Oral history interview with Walter E. Ericksen

Collection

Identifier: SR 2722

Transcript, digitized audio recording, and photograph

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Scope and Contents

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Audio recording and transcript of an oral history interview with Walter E. Ericksen that was conducted by Clark Hansen on October 4, 1999, at Ericksen’s home in The Dalles, Oregon, as part of the Columbia River Dissenters Oral History Series. Accompanying the audio recording and transcript is a color photograph of Ericksen. His wife, Marilyn R. Ericksen, was also present and occasionally contributed to the interview. At Walter Ericksen's request, parts of the interview are restricted. The corresponding sections of Tape 2, Side 2; Tape 3, Side 2; and Tape 4, Side 1, have been redacted from the interview transcript and a digitized version of the audio recording available online in OHS Digital Collections.

In this interview, Ericksen discusses his family background and early life in The Dalles, Oregon; his career as a cantaloupe farmer; and his memories of the Columbia River before the construction of dams. He also talks about his experiences in the Army Air Corps during World War II. He discusses serving on the State Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service Committee. He talks about diversifying his cantaloupe farm, and describes how he ended up owning a nursing home. He shares his thoughts about the benefits of the dams on the Columbia River. He speaks extensively about the effects of pollution from nuclear power plants and aluminum factories on the farmland, fish, and people in the area. He describes his involvement in litigation against polluters, including taking aerial photographs of smoke produced by aluminum factories, and discusses the effects of fluoride air pollution. He closes the interview by discussing the results of the lawsuits he was part of, and the level of pollution in the Columbia River Basin at the time of the interview.

Dates

Creation: 1999 October 4

Creator

Ericksen, Walter E. (Walter Eugene), 1918-2002 (Interviewee, Person)
Hansen, Clark (Interviewer, Person)

Conditions Governing Access

Portions of the interview are restricted at the request of the interviewee. Researcher access to Tape 2, Tape 3, and Tape 4 is restricted, and restricted portions of the interview on Tape 2, Side 2; Tape 3, Side 2; and Tape 4, Side 1, have been redacted from the transcript and a digitized version of the audio recording available online in OHS Digital Collections.

Conditions Governing Use

Copyright for this interview is held by the Oregon Historical Society. Use is allowed according to the following statement: Creative Commons - BY-NC-SA, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/

Copyright to the photograph of Walter Ericksen has not been determined. Use may require authorization from copyright holders.

Biographical note

Walter Eugene Ericksen was born in The Dalles, Oregon, in 1918. He served in the Army Air Corps during World War II. In 1947, he married Marilyn R. Gronewald, and they later had three children. Ericksen was a cantaloupe farmer and a leader of the Wasco County Fruit and Produce League. He served on the State Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service Committee, and with the Wasco County Education Service District. The Ericksens also briefly owned the Valley Vista Nursing Home, now known as the Evergreen The Dalles Health and Rehabilitation Center. Ericksen died in 2002.

Sources: Vital records in Ancestry.com; information provided by Ericksen in his interview; Ericksen’s obituary in the Oregonian, September 5, 2002, Page D10.

Historical note

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In 1990, the Washington State Historical Society, Portland State University, and Washington State University Vancouver formed the Center for Columbia River History (CCRH) to promote research, education, and public programs about the Columbia River Basin. The center operated for more than 20 years. Among its work was the Columbia River Basin Project (CRBP), an umbrella project supported by a 1997 grant from the U.S. Department of Education. The CRBP included online exhibits, oral histories, and high school curricula about the history of the region's land, wildlife, and people.

As part of the project, CCRH partnered with the Oregon Historical Society Research Library’s oral history program, headed by Jim Strassmaier, to gather interviews. Oral Historian Michael O’Rourke spearheaded the Northwest Power Planning Council Oral History Series, while Oral Historian Clark Hansen oversaw the Columbia River Dissenters Oral History Series, with aid from two Portland State University research assistants, Dannette Rowe and Tania Hyatt. In addition, CCRH conducted oral history interviews for a third project, Columbia Communities, and later donated the interview recordings and transcripts to the OHS Research Library, where they are designated SRC 1.

The Columbia River Dissenters Oral History Series culminated in 59 interviews (approximately 184 recorded hours) conducted between 1998 and 2001. Interviewees included Native people, activists, farmers, conservationists, fishers, and others who contributed to the shaping of policies that have had, and continue to have, significant impacts on the Columbia River Basin in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and British Columbia. The interviewees opposed policies by agencies such as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Bonneville Power Administration, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and advocated for alternative visions of management and use of the Columbia River.

Sources: “Voices of the Columbia,” by Bryan White, PSU Magazine, Fall 1998, Page 17; Center for Columbia River History brochure, undated (circa 2000); Center for Columbia River History website (accessed July 10, 2025), https://columbiariverhistory.org/; email correspondence with Donna Sinclair, 2025; email correspondence with Tania Hyatt, 2025; Oregon Historical Society Research Library internal documentation.

Full Extent

0.1 Cubic Feet (4 audiocassettes (3 hr., 27 min., 31 sec.) + transcript (89 pages) + 1 photograph (color))

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Abstract

Oral history interview with Walter E. Ericksen, conducted by Clark Hansen on October 4, 1999, as part of the Columbia River Dissenters Oral History Series. Ericksen discusses his experiences as a cantaloupe farmer in The Dalles, Oregon; how fluoride air pollution from aluminum factories on the Columbia River affected his farm, people, and fish in the area; and his involvement in lawsuits against polluters.

Existence and Location of Copies

Audio, transcript, and photograph available online in OHS Digital Collections.

General

Forms part of the Columbia River Dissenters Oral History Series.

Processing Information

This interview was previously cataloged as part of SR 2700.1, the Center for Columbia River History Oral Histories. SR 2700.1 included oral histories gathered for two separate projects: those conducted by the Oregon Historical Society Research Library for the Columbia River Dissenters Oral History Series, and those collected by the Center for Columbia River History for its Columbia Communities Project. In 2024-2025, as part of digitization of the Dissenters interviews, the collection was reprocessed to separate the two sets of interviews for improved access. Each of the 59 Columbia River Dissenters interviews was cataloged individually under the name of the interviewee. The interviews for the Communities project were kept together as a single collection that was redesignated as SRC 1, Columbia Communities Project oral histories.