Skamania County
The incorporated City of North Bonneville is located on Washington Highway
14 in western Skamania County. Originally located farther east, the town was
relocated in the 1970s to allow construction of the Second Powerhouse at Bonneville
Dam. Major location attractions include Beacon Rock, a volcanic remnant considered
the second largest monolith in the world after the Rock of Gibraltar, associated
hiking trails of Beacon Rock State Park, and the Second Powerhouse visitor center,
accessible from Highway 14 just east of North Bonneville. Major local industries
are timber, and operation of Bonneville Dam.
The city has its own website. http://www.angelfire.com/wa2/northbonneville/
1860's Cascade City (North Bonneville)
This was the largest city in the Washington territory (larger than Seattle or
Tacoma) at that day. Consisting of a six-mile railway portage of the cascades
in the Columbia River, 1864 saw 36,000 passengers and 21,834 tons of freight
pass by this area on the north bank of the Columbia.
(source-Columbia River Gorge History, by Jim Attwell)
City offices: 509-427-8182
Fax: 509-427-7214
E-Mail
Address: PO 7, North Bonneville, WA 98639
Meeting dates: Second and last Tuesday of each month, 7 p.m. at the North Bonneville
City Hall.
Office hours: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Fire -- 911 (emergency only); water, 427-8182; sewer, 427-8200;
electricity, Skamania PUD, 509-427-5126; garbage, Skamania
Co., 509-493-3930; streets/road dept, 427-8182; library,
427-4439; library modem access, 427-4831, 800-580-8882.
***
North Bonneville: A Transported Town
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When dam construction first began in 1933, tents and shanties began to dot the
landscape. As years passed, and the dam construction continued, people began
to settle permanently and begin small businesses to provide for the needs of
dam laborers and employees. The town came to be known as North Bonneville. In
1971, the Army Corps of Engineers announced their decision to follow through
with the original plans for a second hydroelectric powerhouse. North Bonneville
was in the way, so the Army Corps began buying up the town.
The people of North Bonneville, numbering over 600, did not want to be run out
of their homes, and therefore decided to stay and fight. A contract was signed
in 1975, in which the Corps agreed to build a school, new municipal buildings
and utilities, plus provide 125,000 acres of ranch land for parks. After buying
up North Bonneville, they would purchase new land to sell to the residents.
An article published in the New York Times newspaper in 1975 describes the razing
of the town: "Giant metal cranes loom over the area as residents flee.
Growling earthmovers carve up the yards and topple the trees, knock over the
houses and haul the remnants away." The old town site eventually became
submerged in the Columbia River.
In October of 1991, the transported North Bonneville, located 2 miles down river from its original location, declared bankruptcy over a sum of $365,181.32 owed to the government. According to an article in The Seattle Times "The corps sold many residential lots but it refused to convey commercial lots... Businesses were bought out but had no place to relocate. Of the 758 residents eligible for relocation, 360 did so" (Haberstroh, 1991). The town had 47 businesses in the old town and not one survived. North Bonneville did not receive all of the promised land, some of it was turned into a wildlife refuge, and some was used as a waste site for the powerhouse project.
Eighteen lawsuits over the new town have been filed since the contract was
signed in 1975. In 1987 a U.S. Claims Court decided that the town of North Bonneville
owes the Army Corps $365,000 for the cost of maintaining and operating new municipal
facilities such as street lights and the sewer system. According the Seattle
Times article, "since the powerhouse opened in 1983, it usually has operated
only half-days for six months out of every year,...[and] accompanying structures
to protect migrating salmon never worked."
http://www2.kenyon.edu/projects/dams/bsc05fin.html
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