What did the Colville and Spokane tribes lose after the dam was built?
PASSAGE:
Even Grand Coulee Dam's success as a hydropower giant and agricultural dynamo could not eclipse the loss of native fish runs that had once traveled freely up the Columbia River and its tributaries. This had a devastating impact on the Colville and Spokane tribes, whose traditions and cultural ties to the land, water, and wildlife were disrupted. By 1937, the dam's slow rise from the riverbed had completely halted salmon, steelhead, and other species from reaching important tribal fishing sites like Kettle Falls on the Columbia River, and Little Falls on the Spokane River. Tribal members could no longer fish for this most valued commodity on which they depended. The annual salmon runs that anchored the tribes' yearly schedules, including the timing of their most important ceremonies, were gone. In addition, land was cleared for the dam site and reservoir. This impacted more than 3,000 homesteaders and Native Americans, who were displaced during the early design and construction phase. Tens of thousands of acres were cleared at a cost of over $10 million-- prime bottom land where Native Americans and pioneers had been living, hunting, and fishing for generations. Both the Colville and Spokane tribes were asked to relocate the remains of their ancestors by moving them to new cemeteries on higher ground.