HISTORY

Then the glacier moved, it was so strong. It carried huge boulders as it inched along, depositing river sentinels here and there and islands of rock, stark and bare. This erosion of land caused canyons deep and bluffs inaccessible, columned and steep. Then the ice melted and water ran, leaving sand, rocks, gravel, and an alluvial fan. When the water channeled with a raging roar, it created a river of rapids galore, with boulder-dotted islands away from shore and tall river sentinels on water evermore.

Eons passed and vegetation grew. Sagebrush flourished and grasses too. Animals inhabited this pastoral scene, feeding on vegetation lush and green. Oregon Territory was then its name, and the river became the "Mighty Columbia." Wild salmon braved the rapids upstream to spawn, and Indians fished these rapids every day from dawn.

In 1885, leading a pack train, a mining engineer from California came. James E. Keane, a man of vision, predicted what this area could provision. He saw the potential of this site by harvesting Columbia's powerful might: irrigation for farms, orchards, alfalfa, and beef, and mineral extractions beyond belief. He felt there would come a historical hour when man would harness Columbia's power for electricity, irrigation, and water transportation, not thinking then of its value for recreation.

A post office was opened, Hammond its name. Then James Hill and the railroad came. Homesteaders were busy raising cattle and grain, and Keane established Hammond Mills to ship that gain. The Great Northern Railroad ordered a depot. Keane bought and platted this city, as records show. The town of Rock Island derived its name from the huge rock island in Columbia's stream.

However, the Rock Island depot was not to be. Great Northern planners changed it to Wenatchee. But Rock Island City did not lay down and die. It picked itself up for another try. One of the best schools in the state was slated, and as Keane predicted, a town was created. The first on the Columbia, it made jobs galore and brought business to Rock Island by the score.

Restaurants, groceries, and gas stations were there. A new post office replaced Hammond of yesteryear. Newspaper editions spread the news and helped city solidarity continue to infuse with vigor and strength for each new day, inspiring community effort in every way. A church called people to happiness, and a fire department had volunteers always in readiness. The town worked together for the common good, neighbors helping neighbors as they should.

Then Rock Island Dam was finally finished, though some local businesses then diminished. But Hanna Mining did arrive, and once more Rock Island came alive. A city golf course was no longer just a dream. City dumps were covered and cleaned. Ball fields were made to enhance our youth, and Rock Island's athletes furnished that proof.

Then Rock Island Dam had to be raised, and our lakes evolved, God be praised. They would furnish fishing and boating too, a recreational outlet for quite a few. Our city is now setting a new pace, with a twenty-year growth plan almost in place. A sewer project, water enhancement, and civic pride stand alongside many concerned citizens by its side. So Rock Island is healthy and well on its way, a small rural city with a bright new day.

True is the prediction of a visionary man. Riches are now dredged from our alluvial fan. This dredging of rock and gravel, once cursed, will help pay the way for Rock Island's rebirth. And what James Keane inspired in 1885, Rock Island is keeping that vision alive.

It was said to be just the second time in the Columbia River’s history that the river’s mighty waters ceased to flow.

But unlike 1872 when a huge cliff gave way during an earthquake, stopping the river near Entiat, the closing of Rock Island Dam’s east-channel spillways was a bit more planned.

It also was witnessed by far more people.

Newspaper accounts of the Feb. 10, 1932, event paint a bizarre picture of more than 1,000 people lining the river bank, waiting for the water to stop flowing, and hundreds more eager to check out the momentarily dry riverbed downstream.

When the flow stopped, federal officials and engineers wearing hip boots and wading through falling water levels checked the dam’s tailrace. They were joined by those searching for other items.

Among the searchers were amateur gold seekers who scurried about the river bed sands. Others came armed with pitchforks and gunnysacks, hoping to locate stranded eels and other fish.

Talk that a safe inside the Great Northern Railway mail car, which plunged into the river years before, could be found brought out even more searchers.

The Wenatchee World reported people “were strung out along the shore for a mile or more downstream” in search of the mail car and safe. But “no reports of the missing fortune car having been found” were ever received.

Curiosity and searchers aside, the dropping of the gate over the spillway was the culmination of years of work and planning for the dam, the first built on the Columbia.

In October 1920, The World printed an article headlined, “Discuss big power project-ask that Rock Island power be held for public.” The article went on to say that James J. O’Sullivan-later of Grand Coulee Dam fame-had completed a feasibility study showing such a project could provide power for Wenatchee and irrigate 20,000 acres “of very high class land” at East Wenatchee and Moses Coulee.

Little was heard of the project again until 1928 when Puget Sound Power and Light Company filed an application with state officials for the construction of a dam. The company estimated construction costs would reach $10 million.

Reaction from government officials, orchardists and businessmen was swift and positive. The chief engineer with the Federal Power Commission called the dam “the first step in the development of waterpower possibilities along the entire river.”

In January 1930, work on the dam began. A month later, the first crib for one of two cofferdams was put into place. In April, both coffer dams were completed and in July the first concrete was poured.

Peak construction occurred during fall 1930 when 2,200 men were employed for work on the powerhouse. The influx of workers also brought about construction of a camp at Rock Island although many of the workers lived elsewhere.

On Nov. 17, 1931, two of the dam’s generators began producing power. The Wenatchee World reporter covering the event wrote the generator rooms’ “tiled walls are clean and spotless as the kitchen of the most fastidious housewife, the only noise is the soft whirr of the revolving machinery.”