4 Wheels 4 Girls

June 2nd, we visited the Bonneville Powerhouse. It is a dam operated by the Army Core of Engineers. Dad says the dam converts the power of the Columbia River to electricity. He also says that the Columbia River is one of the most powerful rivers in America because so much water moves down from the mountains so fast. I learned that the turbines (which are huge metal things that look kind of like dreidels, or at least some type of thing that spins) get spun around by the water, and they spin generators. Electricity is made and it powers the whole northwest.

That huge thing behind me is a turbine

The fish ladders helped the salmon swim upstream to where they can have babies and live the rest of their lives before they die. The picture there was of us looking underneath the ladder. It’s easier for the fish to swim under rather than over, so most of them we saw from the glass windows that looked into the fish ladder.

Watching salmon make their way up the fish ladder, through the dam

It was fun to learn about the Bonneville Powerhouse, the Bonneville Dam, and the fish ladders.

The Columbia River is running so hard right now that water is gushing over the spillway behind me