Lake Roosevelt Administrative History

Concessions, 1940s-1956

As the reservoir behind Grand Coulee Dam filled in the early 1940s, the Park Service and other interested agencies debated the merits of public and private services for recreationists. By the fall of 1940, a commercial boating company was operating on Lake Roosevelt under a Reclamation permit, and by the spring of 1941, Reclamation had received many inquiries from people wanting to start commercial operations. The committee working on Problem No. 26 in 1940 felt that it needed a preliminary plan for managing the recreation on Lake Roosevelt to ensure a "rational coordination" of early private development and subsequent public development. Some of the Reclamation and Park Service caution in recreation planning was perhaps related to the experience of these agencies at Lake Mead in the 1930s. At that man-made reservoir, a private Nevada corporation had established ambitious tourist facilities near Boulder Dam in the late 1930s that took over small, independent concessions but was virtually ruined within just a few years. Frank Banks of Reclamation in Coulee Dam had heard that there was "some friction" between Reclamation and the Park Service at Boulder Dam. He expressed concern in 1941 that Reclamation had "no plan of operations [for recreational development of Lake Roosevelt], and 'hit and miss' development of recreation facilities is obviously undesirable." [69]

In the debate over which agency or agencies should administer recreation on Lake Roosevelt, the possibility of tribal members or the tribes establishing recreation enterprises within the Indian Zones was discussed by Problem No. 26 committee members as early as 1940. The CCT and the STI expressed their desire to earn revenue from the sale of leases, licenses, and permits for fishing, hunting, and boating; in fact, a 1943 Office of Indian Affairs memo proposed that tribal members should have the exclusive right to establish boat docking facilities on the waters adjacent to their lands. The 1945 Solicitor's Opinion resolved this issue for the time being by holding that Indians had the same rights and opportunity for private and commercial uses and public recreational development of the entire reservoir as anyone else, but they did not have the exclusive right to use the Indian Zones for commercial or public recreational purposes. F. A. Gross, Superintendent of the Colville Indian Agency, felt that forestry, stock raising, and mining — not recreation — would bring the greatest economic benefit to the Indians. He commented, "We believe that white owners of concessions on white owned or leased land along the reservoir shore will dominate the situation, largely to the exclusion of the Indians, who will continue to develop their more natural aptitude in logging and stock raising." [70]

LARO's Superintendent Claude Greider, on the other hand, believed that the Indians could benefit greatly from future recreational development of the lakeshore; he mentioned the townsite of Klaxta opposite Fort Spokane as a potential resort site. [71]

The Reclamation office initially handled all permits for private recreational developments on Lake Roosevelt. The Grand Coulee Navigation Company, founded by two men from Everett, Washington, was granted a permit in June 1940 to operate a passenger boat service on Lake Roosevelt. From then until the fall of 1944, the company operated a 65-foot passenger boat, the Miss Coulee, between its docks near Grand Coulee Dam, Narrows Bridge, and Kettle Falls bridge (this boat was then sold and moved to Lake Chelan). The company sold stocks in the Lake Roosevelt area and was under local control by 1942. C. E. Marr began a boat fuel and storage operation at Fort Spokane in 1941. He installed above-ground gas tanks that LARO landscape architect Phil Kearney called "most unsightly." Kearney also noted that, "Members of the Bureau staff have shown some dissatisfaction with the way our project has stalled along and I certainly cant [sic] blame them but the result is that they have been rather lenient with private interests and we can have little to say to that." [72] Finally, in the summer of 1942 the Park Service took over the responsibility of handling all inquiries concerning commercial uses of the reservoir, including potential and existing concessionaires. [73]

Miss Coulee brings tourists close to the construction work at Grand Coulee Dam, 1940. Photo courtesy of Grant County Historical Society and Museum, BOR Collection.

Interest in providing rental houseboats to the public was acknowledged in the Development Outline for Lake Roosevelt prepared in 1944, but houseboats were not recommended because of sanitation problems and the need to protect scenic values. Thirty years later, however, the concessionaire at Spring Canyon, Boyce Charters, offered one houseboat for rent. [74]

The 1944 Development Outline for Lake Roosevelt spelled out some concession-related policies. It stated that all public facilities for which a user fee was charged would be under private operation, while the administrative agency would manage the free facilities. The Park Service did not want to provide overnight housing within its parks unless accommodations were not available adjacent to the NRA. At Lake Roosevelt, however, the policy was to avoid competition with private enterprise near Grand Coulee and Kettle Falls; there was also concern about private development failing to meet the government's high standards and a tendency for private enterprise to exploit the public. To allay some of these concerns, LARO's 1948 Master Plan stated that concessionaires' plans for buildings and grounds had to be approved by the Park Service. [75]

Meanwhile, applications for concession permits from investors continued to land on Greider's desk. In 1945, a western Washington investor proposed leasing 320 acres at old Fort Spokane to establish a lodge and club house, summer cottages, golf course, swimming pool, tennis courts, landing strip, and complete service for pleasure boats. The investor had been talking with Frank Banks about his plans since about 1938. This deal never happened. Instead, in these early years the Park Service proceeded cautiously, granting temporary permits to companies that offered to provide the services that LARO considered most essential and turning down or postponing decisions on many others, such as proposals by inexperienced returning veterans and proposals for "low-grade resorts." The temporary permits issued between 1940 and 1945 did not confer any prior rights to long-term concessions once the administrative authority for the area was established. [77]

LARO, unlike many other Park Service units, has never had just one concessionaire operating as a regulated monopoly. By 1945, three operators were providing boating services on Lake Roosevelt. The Grand Coulee Navigation Company had two boats that carried 25 and 125 passengers on both scheduled and charter trips. Most of that company's income came from bus tourists and the charter and cruise business. The two other operators offered short speedboat trips to visitors at the dam. One of these, the Coulee Dam Amphibious Aircraft Company, received its initial permit in 1944 for operating a fueling service for boats and seaplanes near the dam. Soon they were also offering flying instructions, sightseeing boat and airplane rides, and boats and planes for hire. [78]

The Tri-Party Agreement of 1946 designated the Park Service as the official administrative agency for recreation on Lake Roosevelt and thus the agency that issued permits for concessions within the NRA, including within the Indian Zones. The Park Service took over this function on July 1, 1947. The revenues from fees charged the commercial operations reverted to the Reclamation Fund, Grand Coulee Dam Project and, in turn, Reclamation helped fund LARO's administration and planning. From the beginning, LARO personnel planned on full development of the NRA as coming from a combination of federal and private funds. LARO's major challenge in its early development program was to obtain the funds to provide the roads, utilities, parking areas, picnic areas, swim beaches, and landscaping necessary at the major development sites to attract private concessionaires to invest. [79]

As of August 1947, LARO had five special use permits with individuals or companies providing recreational services, as follows:

1. Walter McAviney, Gifford-Inchelium ferry, with heavy summer recreational traffic,
2. Coulee Dam Amphibious Aircraft at Coulee Dam, providing public boat rides, float plane rides, boat dock facilities, hangar, mechanical service to boats and planes, flying instructions, and refreshments,
3. Grand Coulee Navigation Company at Fort Spokane, round-trip daily boats between Fort Spokane and Grand Coulee Dam, not prospering,
4. Stranger Creek Grange at Gifford (discontinued in fall 1947), picnicking, bathing, dancing, and boating facilities available to the public, primarily locals, and
5. W. J. Bisson at Kettle Falls, boat fueling facilities at Kettle Falls in conjunction with camping development on operator's adjoining private land. [80]

The lack of Congressional appropriations to LARO for construction projects continued to hamper the efforts of Park Service personnel to attract private investment to Lake Roosevelt. For example, in 1948 Congress allocated only $15,000 of the $1.7 million that LARO had requested for developing the three major areas on the lake. The Park Service continued to turn away some interested private parties, but this was also a period when many expired Park Service concessions around the nation attracted no bidders, despite the booming tourist industry. [81]

Small problems with the Grand Coulee Navigation Company (GCNC) surfaced almost immediately, hinting of larger problems to come. For example, in 1944 Greider informed the president that his company had not complied with the conditions of his special use permit or with a letter asking him to remove a small building on the bank of Lake Roosevelt. By 1947, Greider had decided not to renew the annual permit issued to GCNC because it was still disregarding major requirements of its permit with the Park Service. [82]

Greider either reconsidered his opinion of the GCNC or was overruled. By May 1948, after "lengthy consideration," he recommended that the company be granted a concession permit for the Fort Spokane area. The company planned to build a dock immediately, followed by various visitor facilities once the Park Service had constructed the water and sewer system. The company was formed of well-to-do and politically well-connected businessmen and farmers of Davenport who were reportedly prepared to spend $200,000 or more during the first six years of operation. Previously, concessionaires' fees at LARO had been flat fees. Greider recommended (and it was eventually so decided) that the GCNC fee be based on net earnings of the company above 6 percent net profit. Reclamation and the Park Service drew up a five-year concession permit for GCNC in August 1948, but because the Secretary of the Interior withheld his approval, LARO ended up extending the existing GCNC special use permit for one year. GCNC, however, did not sign the temporary permit because it lacked support for their intended investments. [83]

Boats moored to trees and bushes at Kettle Falls, 1956. This was a common sight in the early years because of the lack of public docks. Photo courtesy of National Park Service, Harpers Ferry Center.

By 1947, the Coulee Dam Amphibious Aircraft Company (CDAA) had a plane hangar, a boat dock (used by the Park Service for their boats for a fee), and a fueling station for planes and boats near the dam. The company was financed by Standard Oil Company, and as of summer 1948, it had invested some $70,000 in its facilities. Because of CDAA's heavy investment, the Park Service intended to replace their special use permit with a concession permit. The company suffered a heavy blow, however, in the summer of 1948 when Arthur Loepp, president and principal stockholder, was killed in an airplane accident. In May 1949, in a move that Greider believed would solve the concessionaire problems at Coulee Dam and Fort Spokane, GCNC purchased and took control of the Coulee Dam Amphibious Aircraft Company. The CDAA was dissolved in May 1950, its permit was cancelled, and a twenty-year GCNC concession contract was approved January 1950. The contract gave GCNC preferred but not exclusive rights in all of LARO and was amended to cover the CDAA's airplane business. In 1950, the Park Service began to build roads and establish utilities at Kettle Falls and Fort Spokane, and GCNC provided boat dock and fueling facilities at both these sites in addition to its boat and seaplane base at Coulee Dam. [84]

At a 1950 meeting with manager Cliff Hutsell of GCNC, the Park Service agreed to include construction of utilities at Fort Spokane and Kettle Falls in the fiscal year 1952 program. The plans, approved by the Park Service, called for tourist cabins at both locations, although the layouts prepared for Fort Spokane were dependent on Park Service acquisition of the Fort Spokane Military Reservation lands. Park Service personnel pointed out to Hutsell that Park Service funds were always dependent on Congress and so could not be guaranteed. Most of GCNC's income after World War II until 1951 came from flight instruction, which was largely government-financed under the GI Bill. The company added new services to its list in 1950: boat and motor rental, buoy moorage, and boathouse service/work space. [85]

GCNC's finances were always precarious. In 1951, even with boat launch ramps, fueling stations, and docks at Kettle Falls and Fort Spokane, the company was not earning enough money to pay its attendants' wages. When LARO determined that it would not be able to provide the needed facilities at these locations in 1951, GCNC requested permission to move in temporary buildings to house an office, lunchroom, and store at each location. The Park Service approved this plan with some hesitation, including the relocation of a store previously located at Miles. Hutsell agreed to build a general store and six cabins at Kettle Falls. But he also began a letter-writing campaign to his Congressional representatives complaining about the slow pace of development at Lake Roosevelt and urging that LARO development of access roads, sanitary facilities, and drinking water be concentrated at one site rather than spread thinly around the reservoir. The Park Service agreed with this latter point and even tried to transfer funds from a power-line project and from the Lake Roosevelt debris-cleanup project to constructing a ranger station, dredging the harbor, and sign construction at Kettle Falls in order to support GCNC's plans to build facilities there in 1952. [86]

The GCNC antagonized LARO personnel and others in 1952 when it bought a tugboat and began towing logs and barging lumber for Roosevelt Lake Log Owners Association. Lafferty Transportation Company complained about the competition, but Greider defended GCNC's right to pursue this avenue of earning revenue, stating that Lafferty had been doing the job carelessly. Within a few months, however, the log owners' association terminated its agreement with GCNC because of unsatisfactory work performance. Hutsell filed complaints with the Park Service about various aspects of the new contractor's work, but Greider was disinclined to pay much attention. By this time, he recognized that unless the GCNC could get proper financing, "it may constitute quite an administrative problem." Greider continued, "I am doing what I feel proper to keep Mr. Hutsell's spirits and activities in proper line." [87]

In 1952, GCNC agreed to build a coffee shop, boat repair shop, and seven cabins at Kettle Falls but was unable to complete the work because of lack of funds. LARO, although restricted by limited funding, did construct utilities and roads at Kettle Falls that year. LARO also constructed a road, parking area, and launch ramp at Fort Spokane, but GCNC did not have the funds to do the promised work there either. Meanwhile, the Park Service was being criticized for its concession policy at LARO, and the Regional Office began asking the company to furnish evidence of its intention and ability to fulfill its commitments. That summer, the Park Service disapproved GCNC's proposal to buy the Miles store, which Hutsell saw as a "killing blow" to his efforts to restore public confidence. Hutsell blamed his stockholders' discouragement on the negative public response to the proposed regulations for LARO combined with the uncooperative attitude and development restrictions imposed by the Park Service and Reclamation. He did acknowledge that World War II and the Korean War played a role in disrupting the plans of his company and of the Park Service. [88] The following is an example of the tone of Hutsell's many letters to Park Service officials:

Our recurrent suspicion that the local administration of the National Park Service is inimical to the interests of this company has developed into a conviction. It does not seem possible that unbiased stupidity could have resulted in an administration so consistently adverse to the interests of this company and to, what we believe is, the purpose of the National Park Service in this area. . . . The result is public antipathy to the National Park Service administration of the area and unnecessary operating losses to this company. [89]

Relations between Greider and Hutsell rapidly deteriorated until in January 1953 Hutsell told the Park Service Regional Director that he did not wish to meet or deal with Greider at all. The company continued to lose money, as it had every year since 1940. Hutsell's criticism and blame for the company's poor showing and inability to obtain funding covered a variety of topics, such as bad public relations, poor boating conditions due to driftwood on the lake, Park Service non-cooperation with GCNC, lack of signs directing visitors to facilities, Reclamation competition with public docks at North Marina, and inefficient use of appropriated funds (he was particularly incensed at the construction of employee housing). In a statement aimed directly at Greider, he cited the "tactless and belligerent" handling of the negotiations of the regulations for the NRA as leading to widespread bad publicity. Greider, in turn, began urging the Regional Office to cancel GCNC's concession privileges at Kettle Falls and Fort Spokane. [90]

After much deliberation on both sides, in April 1953 GCNC decided to relinquish its claims to the Kettle Falls area. Two months later, Claude Greider was transferred from LARO to the Park Service's Portland office. In 1956, the concession contract with the GCNC was terminated and LARO released a prospectus asking for proposals for a new concessionaire. [91]