I had an attack of insomia and finally got up at 2 a.m. to write about Hell's Canyon Dam, my perspective at least.
Brownlee Dam was built in 1959 and Oxbow dam was
built in 1961, all built by Idaho Power Company with contractor
Morrison Knudsen. Hell's Canyon Dam was built in 1967. Dad worked
on bits and pieces of all three dams and we lived in various places
along the Snake River as kids.
My main memory is being in
the car as Dad drove and being impressed by the muddy roads, the very
large equipment used in construction and being mildly terrified at
how much DOWN there was down there. Golly what a gully.
Dad had no problem
hitching the Great Lakes ten wide up to a big old truck and hauling
it to where ever he needed to be on a job site. However the move to
Hell's Canyon defeated his skills and he called on Shorty Tallman to
come hitch and haul and squeeze into nearly impossible sites on very
high places. He moved us twice, once above Brownlee and once again
half way near Oxbow, trailer sites were impossible any further along
and there were trailers squeezed precariously into every nook and
cranny.
On weekends Dad would take
us for a tour of the build. We drove below Oxbow clear past
Robinette which was a tiny hamlet that was flooded when Hell's Canyon
was built. We were in awe of the steep Kleinschmidt grade, went up
the site of the canyon in a a series of switchbacks to Paulette Ranch
and the only other route was by Helicopter or 300 miles via the long
way around.
One time Mom had to take
Dad something maybe his lunch. She actually had to drive halfway up
a side hill that was about 45 to 50 degrees. She got us up okay but
turning around and getting back down was quite an adventure. She
made us get out of the car when she turned it around. She confessed
later to being susceptible to a GI hemorrhage as a result. Mom
didn't get hysterical very often, I can only think of one other time
that involved a breakdown in northern Arizona in the middle of no
dang where. She thought we were going to die and had hysterics.
Eventually some guys drove up who just happened to have a welding rig
and Dad welded some repairs on the springs of the camper and away we
went to Flagstaff and got back to Idaho with ten bucks left over.
Typical Berglund adventure.
We spent a couple of hot
summers in that canyon and found wild apricots to pick and
Elderberries were plentiful, also rattlesnakes but never actually saw
one. One time there was a summer storm and the lightning was
awesome, if you were quick you could almost see lightning strike from
one side of the canyon to the other.
The last trailer park Daggett's
I believe, was located next to a stream, not quite deep enough to
swim in but one weekend the men got together t0 throw enough junk and
wooden doors in to partially dam up the creek, hmmm Daggett's Creek
now that I think of it, and we swam until we knew where every
submerged rock lay. Mom took moving pictures on her wind up 8 mm
Brownie and we watched them run backwards many many times laughing
uproariously at the kids diving out of the water back onto the rocks.
We also would drive to
Halfway, Oregon occasionally and skirt through to Baker, Ontario and
home as a scenic tour. We probably visited the Barnes kids, Vicky
and Shorty in Haines. There was a hot springs there and one summer
Richard and I stayed with them for swimming lessons and I got a card
for some level, one test was jump in the deep end and go like crazy
for the swallow end. Good sunburn that year, peeled like a snake.
Halfway was also where I got a bad case of blisters from playing on
the Monkey bars at a local school, the blisters broke and that was
the end of monkey bars.
I remember a lunch that
mom got in the habit of feeding us, it was peanut butter and grape
jam when mixed together looked remarkably like engine grease. So we
called them grease sandwiches and we drank Pepsi to peel the peanut
better from the roofs of our mouths.
I also learned the fine
art of packing the trailer for a big move. Didn't consist of much,
Mom stuffed pillows inside all the cupboards, taped them shut, locked
the doors and away we went. I remember her commenting about a glass
she had left on the counter that did not fall over during the move.
We admired the big trucks
that were dirt movers. Dad called them Yukes and were from the UK
hence Yukes. We bugged him constantly about getting us an inner tube
so we could make it into a swimming hole which may have prompted the
Daggett Creek swimming hole. We were by no means the only kids
there, lots of young families.
Also I learned a couple of
things while living in Hell's Canyon a neighbor taught me how to sew
bound button holes, there after any and all doll's clothes promptly
got bound button holes. I believe the same neighbor also gave Mom her
recipe for Raisin Spice Bar cake which became a stable for the family
table from then on.
I was living California
when Hell's Canyon Dam was finished in 1967. I was visiting, Dad had
taken off on a ten day hitch but forgot his work books. So Mom and I
hopped in the car and schlepped the boots to him it was very dark by
the time we got back. Dark I tell you.
If any of my siblings remember anything else, do post. Thanks.
PS: Many years later went on a road trip to the Canyon, stopped for lunch at the parking spot at Hell's Canyon. Parks and Recreation would have spotted the young marijuana plants just popping out of the ground, no idea if they made it through the summer.
