B Street: The Notorious Playground of Coulee Dam by Lawney L. Reyes

Abstract

thereof. Which of these various experiences dating to theirinitialdisplacement in the 1600s should be freeze-framed as their"culture" and could have been "preserved"? One could ask similar questions of theOsage and otherswho are featured in the narrative. This problem is indicative of thepaucity of critical Indian his torythroughoutmost of the text. The subtitle of "Indian diplomat" suggests that thenarrativewould includemore Native perspectives thanprevious biographies of Wil liamClark. Still,Buckley offersa highly read able biography of a truly importantman that is richlycontextualized in thewell-established narrative of American westward expansion. Gray H. Whaley Southern Illinois University-Carbondale B STREET: THENOTORIOUS PLAYGROUND OF COULEEDAM by Lawney L. Reyes University of Washington Press, Seattle, 2008. Illustrations, photographs, maps, bibliography. 184pages. $18.95 paper. B Street tells two stories related to thebuilding ofGrand Coulee Dam ? one isa familystory, touching and sentimental, that begins and ends upriver from the concretemonolith. The other is a storyof the temporary community grown around the dam project, told through the eyes and memories of a child who lived and played among thedenizens of thisfleeting boomtown. The book beginswith thestoryof twoyoung men from the Sin-Aikst band of theColville Confederated Tribes on a hunting jaunt early one morning. This first section is filledwith imagery and lyricism; theNative sections of the book are the ones the author writes best. While on thehunt, theyoungmen spotBureau of Reclamation surveyorsmarking how high the riverwill rise once the dam is complete. The men are stunned todiscover thatthe water will rise so high it will drown theirreservation town of Inchelium and theprized Kettle Falls fishing area. Like the rest of the country,members of Inchelium and surrounding communities experienced daily financial struggles during the Great Depression. Construction of the Grand Coulee Dam, begun in 1933, meant jobs, and jobsmeant that men and families traveled from across the state and the country to earn good wages on the project.When Julian and Mary Reyes, the author's parents, learn of the eventual flooding of theirhome town and of the great construction project about to com mence a day's drive away, theydecide to take a chance. JulianandMary move theirsmall fam ilytoGrand Coulee and open a Chinese food restaurant, the Woo Dip, even though neither has prepared Chinese food before. This gamble takes them away from their friendsand familyand insertsthem ina brand new life ? where engineering and industry shiftand shape the land and river,and where women count themselves as commodities alongside other commercial prospects such as stores and restaurants and bars. As the author focuses on the dam's construc tion and theworkers and theircommunity, he loses the thread of theReyes family's storyfor nearly fortypages. The stories ofCoulee Dam and B Street are interestingenough, but broad storiesofworkingmen and pretty ladies do not offerasmuch insightas theperspectives of the parents and childrenwho were affectedingreat and awfulways by theconstruction of thedam. The Reyes family'sstoryisthe most compelling part of thebook. When Reyes returns to his family's story ? the trepidation of doing something com pletely new, the firstdays of unsuccessfully cooking foreign food, the satisfaction derived from finallymastering a cuisine and a busi ness, and the joy in becoming part of the vibrant, iftransient, community ? his voice and his writing reflect the pride he feels at 148 OHQ vol. 110, no. i participating in a historic moment of Wash ington history. While Reyes includes few memories or com ments fromother tribal members who suffered theflooding of theirhomes and sacred fishing waters, the compelling photos accompany ing this section indicate the pain community members experienced. Tight, cautious faces look out from under ceremonial dress, each attired tohonor the river,and to saygoodbye to the falls. This book offersa nice counterpart todrier stories of reclamation and isa quick read that would be suitable in classes on Native Studies, memory, biography, and history. Laurie Arnold Notre Dame, Indiana AMERICA'SNUCLEAR WASTELANDS: POLITICS, ACCOUNTABILITY, AND CLEANUP byMax S. Power Washington State University Press, Pullman, 2008. Notes, bibliography, illustrations, index. 216 pages. $19.95 paper. At theHanford site in Eastern Washington, cleaning up chemical and radiological con taminants produced over four decades of plutonium production has replacedproduction itself as an economic andmoral engine.During the past decade, Hanford's annual "Health of the...