Columbia Basin Commission (Wash.)

In 1903 the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation made a survey of the Columbia Basin to determine the feasibility of transferring water from the Pend Oreille River in Idaho to the basin. On 18 July 1918, the first proposal to build a dam at the Grand Coulee on the Columbia River for irrigation of the basin lands was published, and in 1919 the Washington State Legislature created the Columbia Basin Survey Commission and appropriated $100,000 for its work. By 1932 the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Bureau of Reclamation reported in favor of building a high dam at the Grand Coulee for irrigation of the basin and for the generation of hydroelectric power. In 1933 the state legislature created the Columbia Basin Commission to replace the Survey Commission and to secure the construction of the Columbia Basin Project. In 1935 the Grand Coulee Project was adopted and approved by Congress and by 1941 the Grand Coulee Dam was completed and began to generate electricity. The Columbia Basin Commission, lacking funds to operate from 1937 to 1942, was reconstituted by the legislature in 1943 to enable the state to take a more active role in the development of the land and irrigation projects incidental to the completion of the dam. The Commission continued to function until 1967, when it and its parent agency, the Dept. of Conservation, became defunct; all the functions of the Dept. of Conservation except those belonging to its Division of Water Resources, were transferred to the Dept. of Natural Resources. At the same time, the Division of Water Resources, the Columbia Basin Commission and the Weather Modification Board were merged to form the Dept. of Water Resources.