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Published: July 23rd 2017
The drive from Chewelah Golf & Country Club RV Park in Chewelah WA to Carl Precht Memorial RV Park in Omak WA on Sunday, July 9, 2017 was 140 miles and took almost three scenic, totally uneventful hours. My first stop was the visitor center located on the edge of the park, which also hosts many other recreational opportunities for Omak’s citizens, including the
Omak Stampede & World Famous Suicide Race, aw, shucks – the second weekend of August. I remember seeing the event, but did not have its location in the front of the file cabinet. It sounds unique. Perhaps somewhere down the road. Since my condensed itinerary had allocated only two days in Omak, I took housekeeping off the agenda and will have to catch up later. Unfortunately, with nobody to blame but myself, THAT seems to be the eventual outcome every year! My short visit might add to my incentive to revisit Omak during the stampede.
My first day in Omak found me setting out for an historic/scenic drive on the northern portion of the
Okanogan Trails Scenic Byway, which also includes the Highland Historic Loop and the Many Lakes Historic Loop; however, I was unable to find any web site differentiating those two routes from
the. Okanogan Trails Scenic Byway. I had driven the southern portion of this byway in 2014. The advertised length is 83 miles with a time of 1 hour and 40 minutes. I won’t argue the distance, but my trip took much longer. Go figure!
I began my journey northbound on US 97, and made my first stop at the
Old Oroville Train Depot Museum in Oroville WA. As I travelled northward, I noticed the skies had become more and more hazy. I had smelled no smoke nor seen any gray clouds and thought there might be some kind of thermal inversion. Instead, I learned at the museum that there were, indeed, ongoing massive wildfires in Canada. The depot has two rooms with the first dedicated to railroading and railroad memorabilia. The most interesting aspect of this room resulted from an aside I shared with the curator about my desire to be a hobo and travel the rails as a youth. He directed me to a display of hobo signs which I had never before seen and might have missed had my vocal cords been less profuse!
The second room has permanent exhibits around the perimeter of the room and a temporary exhibit
in the center. The permanent exhibits tell the story of Oroville through displays about Native Americans and their interface with European settlers, the fur trade, ranching and the cattle industry and early twentieth century life. The temporary exhibit examined how prohibition affected the people along the US/Canadian border – bootlegging and smuggling. I will recommend this small museum to those who are passing by for some other reason.
From Oroville, I headed east on Chesaw Road and turned north on Nine Mile Road, a sedan-drivable dirt road, to Sidley Lake. I had spotted the lake on Google Earth, found it intriguing, copied the GPS coordinates and plotted them as a waypoint. My new (to me) GPS performed well and got me to the lake without any issues; however, the lake itself really is not worth any special effort to visit. A short drive from the lake got me to Molson and the
Molson Schoolhouse Museum in, ta-dah, Molson WA. The grade school I attended had an addition erected in the early 1950s; however, the old half as I remember it, was portrayed precisely at the Molson Schoolhouse Museum. One first-floor classroom has been preserved as a classroom, the upstairs (which served
A Snowmobile? What Else Could It Be?
Molson Schoolhouse Museum - Molson WAas the high school) was off limits and the basement (which had been the gymnasium) was chockfull of interesting local memorabilia. This school building – the hardwood floors, the classrooms, the desks, the chalkboard – déjà vu all over again. This well done local history museum is worth a slight detour or can serve as an excuse to take a “Sunday drive.”
After finishing the “Nine Mile Road Loop” and returning to Chesaw Road, I continued eastwardly until I reached Curlew WA where I turned south on WA 21. I made a stop at the
Malo Store in Malo WA. The store has been in business since 1903 but has had numerous owners over the years. I had an interesting chat with the lady on duty at the time and wandered around looking at the memorabilia. Since the store is still a functional business, there is more modern merchandise than antique mementos. Makes sense to me!
My final stop of the day was in Republic WA to take a look at the murals scattered around town. I arrived 10 minutes after City Hall had closed and, thus, was unable to get a map or other information about the murals’
locations. I drove around the downtown area and stopped to photograph those I found before resuming my southward journey on WA 21. South of Keller WA, I approached the Keller Ferry dock jut as the ferry was departing – unlike my experiences the week before when I had perfect timing for the ferry on two occasions. After the short ferry ride, I continued southward to Wilbur WA, turned northwest on WA 174 and then returned to Omak on WA 155.
On Tuesday, July 11, 2017, I had a full agenda. On my Monday return to the RV park, I had seen a directional sign for Omak Lake and, thus, began Tuesday by taking the “road less travelled” past Omak Lake on the way to Coulee Dam WA and the
Colville Confederated Tribes' Museum. The road and Omak Lake are worth the diversion from the “road more travelled” but nothing spectacular. Those who follow my blog might remember I had previously stopped at the
Kettle Falls Historical Center in Kettle Falls WA and discussed some of the background of that Native American nation in my last blog,
Phase I of My Journey Across Northern Washington State – Chewelah WA. Check that blog or Google for background information about the Colville Confederated Tribes.
The museum focuses on
The Crafts of the Native Peoples Are Not Forgotten
Colville Confederated Tribes' Museum - Coulee Dam WA Native culture and heritage including a story of “How the coyote made the Columbia River” and the “River Salmon Song.” One very interesting and informative display addresses customs related to birth, marriage and death while another examines hunting. More contemporary topics address Anglo education of the Natives, the Indian Reorganization Act, the impact of the dams and US military veterans. One of the most unique visual effects I have seen presents two photographs of Kettle Falls arranged on an “accordion bellows”-styled panel whereby from one angle one sees Kettle Falls before the dam construction and from the other angle the dam area submerged by the backwater. An accompanying display tells of the “Kettle Falls Ceremony of Tears.” This very nicely done museum is probably not for everyone, but it is recommended for those so inclined.
I had three activities planned for the Grand Coulee Dam – the dam tour, the visitor center and a laser light show. According to the Bureau of Reclamation web site, the last 50-minute tour of the day began at 5 PM while the laser light show began at 10 PM. That’s a very long supper or a lot of beer, but the one-hour drive
What???
Colville Confederated Tribes' Museum - Coulee Dam WA back to Omak with a return 2 hours later seemed imprudent – or I could skip the laser light show. Not a chance in purgatory.
First, some background. Central Washington has an abundance of fertile soil, but the arid climate is problematic. In the early 1900s, farmers began to believe the answer could be found in the Columbia River. The purpose of the project (and therefore the type of dam to be built) was fiercely debated during the 1920s. Both factions proposed producing hydroelectric power and providing irrigation water for the area’s farmers; however, one group wanted to build a low dam (290 feet) to, primarily, produce electricity and also irrigate a limited geographic area with a gravity canal while the other faction pursued building a high dam (550 feet) with a pumping scheme where water would be stored in a reservoir and fed to a larger agricultural area. Of course, some of the electricity produced would power the pumps.
After the stock market crash of 1929 and the beginning of the Great Depression, the dam’s construction was included as a part of the Public Works Administration. The Bureau of Reclamation was placed in charge of the project
Becoming Clearer
Colville Confederated Tribes' Museum - Coulee Dam WA with the actual construction beginning in 1933. Grand Coulee Dam is a concrete gravity dam (meaning the dam is not attached to anything but stays in place because of its own weight), so preparation required the removal of tremendous amounts of overburden to uncover the solid granite rock which would serve as the dam’s foundation. After visiting the construction site in August 1934, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (the reservoir created by the dam is called Franklin Delano Roosevelt Lake, go figure) began endorsing the "high dam" design. The high dam was approved by Congress in 1935, the first concrete was poured that December and the dam was completed in 1942.
During its first few years of operation, almost all Grand Coulee Dam efforts were focused on generating electricity for one high-demand customer – the Federal government’s Hanford Project. The Hanford Project was established in 1943 on the Columbia River as part of the Manhattan Project and was home to the first full-scale plutonium production reactor in the world. The plutonium manufactured at the site was used in the first nuclear bomb, tested at the Trinity site; and in Fat Man, the bomb detonated over Nagasaki, Japan. I visited several
Kettle Falls in Days Past
Colville Confederated Tribes' Museum - Coulee Dam WA sites near Hanford WA in my 2014 journey and have extensive information about the Hanford Project in my blog
Pasco WA – A Vegetarian’s Delight.
During the construction of the original part of the dam, records were set, but 77 lives were lost. Perhaps more importantly, in that more people were affected for life, creation of the reservoir forced the relocation of over 3,000 people, including Native Americans whose ancestral lands were partially flooded. While the dam does not contain fish-ladders, the issue is moot because the next down-stream dam, Chief Joseph Dam, does not contain fish-ladders either so no salmon ever reach the Grand Coulee Dam. Over time, additions were made to Grand Coulee Dam including the John W. Keys III Pump Generating Plant, completed in 1951, and the Third Power Plant and Forebay Dam in 1975. The visitor center airs a phenomenal video (prejudice admitted) about the dam’s construction entitled,
Grand Coulee Dam: A Man-Made Marvel (42:36).
Today, Grand Coulee Dam is the largest power station in the United States with a nameplate-capacity of 6,809 MW (whatever that means); however, in terms of yearly power production, Grand Coulee places fifth after a number of nuclear facilities. This seeming discrepancy is due to the seasonal, variable water
Kettle Falls Today
Colville Confederated Tribes' Museum - Coulee Dam WA flow and, thus, the variable turbine spin. To achieve its irrigation goal, water is pumped some 280 feet from Lake Roosevelt to a feeder canal. From the feeder canal, the water is transferred to Banks Lake, which has an active storage of 715,000 acre-feet (an acre foot is one acre of surface area to a depth of one foot) or 232,984,895 gallons. The plant's twelve 65,000–70,000 horsepower pumps can transfer up to 1,605 cubic feet per second to the lake via 12-foot diameter pipes. Currently, the Columbia Basin Project irrigates 670,000 acres (with a potential for 1.1 million acres), and over 60 different crops are grown within the project.
First, the
Grand Coulee Dam Tour where I hoped to see “The Fonz.” After all, “The Fonz” is a grand coolie! First, a word of advice. When I arrived at the appointed location, I spotted two tour guides sitting at a picnic table and sauntered over to chat. I mentioned that I had timed my arrival so I could take the last tour of the day at 5 PM. Conversation about the source of my information led the tour guides to tell me the web site is not updated regularly, so it its
best to call for the latest information. In our post 911 environment, the dam is highly secured and the folks on the tour must pass through a metal detector, etc., etc., etc. See the web site for details. The group watched a short video, passed through security and boarded a bus for the trip to the tour site.
Oftentimes, tour guides are audio recorders with a heartbeat; however, our tour guide provided all the information in a very non-scripted manner. I believe that is because he was well-versed about all the aspects of the tour. Our group of three all complimented him on his presentation. We boarded an elevator that quickly whisked us to the bowels of the dam where we saw the aforementioned pumps. Our guide provided an overview of the operations, the maintenance requirements and the emergency/back-up systems. After reboarding the tour bus, we made a stop atop the dam where he pointed out some of the dam features and points of interest in the area. Throughout the tour, photography is allowed. I suspect I enjoyed the tour (and the aforementioned construction movie at the visitor center) more than most of my readers, but you’ll know that
better than I.
I noted that I had planned to take the last tour of the day so I would have less “dead space” between the end of the 5 PM tour and the start of the laser light show at 10 PM. I figured the tour should be done about 6 PM, but that was still 4 hours of “dead space.” Well, boys and girls, Uncle Larry found a filler – the
Northrup Canyon Hike near Almira WA. According to my information, the trail split into two options – one a relatively level three-mile roundtrip walk up the Old Wagon Road whereas the other was a very steep six-mile roundtrip trek to Northrup Lake, something my leather lungs did not find appealing. I hoped the bifurcation would be marked. It wasn’t. With the early evening temperature still in the upper 80s, with sunset only a couple of hours away and with my lack of preparation for a longer hike (or an overnight campout); I opted to enjoy the serenity for a spell, find a place for some supper and drive to the Grand Coulee Dam Visitor Center to see what it had to offer.
Fortunately, I aborted my hiking
plans and had time to watch most of the construction movie noted earlier (my arrival time caused me to miss the first five minutes of the day’s final showing). The displays in the visitor center are informative and some are highly unusual, but much of the information reiterates knowledge obtained on the tour or from the movie. Interesting exhibits discuss the operation and types of turbines. One panel notes that the turbines at Grand Coulee weigh as much as 3000 tons but that the force of the Columbia River is so strong that the turbines accelerate from a standstill to full speed in 12 seconds. Another exhibit area addresses the use of divers in the construction and displays an air pump used to supply divers with oxygen in days past.
Finally, it was approaching 10 PM and the laser light show. I positioned myself outside the visitor center, but was unable to hear virtually any of the audio. After the presentation (the visitor center was open until 11 PM), I went inside to inform the attendants of the issue. It was only then that I learned of the existence of bleachers closer to the dam where the speakers were
located. Somehow, after all the time I spent on the Bureau of Reclamation web site, on the tour and in the visitor center, I had failed to ask for the best vantage point for the laser light show. Now
you know! Oh yes, the show. Catching bits and pieces of the audio and watching the stick figures paddling canoes, waterskiing and performing other antics, I have a strong feeling that the show was much more oriented to children than adults.
As noted earlier, I passed through Omak and made a brief stop to see Grand Coulee Dam as I undertook a scenic drive during my stay in Pasco WA in 2014, but I really didn’t SEE the dam or the dam community. Both made my list of revisits when/if possible. I guess one could say, now is when/if! I enjoyed my short visit and learned of another reason to return, the Omak Stampede & World-Famous Suicide Race, when/if the opportunity presents itself. Time will tell. I cannot put the Omak area, or the Grand Coulee Dam for that matter, on my “you gotta see this” list, but the dam is definitely worth a significant detour if passing nearby.
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