Thank goodness we have Columbia River dams. These dams provide us with electricity, which is especially evident right here in Grant County, because our county's public utility district owns two of the dams, Wanapum and Priest Rapids, and our electrical cost is less than we might otherwise experience.

The mighty Grand Coulee Dam supplies the water to our farmland, which normally receives only 6 to 8 inches of rain a year. An arid land, with fertile soil, was turned into productive and beneficial ground capable of raising crops year after year, despite the little moisture Mother Nature provides.

The Columbia River dams provide another valuable service, which is not as noticeable; they provide flood control. Ice age floods carved the Channel Scablands of eastern Washington and they helped form the Columbia River channel.

After the ice and resulting water disappeared, the Columbia River settled down to a cycle of becoming deeper in the spring due to spring snow melting in the mountains and throughout eastern Washington. The rest of the year, the river was a convenient method of travel and a source of food with fish the main element.

However there were major floods recorded such as in 1876, 1894, 1948 and 1964. An example of what the Columbia is capable of is the flood of 1894, when Portland experienced a water level of five feet above sidewalks on building hundreds of feet from the normal river bank.

The Columbia reached a height of 34 feet above sea level in the same year at Vancouver when the normal river level at the city is just over one foot above sea level. The main way to protect valuable land from a flooding river before the dams was to erect dikes to keep the water in check. Think of New Orleans and Hurricane Katrina at this point.

Dikes intended to hold back floodwater are not necessarily reliable, dependable or steadfast, as we know. Besides remembering the recent flooding of New Orleans, consider the flooding of Vanport City, which was basically a suburb of Portland. It became the second largest Oregon city during World War II and was protected from the Columbia River by levees and dikes.

A warm spring in 1948 caused a quick snowmelt in the mountains and the Willamette and Columbia rivers were at eight feet above flood stage. On May 30, a dike gave way, sending a 10-foot wall of water into Vanport City. The city was washed away, never to be rebuilt, and 16 lives were lost.

Large floods were rare, so flood control wasn't the immediate concern when the river was surveyed in the 1920s. These people wanted to check on the idea of using the Columbia River to supply large amounts of electrical power.

However, as plans for dams progressed, the double use of each dam was realized; the large storage capacity behind each dam could be used as a flood-control tool. Grand Coulee Dam supplies a third benefit; irrigation water for our arid land.

Of course I'm thrilled with the reservoirs, canals and extra water the Columbia Basin Irrigation Project brings to the Big Bend Country providing recreational prospects. Grant County claims to be the most fished county in the state, not counting saltwater fishing. We also have vast hunting opportunities because of the irrigation project.

Non-anglers and non-hunters benefit because of the productive farmlands, with the annual Sandhill crane migration as a prime example for our wildlife viewers. Boaters and campers use our lakes and resulting campgrounds for their pleasure.

The result of the many visitors making the Columbia Basin a destination is the monies resulting from their visit.

The downside to Chief Joseph and Grand Coulee dams is the fact they block passage of the salmon migration. This is a small price to pay, but there is a bit of a futuristic dream rattling around in the back of my brain. Someday a fish ladder will be built at those two dams. Imagine a laser or other device built to provide engineers a way to drill, excavate or otherwise provide a passage around the dam, perhaps through the granite bedrock, allowing fish to bypass the dam and reach ancient spawning grounds.

A dream, yes, but if we can send people to the moon and back, if we can land a spacecraft on Mars, if we can...Well I'm convinced the idea is plausible.

The situation today is encouraging as several species of salmon, plus steelhead, migrate to the base of Chief Joseph Dam and up the Okanogan River. This is a migration of 600 miles from the mouth of the Columbia River and provides fishing opportunities for anglers and fishing guides and provides a shot in the arm to the economies of local communities, such as Pateros, Bridgeport, Brewster, Chelan and Wenatchee.

Besides to the recreation I enjoy, along with thousands of other outdoor-minded people, my thoughts revert back to the dams being used as flood-control tools. This year the dams shine in their roll of preventing a loss of life and property because of their ability to control the waters of the Mighty Columbia River.