ABSTRACT
In 1913, one of the first dams built for electricity production in Washington State, on the Elwha River on the Olympic Peninsula, totally blocked salmon runs to the watershed above the dam. In 1890, Thomas Aldwell had purchased land that contained a potential dam site on the Elwha River. This land purchase occurred under the laws of the State of Washington, and did not recognize the prior rights of the Klallam Indians who lived on that river and all who harvested its fish. The land that he purchased from a homesteader included the narrow falls that had caused the spring chinook run to become populated with large fish able to swim through the rapid water to spawn upstream. Given that such rapids would create a key opportunity to catch salmon, his land purchase probably included a fishing site held by one of the traditional titleholders of this coast Salish community. But Mr Aldwell did not look at salmon as a source of wealth. He wanted to build a dam to generate electricity for the nearby town of Port Angeles (Lichatowich 1999: 131-35).
