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This song was written by Woody Guthrie in 1941.
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He was hired by the director of the Bonneville Power Administration to work for one month as an "information consultant" and write songs that would make people in the Pacific Northwest appreciate the work of the BPA and value the concept of public power.
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In that month, Woody wrote 26 songs.
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Many locals did not welcome the prospect of a high dam in the middle of the Columbia River, but President Franklin D. Roosevelt approved construction of Bonneville Dam in 1933 as part of the New Deal, and later the Grand Coulee Dam.
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The Spokane Chamber of Commerce and local press, both decidedly influenced by Washington Water Power, still favored private rather than public power.
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Four years later, after Roosevelt dedicated Bonneville Dam in the Columbia River Gorge, he created the Bonneville Power Administration to market what was projected to be the near limitless electricity that would flow from any and all Columbia River dams.
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