We have Jim Malinowski to thank for finding this article.
Wynoochee Dam- newspaper article August 26, 1973
(I couldn’t stand it & fixed the several places in the article where the author mis-spelled Wishkaw)
When Wynoochee Dam is dedicated today, the long wait of Joe Malinowski will end and three generations of Grays Harbor citizens will have achieved a goal. Malinowski is an 83 year old Aberdeen pioneer who filed for water rights on the Wynoochee in 1921 and envisaged a dam that would provide electricity for the area. He had a “thing” about dams.
It all began when he went to work on a Wishkah River splash dam in 1909. Splash dams were used in early logging to supply water surges that would carry logs downriver to tidewater mills. Later, Malinowski helped in the survey and construction of Aberdeen’s domestic water system on the Wishkah. His work for the city continued off and on until 1927 when he joined the water department as a mechanic. For many years he was the city’s master mechanic, finally retiring in 1969.
In the meantime, a new water system dam was built on the Wishkah and was named Malinowski Dam. Malinowski’s water rights on the Wynoochee were granted in 1922 and he promptly applied for a construction permit. By then the city of Aberdeen was having water problems and also was considering a city-owned hydro-electric system. In 1923 it got citizen’s permission to issue utility bonds for a water and power project. The city then went to Malinowski for his water rights, which it got after several legal battles.
(The author makes it sound like they battled with Joe which they did not. The rights were freely given)
By 1927 the pulp industry was on the move and Grays Harbor was a prime target, with everything save the ability to deliver water to mill sites. Late that year two firms, with mill sites at Junction city adjacent to Aberdeen, signed contracts of intent to purchase industrial water from Aberdeen, bringing the city $35,000 annually. However, cost analysis on a proposed system on the lower Wynoochee indicated $50,000 a year would be necessary to amortize the bonds, and the city refused to move until that amount was in sight. Fifteen local businessmen solved the problem by pledging up to $1000 annually until water receipts reached $50,000, and the council went ahead with the system. It was completed in 1928.
Then more bad news came. The two mill water customers could not finance their projects and there was no immediate customers for Wynoochee water. Many tabbed the project “Aberdeen’s folly” and some firmly believed that the project was master minded by a power executive who felt that a city in debt could not build a hydro-electric system.
Help came in 1937 when the Grays Harbor Pulp and Paper Co., which had built in Hoquiam, found its water supply inadequate and sought Wynoochee water. A contract was signed selling 30 million gallons of water a day to the Hoquiam mill. In 1955, things really started to happen. The Weyerhaueuser Co. contracted for a 40 million gallons a day and completed a mill at Cosmopolis in 1957. During the same period, Rayonier, Inc. the successor to Grays Harbor Pulp and Paper asked for another 10 million gallons.
Suddenly the demand on the Wynoochee system was more than 80 million gallons a day and during a dry summer the full flow of the river did not equal the commitment. Once more the community turned to Joe Malinowski’s dream on the Wynoochee. Local governments joined together in petitioning Congress for a Corps of Engineers study on the Wynoochee and the project was authorized in 1958. Hydro-electric power was in the original study, but by the time the dam was authorized electricity had been deleted and the site moved nine miles upstream to a spot better for water storage.
The time was fortunate for in 1963 the Port of Grays Harbor set up its industrial-development division and its first goal was more industrial water. Back in Congress, Representative Julia Butler Hansen steered the project through the complex legislative channels. Henry Soike, port industrial manager, guided delegations back to Washington DC, when help from Grays Harbor was needed.
There was one more obstacle. Congress expressed doubt as to the ability of Aberdeen to meet the financial obligation should the water not be sold. Once again, just as in 1927, the community took the pledge route. This time, however, it was local governments that agreed to share any deficit. Under the agreement, Aberdeen’s share is 25 per cent. Port of Grays Harbor, Grays Harbor County and the public utility district have 22 per cent each; Cosmopolis has 6 percent and Montesano 3. The contract was signed July 30, 1969.
While today’s dedication completed the Wynoochee Dam dream, it may not be the end of Wynoochee water problems. In 1955 the companies were talking expansion, even additional mills. Another firm was planning a plant. In 1973 there are strict standards of ecology and environment. Permits for new mills or expansion of existing ones are not easy to come by and the cost of mills that would meet anticipated standards makes companies cautious.
There are pessimists who brand the Wynoochee dam a “boondoggie,” and say it will be a financial burden on the community. There are others, however, who feel the surplus water may attract new kinds of industries that will lessen dependency on forest products. And finally, there are older optimists who remember when the Wynoochee was called “Aberdeen’s Folly,” but that it brought Weyerhaeuser to Cosmopolis and provided for the expansion of what is now I.T.T.Rayonier. These oldsters are convinced that important things take time. Joe Malinowski will vouch for that.
Note from Bert Achey- “I worked on the original survey, in 1925. In 1926, I again worked on this project! There are three canyons on the Wynoochee. The original plan was to put the Dam in the lower canyon. It is the deepest. We dug test holes and drove test tunnels. They finally put the Dam in the upper canyon! At one time, I knew where each section corner and quarter corner was in that area. My first trip into this was in the summer of 1911. I have fished and hunted this area for years. Bert Achey. – Joe Malinowski is married to my cousin, Beth.
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