This Week in Odessa History

Work on the Grand Coulee Dam began in 1933, but it wasn’t until after World War II that the Columbia Basin project was realized and the area bloomed with irrigated crops.

Even as early as 1936, however, engineers were beginning surveys of the Basin, platting the farmland which would flourish and eventually transform the sleepy village of Neppel into a bustling commercial and distribution center called Moses Lake.

Other towns, then all smaller than Odessa, were to benefit and grow as a result of the project-- Ephrata, Quincy, Othello, Warden and Soap Lake.

Sixty-seven years ago, Bureau of Reclamation engineers came to Odessa to establish headquarters for some of their crew to begin mapping the project.

The Odessa Record gave this report in its edition of September 17, 1935:

U.S. Bureau of Reclamation engineer Fred Berry was in Odessa Tuesday making arrangements for quarters for a crew of engineers who will soon start making a survey on the Columbia Basin Project, south of here in the Warden and Ruff country.

Berry stated 32 men, who have just completed a survey in the Grand Coulee Dam vicinity, would be moved to this region. The size of the crew will number 60 men.

The scope of their work is so large they will be divided and work out of bases from several towns. Arrangements are being made for housing at Neppel, Warden and Ruff, with some work to be handled from Odessa. The survey is in connection with future utilization of the soil for the irrigation project from Grand Coulee Dam.

Land to be surveyed is a part of the giant project involved in the Basin, where 1.2 million acres are to be irrigated from the lake water stored by Grand Coulee Dam. Water from the storage lake will be pumped an average high to of 300 feet into the Grand Coulee, where an artificial lake 25 miles long will be formed. From this lake, the water will flow by gravity to the rich but arid soils of Grant, Franklin and Adams counties.

100 Years Ago

From The Odessa Record

September 27, 1912

Tuesday, November 5, will be a busy day in this state. We will have to vote on three long amendments to the constitution, and further, in many of the voting places the wet and dry fight will be up again. This question is up in Davenport and also in Lincoln county and will be submitted on separate ballots. To begin with there will be more than fifty names to be voted for in the republican column. There will be four tickets here and in many places six, as follows: republican, democratic, socialist, prohibition, progressive and socialist labor.

In a circular letter sent out by County School Superintendent Wm. U. Neeley this week to teachers and school district officers of Lincoln county he calls attention to the recent order of the state board of health which forbids the use of the common drinking cup in all schools. Mr. Neeley then adds: “It would be well to have the Board purchase enough cups to have one for each pupil in school, or have each pupil furnish his own cup and require them to be kept in place and kept clean at all times.”

75 Years Ago

From The Odessa Record

September 23,1937

The $200,000,000 Grand Coulee dam was on the air Saturday and the mighty Columbia was heard by a nationwide radio audience as its turbulent waters rushed by the west cofferdam. The facilities of the Columbia Broadcasting system were utilized for the broadcast, with KFPY feeding the network.

The roar of the Columbia river was picked up by a microphone suspended 75 feet above the dam, the broadcasting company sending engineers from Los Angeles to install the microphones at strategic points. CBS announcer Don Forbers, who gave the aerial description of the huge project reported from a United Air Lines Mainliner flying over the dam.

From the air at 4000 feet, Forbes told the world the gigantic scope of the project. He told of the model town he saw below, Mason City, with not a chimney, since it is electrically heated.

25 Years Ago

From The Odessa Record

September 24, 1987

“Our ability to work safely has a tremendous impact on costs we incur for industrial insurance,” Washington State Farm Bureau president Robert Jones said. “But most importantly, safe work practices insure the health and welfare of employees, employers and visitors to any farm operation.”

Despite Jones’ remarks, coming on the eve of Farm Safety Week September 20-26, new figures from the National Safety Council have placed farming and ranching at the top of the list for most deadly occupations, edging out mining and construction.

Spokesman John Scott, a farm safety expert with the Country Companies-- and insurance and investment group-- said last week agriculture has the highest death rate per 100,000 workers in the U.S., as farming mishaps caused 1700 deaths and 170,000 disabling injuries during 1986.

10 Years Ago

From The Odessa Record

September 26, 2002

Deutschesfest 2002 is in the past. Over, done with-- for another year.

Monday was cleanup day.

From all reports that have come in the Deutschesfest was a success. Townspeople are at odds as to whether the crowds were up or down.

All weekend the weathe r cooperated with beautiful sunny skies and the only wind that blew was Thursday night’s wind storm that put a few tents in trees and down in nieghbors’ yards.