Closing the Gates on The Dalles Dam

OHS neg., CN 019498, detail
Most regional papers covered the March 10, 1957, closing of The Dalles Dam gates and inundation of Celilo Falls. The following accounts express the belief in scientific management and the loss of a wild river that many Oregonians felt on that day.
Familiar landmarks and points of historic interest in the Columbia gorge, including Celilo Falls, will quietly yield to the rising water of The Dalles dam pool east of here Sunday before the eyes of perhaps thousands of spectators.	1
When the intake gates in the powerhouse structure are closed, the Columbia river for the first time in history will stop flowing at the point where one of man's greatest river development structures is nearing completion....	2
When the intakes are closed at 10 a. m. engineers expect the initial rise in water level to be rapid. Then, as the Columbia's newest lake begins spreading out to drown forever such features as The Dalles-Celilo canal, the rise will be relatively slow until mid-afternoon.	3
Some time between 3:30 and 4 p. m. the Columbia will be permitted to resume its course to the sea, but by a new detour.... —The Dalles Chronicle, March 10, 1957	4
With command "down gates" given at 10 a.m. on Sunday by Resident Engineer H.B. Elder, The Dalles dam became a working project as massive equipment went into operation closing powerhouse gates so the reservoir behind the dam could be created.	5
Immediately in advance of giving his command over a loud speaker system, Elder counted off 15 seconds in reverse much the same as is done when an atom bomb is set off. When he reached the finish of his count he shouted "Down gates" and 22 Corps of Engineers employees assigned to that task pushed all 22 buttons which activated the oil filled pressure pumps which closed the gates on the upstream side of the powerhouse.	6
It took 10 minutes to drop the gates and completely close off the river. Four and one-half hours later water started running over the spillway. —The Dalles Chronicle, March 11, 1957	7
As thousands watched from both sides of the Columbia, the river began backing up in the first phase of reservoir formation behind the dam. Four and one-half hours later this phase was completed....	8
...The day's operation was termed by Col. Jackson Graham, Portland district engineer, and B.H. Elder, resident engineer at the dam, as "completely successful."	9
"The intake gates fitted down into their places just as planned, and the water came up as we expected," said Colonel Graham. "Everything worked out exactly as timed. It could not have been better."	10
...Island disappeared, and then The Dalles-Celilo canal slipped under the surface, and the famed Celilo falls Indian fishing rocks were buried. By nightfall, only a minor riffle remained where the cataracts had roared for thousands of years.	11
On the Oregon shore thousands of automobiles paraded up and down the highway as spectators craned necks to see the end of an era in Columbia river history. —Oregonian, March 11, 1957	12

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