It was undoubtedly one of the strangest alliances ever forged in the Pacific Northwest--the bureaucratic Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) with its mission to promote bargain hydroelectric power; and Woody Guthrie, 28, an Oklahoma Dust Bowl loner, composer of both protest songs and anthems in praise of America.The year was 1941. Bonneville Power Administration (BPA), still under fire as a New Deal boondoggle, was looking for some positive spin. Guthrie was recruited to BPA by their first public information officer, Steve Kahn, to write songs promoting the power of the Columbia. He arrived in Portland with his family in an old, road-weary Pontiac. BPA gave him a 30-day contract as an "information consultant" with instructions to write as many songs as he can. He left his wife and children in a rental in Portland’s Lents neighborhood.
Guthrie climbed into BPA’s new, black Hudson, and, with driver, Elmer Buehler, 30, was off after inspiration. They drove up and down the basin of the Columbia River and its tributaries, making up songs. He came up with 26 songs from their time on the road. Among them were several destined to become Guthrie classics: "Pastures of Plenty," "Ramblin' Blues," and "Roll on Columbia," adopted in 1987 as Washington State's official folk song: "Roll on Columbia, roll on; Roll on Columbia, roll on. Your power is turning our darkness to dawn, So roll on Columbia, roll on."
For his work there, the BPA issued Guthrie a check for $266.66. It made up afterwards for that petty amount with the outdoor Woody Guthrie Circle outside Portland’s BPA headquarters near the Lloyd Center, plus a tapestry of him in the entry hall of its building in the Lloyd Center complex. Buehler received about $200.00.
Instructions for logging waymark: a photograph is required of the Bonneville Dam with yourself and/or your GPSr in the photo.