Friday, January 30, 2009

Friday film day: The Mighty Columbia River

Except for a long, miserable five years in Seattle and a couple of years in Idaho when I was very little, I've never in my life lived more than a half hour from the Columbia River. That's my river.

This little educational film from Coronet was made at about the time my grandfather was working on the McNary Dam - his first job out of college. I understand (I haven't seen it yet) that there's some good footage of Celilo Falls. I'm not old enough to remember when the falls were there, but my mom does. Strange to think the river looked so different just a decade before I was born.

The first time my Lovely and Brilliant Wife came north to visit, she and the kids flew into Portland and we drove up to Moses Lake. As we wended our way through the Gorge, she commented that that certainly was a long lake alongside us. When I told her it was a river, she flat didn't believe me. No river could be that big.

Ricki, spit out that gum this minute! Maggie, no giggling. Ken, stop dipping the girls' pigtails in the inkwell. Everybody quiet? Lights out and here we go!

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