A River Imaginary: Nature and Narrative in the Columbia River Gorge by Tyler A. Cornelius A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (American Culture) in the University of Michigan 2010 Doctoral Committee: Professor Philip J. Deloria, Chair Professor Gregory E. Dowd Associate Professor Matthew D. Lassiter Professor William L. Lang, Portland State University © Tyler Cornelius 2010 Nearly twenty years ago, I accidently deleted my mother's partially completed master's thesis from our family computer. Fighting back tears, she tossed a pillow across the room and told me, “I'm not mad at you, I am just mad at the situation.” It may have taken several decades, but I have finally come to understand both the gravity of my actions and the torrent of love that flows from her heart. Thank you, Mom. This dissertation is dedicated to you. ii Acknowledgments To acknowledge all of those who have supported me in my doctoral work here at the University of Michigan I would need more space than is available here. Countless teachers, colleagues, friends, and undergraduate students deserve recognition for helping me down the path to becoming a professional historian. Others deserve a more personal note of thanks for their generosity and friendship. So consider this a shout-out from the top of the mountain: Thank you, friends and colleagues at the University of Michigan! Thank you too, Ann Arbor! Of course, more than a few individual thanks are in order. I begin, first and foremost, with my dissertation chair, graduate advisor, teaching mentor, and newly minted Columbia River enthusiast, Phil Deloria. Always available to lend advice or encouragement, Phil has been a steady rock of support, an inspiring teacher, and a role model of the type of scholar I hope to be. I want to thank him for always taking the time to answer my many questions, for correcting my mistakes, for pushing me in productive ways, and for being such an excellent all-around guy. I am especially grateful for the opportunity to teach with him in the Rocky Mountains, an experience that was deeply rewarding—both personally and professionally. Whether it is in his scholarly work, in his jump shot on the basketball court, or in singing harmony to my Hank Williams songs around the campfire, Phil always brings his A game. It is much appreciated. iii I am deeply grateful to the other members of my dissertation committee, who spent long hours reading through the entire dissertation and offered generous and detailed comments. A special thanks to Greg Dowd and Matt Lassiter, who both offered excellent suggestions that improved the document tremendously. I owe a particular debt to Bill Lang, both for the time he devoted to my project and for his own corpus of research, which has served as a foundation of my own inquiries about the Columbia. I want to thank him for his generosity in answering my many questions and his willingness to take a chance in helping a graduate student he didn’t know, when I first came knocking on his office door several years ago. In addition, I would like to thank a number of other faculty members at the University of Michigan who offered comments on portions of the dissertation, shaped my approach to teaching undergraduates, and served on exam committees. A special thanks to Paul Anderson, Betty Bell, Catherine Benamou, Matthew Countryman, Gregg Crane, Vince Diaz, Greg Dowd, John Knott, Maria Montoya, Matt Lassiter, Carroll Smith- Rosenberg, and Alan Wald. I would also like to extend a special thanks to Kristin Hass, who offered advice, sat on committees, wrote letters, and repeatedly helped me consider pedagogical issues that appeared in my own courses. A heartfelt thanks is due to the Program in American Culture’s staff, past and present, including Linda Eggert, Mary Freiman, Judy Gray, and Tabby Rohn, who all went out of their way to accommodate requests and solve problems. For their invaluable help, I am deeply grateful. I want to offer a special thanks to Marlene Moore for her endless support of graduate students, her patience and encouragement, but most of all, for her friendship. Thanks to Katy Barber at Portland State University, who answered my sometimes foolish questions, allowed me iv to visit classes, and pointed me towards primary source materials. And a special thanks to David James Duncan, Sam McKinney, Bob Pyle, and Richard White—whose own reflections on the landscapes of the lower Columbia inspired my interest in the history of a river. I owe an additional thanks to the countless librarians, archivists, and volunteers who helped me navigate a vast sea of printed materials relating to the Columbia. In particular I would like to thank Scott Daniels, Megan Friedel, Geoff Wexler, and all my other friends at the Oregon Historical Society Research Library. For years these hard- working and overworked professionals lent me their time and expertise on countless forays into the collections, patiently answered all of my questions, accommodated my many photocopy requests, answered my frantic emails, and pointed me in useful directions. I am deeply grateful for their assistance. In addition, I received help from the many archivists, staff, and volunteers at a number of different libraries and archives throughout the Pacific Northwest and beyond. I would like to acknowledge those at the Multnomah County Library in downtown Portland, the Maryhill Museum of Art, the Hood River County Library, the Bonneville Power Administration Library, the Branford P. Millar Library at Portland State University, the Knight Library at the University of Oregon, the Allen and Suzzallo Libraries at the University of Washington, the National Archives—Pacific-Alaska Region in Seattle, and the Water Resources Center Archives at the University of California, Berkeley. I would also like to extend my thanks to the many helpful librarians at the Harlan Hatcher Graduate Library at the University of Michigan, and in particular to the staff of Government Documents and Interlibrary Loan—who always went out of their way to answer my questions, politely remind me of impending v due dates, and help me find those difficult-to-locate materials. An additional thanks to Brian Dunnigan and Clayton Lewis at the William L. Clements Library at the University of Michigan, and Phil Hallman of the Donald Hall Collection in Screen Arts & Cultures at the University of Michigan. My research benefited from participating in the Gayle Morris Sweetland Writing Center's Summer Dissertation Institute, and from the thoughtful participants who offered suggestions and comments. I am indebted to my impromptu scanning committee: Mike Christianson, Caroline Miller, and Lynne Gratz, who all assisted with images, and also to my editing gurus: Louis Cicciarelli, Lindsay Cornelius, Lynne Gratz, Deborah Solomon, and Urmila Venkatesh. Throughout my time spent researching and writing this dissertation I received financial support from a number of different sources. I would like to acknowledge funding from the Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studies, the Program in American Culture, the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts, the Gayle Morris Sweetland Writing Center, and the Center for Research on Learning and Teaching. I owe additional thanks to other individuals who provided fellowship support, grants, and even room and board while I conducted my research. A special thanks to Bruce and Ileane Thal, Tim Swinehart and Emily Lethenstrom, and Joe and Diana Thomas. Thanks to my parents, grandparents, and siblings—whose financial support enabled several research trips that wouldn’t have been otherwise possible. I would also like to acknowledge the countless others whose time and energy helped me along the way. Thanks to the teachers and professors whose efforts allowed me the chance to go to graduate school: Giovanni Grotanelli de Santi, Miriam Grotanelli de Santi, Elizabeth Joffrion, Vernon Johnson, Leonard Helfgott, Ralph Miner, and Gerard vi Rutan. And a special thank you to my undergraduate advisor and mentor, Chris Friday, whose own Pacific Northwest History course inspired me to leave political science and become a historian. Thanks to my friends at the Center for Research on Learning and Teaching: Crisca Bierwert, Connie Cook, Chad Hershock, Deb Meizlish, and Mary Wright. Additional thanks are due to Pamela Bogart at the English Language Institute for the opportunity to teach in the ELI summer courses, and Jayne London, formerly of Rackham, for the opportunity to attend the National Conference on Graduate Student Leadership. Thanks to Joel Blum and Chris Malvica, for the teaching opportunities afforded me at Camp Davis, and, of course, a hearty thanks is due to my brothers and sisters in the Graduate Employees Organization (GEO), who secured and protected an employment contract that made my time teaching here at the University of Michigan much more productive. My compliments to the faculty, staff, affiliated unions, and undergraduate students who observed our picket lines and supported the cause. I have benefited enormously from the advice, friendship, and intellectual camaraderie from my fellow graduate students in the Program in American Culture. Over the years I have come to love the AC graduate student community, past and present. Thanks to Jennifer Beckham, Ines Casillas, Joe Ciadella, Paul Ching, Catherine Daligga, Sam Erman, Paul Farber, Margot Finn, Lorgia Garcia-Peña, Charles Gentry, David Julyk, Kathy Jurado, Sharon Heijin Lee, Afia Ofori-Mensa, Erik Morales, Alex Olson, Justine Pas, Rachel Peterson, Kimberly Robertson, Dean Saranillio, Kelly Sisson-Lessens, Nicole Stanton, Carla Vecchiola, Kiara Vigil, Aimee VonBokel, Cindy Wu, and Matt Wittmann. I also would like to extend a special thanks to the One Love Writing Collective, for making the prospectus-writing process a little bit more palatable and vii offering moral support at just the right time.