WASHINGTON: As a new contributor to the Business Monthly, I’d like to start out by introducing you to the Port of Columbia. Our Port District was formed in 1958 with an eye toward potential new grain shipping opportunities on the Snake River as the dams were being constructed, as well as other transportation and industrial development possibilities. A subcommittee of the Dayton Chamber of Commerce proposed the new district and put it to a vote of the people. It passed 1,260 for to 316 against.
Since that time, the Port district has created an important economic footprint in our county, evolving with the times to try and serve the changing needs in our rural community. In the early years, property adjacent to the Snake River was acquired and then sold for the development of the Lyons Ferry Grain Terminal, where to this day barges are still loaded with grain and shipped down the river.
The Port played an important role in facilitating this development by working with what was called the Lower Snake River Ports. Together these Ports maximized opportunities along the changing riverbank.
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the Port began working with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on development of the Lyons Ferry Marina facility. Maintaining recreation opportunities along the Snake River during dam construction was very important to area residents, and we are regularly reminded that it remains important today.
The Port recently signed a new 25-year lease with the Corps for operation of the marina facility. The Port subleases the property to a private business that operates as a KOA, employs both year-round and seasonal workers, and draws recreationalists from across the region. In the 1980s and 1990s, Columbia County continued to suffer from changes in the agricultural economy. Mechanization and efficiency left fewer ag employment opportunities and caused young people to leave the community to seek employment; consolidation of ag businesses left Main Street with empty storefronts; the Green Giant cannery ceased canning peas and slashed its workforce.
