Central Washington University Archives
Guide to the Rufus Woods Papers
MS 001-06-01
Compiled and Indexed by: Paul Baker & Edward Robe
Edited and Listed by: Dieter C. Ullrich
Date: May 2006
Date Span: 1896-1980 (bulk 1918-1950)
Size: 28.0 cubic feet.
Number of Boxes: 30 Letter Sized Document Cases (26x31x13 cm.); 3 Legal Sized Document Cases (26x40x13 cm.); 11 Letter Half Sized Document Cases (26x31x6 cm.); 12 Legal Half Sized Document Cases (26x40x6 cm.) and 7 oversized boxes (2 at 6x64x48 cm., 2 at 4x47x38 cm., 2 at 8x33x43 cm. and 1 at 8x46x34 cm.).
Type of material: Correspondence, photographic prints and negatives, reports, publications, newspaper clippings, speeches, minutes and ephemera.
Physical condition: Fair with foxing to older manuscripts and published materials, acidification of newsprint, minor chemical decomposition to photographic prints, some fading of copied material.
Arrangement: Organized into the following series:
I. Rufus Woods’ outgoing correspondence;
II. Rufus Woods’ incoming correspondence;
III. Rufus Woods’ associates’ correspondence;
IV. Rufus Woods’ speeches;
V. Dams;
VI. National Reclamation Association 1925-1964;
VII. Inland Empire Waterways Association;
VIII. Surveys, reports and significant events;
IX. Subject Files (Newspaper Clippings);
X. Public Utility Districts and Power Commissions, Councils and Associations;
XI. Columbia Commissions and Councils;
XII. “The Columbian” Newsletter;
XIII. Rufus Woods “In Our Own World” Newspaper Column;
XIV. Columbia Basin Committee;
XV. Columbia Basin Irrigation Project;
XVI. Miscellaneous and Unidentified;
XVII. Legal Issues;
XVIII. Reports, Speeches and Transcripts;
XIX. Photographic Prints and Negatives;
XX. Newspaper Clippings;
XXI. Unsorted Newspaper Clippings;
XXII. Scrapbooks;
XXIII. Publications;
XXIV. Ephemera and Pamphlets.
The collection has been arranged in chronological order and alphabetically according to series.
Biographical Sketch: Rufus Woods was born in Surprise, Nebraska to Lebbeus B. and Mary (Morrison) W. Woods on May 17, 1878. His youth was spent on the family farm along with his two older brothers, three younger sisters and his twin brother Ralph. Rufus attended local public schools and graduated from Ulysses High School in 1898. Soon after graduation he was appointed as a teacher at a school in Brainard, Nebraska. He remained a year at Brainard before enrolling at Grand Island College. In 1900, Rufus and Ralph left Nebraska to seek riches in the Yukon gold fields. The brothers spent the next four summers in Alaska working various jobs. During the fall and winter 1901 Rufus and Ralph attended Vashon College. The next fall, Rufus and Ralph were accepted in to the law school at the University of Nebraska. Both graduated with degrees in law in the spring of 1903.
Rufus and Ralph relocated to the Puget Sound in the fall of 1903, Ralph to Tacoma and Rufus to Seattle. Both entered the law profession but after a short unfulfilling stint as an attorney Rufus left Seattle and moved to Wenatchee in January of 1904. Within three weeks of arriving he was hired by the Wenatchee Republic as press editor. The following year Rufus purchased the Wenatchee Advance in partnership with Charles Graham. Graham sold the paper in early 1906 without Rufus’ knowledge and he was removed as editor. On February 27, 1907, Rufus and Ralph leased the Wenatchee Daily World with an option to buy after one year. Rufus quickly reorganized the paper, modernized equipment and hired new reporters. Circulation quickly expanded and when the lease ended he chose to purchase the paper along with a few investors. By 1910 the circulation of the Daily World had increased over 600 percent since 1907 and was considered the one of the leading small town newspapers in the State of Washington.
As the paper’s circulation expanded so did Rufus’ activities beyond the small community of Wenatchee. By 1915, two-thirds of the Daily World’s readership was outside of Wenatchee. His rising popularity led to him to be considered as a candidate for United States Congress in 1916. Rufus turned down the offer, preferring to manage his newspaper and publishing business. During the First World War, Rufus lobbied for government contracts for Central and Eastern Washington, with limited success.
While on his travels searching for news Rufus met Gale Mathews, an old acquaintance from Ephrata, who informed him of a plan developed by Billy Clapp to dam the Columbia River at the mouth of the Grand Coulee. He met with Clapp and immediately envisioned the potential for such a dam. On his return to Wenatchee, Rufus broadcasted Clapp’s idea in the Daily World on July 18, 1918. From that date forward Rufus promoted the regional and national necessity for the Grand Coulee Dam. Throughout the 1920s he encountered opposition at the local, state, and national levels but optimistically continued to encourage its construction. On October 8, 1932, Rufus met with President Herbert Hoover to discuss the dam’s potential, but President Hoover was not impressed and dismissed the plan as having no value. The meeting was a great disappointment; however, his relations with the federal government would change with the election of President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Soon after the election of President Roosevelt, Washington State Governor Clarence D. Martin pushed for a state-funded project to construct the dam. His administration, with guidance from Rufus and fellow promoter James O’Sullivan, established the Columbia Basin Commission in April of 1933. Later that same month on April 17, President Roosevelt remarked to Washington State Senator Clarence Dill that he would support a federal loan to build the Grand Coulee Dam. Problems ensued as local, state and national governments bickered over financing the project. On July 26, 1933, Roosevelt officially approved the Grand Coulee Project and allocated $63 million to construct the dam. By the fall of 1933 construction contracts were being issued to drill and dig test pits. On December 6, 1935, concrete was poured where the base of the dam was to be built. For the next five years construction progressed steadily and on January 22, 1941 the first of the great turbines was made operational.
During the war years, Rufus pressed for defense contracts for the region and highlighted the importance of the newly completed dam. He also endorsed the need for more dams to fulfill the war time power needs of the Columbia Valley. In 1943, Rufus campaigned for building of the proposed Foster Creek dam. As he had done almost a quarter of century earlier, Rufus organized a movement to construct the dam. After the war, Congress authorized the construction of the dam, which was renamed the Chief Joseph Dam project, and work was begun in 1949. Rufus would not see the dam’s completion, as he died of a heart attack on May 29, 1950, while on a research trip to Toronto, Canada. His remains were returned to Wenatchee where he is buried.
See also Ficken, Robert E. Rufus Woods, the Columbia River and the Building of Modern Washington. Pullman, WA: Washington State University Press, 1995.
Organizational memberships and administrative roles: