Grand Coulee Field Trip - Mixed Legacy of Federal Stimulus From the Last Great Collapse

Vacation plans have been a little haphazard this summer. A major camping trip to Banff became a short venture to Moses Lake. What can I say, they have a great water park. Our experience at one of the finest resorts in the world while in Thailand over the new year showed us that no matter where you are, the kids are going to want to swim in the pool.

We did take the scenic route back to Spokane via the Grand Coulee, through Soap Lake and Ephrata and Coulee City and Grand Coulee City itself. We stayed long enough at the massive conrete dam to watch a short movie describing the vision for diverting water onto the fertile but barren lands of Eastern Washington. I was surprised that the energy production came across as almost an afterthought, with agricultural production being the driving force.

I was struck by a couple of thoughts as we drove back through Wilbur and Republic and Reardon. I realized that almost every town we drove through on our trip owed it’s existence to this massive federally funded works project. When you’re driving down I-90 toward Seattle and read, “largest potato producing county in the country”, it would be appropriate to add, “made possible by federal government stimulus money.” One would hope any current stimulus might have such a lasting impact.

But here’s the shadow side, lest you think I’m going all in on massive federal spending projects. Every town we drove through was obviously economically depressed, featuring boarded up store fronts and decaying Moose Lodges. Even Moses Lake was a mixed bag of economic development and empty big box stores with outdated “for lease” signs. While the economic impact of the Grand Coulee dam is undisputable, the benefit to the people and communities down river is somewhat debatable. I suspect a very small group of individual land owners and agri-businesses are making a bunch of money while most of the people scattered throughout the region are barely making it.

In a culture that loves false dichotomies; government spending bad, government spending good; engineering the environment bad, engineering the environment good; the reality is always much more complex.

Comments

[josh r]

It is sad that the Government did not take on anything as ambitious as Grand Coulee dam with this stimulus.. I think them money for large part went to small porkbarrell projects rather than anything that provides long term infrastructure like the dam.

I think your downside mentioned above is off base. There is a tenancy to look at the half empty and complain.. There wouldn't' be a storefront to be boarded up if it wasn't for the dam. The dam provided Wheat for the nation, and everyone who eats bread benefited from it.

In this economy even the malls are empty. That is not necessarily a bad thing, Most of what they sold was junk that we didn't need anyway.

[Craig]

Thanks for the comment Josh. The contrast that stood out to me were the grand visions for the future portrayed in the movie at the dam visitor center and the stark contrast of crumbling communities that dot the landscape of Eastern Washington. I know this is an over generalization and I'm not writing off these communities as a lost cause. There are committed people working hard to nurture a new future for these towns but I do think it's worthwhile asking why the old future imagined before the creation of the dam didn't pan out.

I'm hoping some others will chime in here.

[Jennifer]

"I do think it's worthwhile asking why the old future imagined before the creation of the dam didn't pan out."

Exactly. Unfortunately we've gotten ourselves trapped running around in a circle. With the movement of big box stores and "super"markets into towns like Spokane, and Moses Lake, citizens in our small towns found cheap and available products a reasonable drive away. The money shifted to the box stores cutting jobs in small towns, resulting in citizens being forced to seek employment in larger towns via a commute. Citizens are working in the larger towns so why not pick up groceries on the way home from work? How do we break the circle and move the business back to the small towns? How do we convince the citizenry that nurturing the businesses in the small towns may cost more initially but will pay off in the long run with a stronger local economy? Times are tough in these towns, it’s going to be a hard sell.