration overseas the electrical power needs of Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana. 75% of electrical power is hydro generated for this region.  There are 29 major dams and a total of 60 dams (including small ones) in the region.
When one visits the Bonneville Lock and Dam one realises how much the Columbia river and water has played a part in the growth of population and industries in this region.

These are the fish ladders