In July, the Oregon Rural Electric Cooperative Association hosted a tour of Bonneville Lock and Dam on the Columbia River. I have toured the facility many times, and every time I learn something new.
This time, someone in our group asked me the origin of the name “Bonneville.” I had no answer. Later, I conducted a random survey of other co-op leaders and high-ranking professionals at Bonneville Power Administration. They also looked perplexed. Most everyone knows the story of Lewis and Clark, but somehow the amazing story of Capt. Benjamin Bonneville remains submerged beneath the hydroelectric project that bears his name. It is a story all Oregonians should know.
In 1832, the U.S. Army granted Bonneville a yearlong leave of absence to explore the topography of the West and find the best means of making Western land available to American citizens. In a journey that ultimately spanned 3 years, Bonneville and his company of men blazed some of what became the Oregon Trail. They were 1 of the first groups to successfully traverse the pass with wagons.
Bonneville’s description of that crossing was featured in his published trail journals and confirmed the possibility of wagon travel west over the divide. He explored and surveyed territory that would become the Pacific Northwest states, interacted amicably with Native Americans, and drew 1 of the first published maps of the interior West.
Perhaps it is a fitting tribute that Bonneville’s name is synonymous with an agency that transformed a region by delivering reliable, affordable, and carbon-free hydropower to communities across the Northwest. But he is far more than a name on a federal building or a powerhouse. Benjamin Bonneville may not be as well-known as Lewis and Clark, Kit Carson or Jim Bridger, but he is what many Oregonians aspire to be—a trailblazer.
Executive Director Ted Case
