Chorus:
Roll on, Columbia, roll on
Roll on, Columbia, roll on
Your power is turning our darkness to dawn
So roll on, Columbia, roll on.
The song begins with the chorus and it is sung after each verse. The "darkness to dawn" bit talked about how hydroelectric power was bringing electricity to homes in rural areas that had never had it before.
Green Douglas firs where the waters cut through
Down her wild mountains and canyons she flew
Canadian Northwest to the oceans so blue
Roll on, Columbia, roll on
In Washington State and British Columbia, the Columbia River starts in the alpine forests of the Cascades and northern Rockies. The river runs from southern Canada to the Pacific Ocean at the border between Washington and Oregon.
Other great rivers add power to you
Yakima, Snake, and the Klickitat, too
Sandy Willamette and Hood River too
So roll on, Columbia, roll on
This verse talks about some of the Columbia's tributaries. These rivers themselves are fairly grand and they add to the Columbia's prowess.
Tom Jefferson's vision would not let him rest
An empire he saw in the Pacific Northwest
Sent Lewis and Clark and they did the rest
So roll on, Columbia, roll on
Thomas Jefferson's vision of Manifest Destiny, the idea that the United States would exstend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean, began to be realized when Lewis and Clark pioneered the Oregon Trail.
It's there on your banks that we fought many a fight
Sheridan's boys in the blockhouse that night
They saw us in death but never in flight
So roll on Columbia, roll on
As the settlers followed the Oregon Trail, they were met with a lot of resistance from the natives. This verse talks about a battle with a congress of the northwestern Indians tribes in the area surrounding the Cascade Locks on Washington's bank of the Columbia. If the Indians had taken this blockhouse, they would have continued on into Oregon and to the Willamette Valley. However, they were stopped when Philip Henry Sheridan sailed up the river from Fort Vancouver with reinforcements and cannon.
At Bonneville now there are ships in the locks
The waters have risen and cleared all the rocks
Shiploads of plenty will steam past the docks
So roll on, Columbia, roll on
Bonneville Dam, the first dam built on the Columbia, had locks built into it so ships could navigate past it. There was a lot of concern that the dams would prevent the shipment of goods and passengers along the length of the river.
And on up the river is Grand Coulee Dam
The mightiest thing ever built by a man
To run the great factories and water the land
So roll on, Columbia, roll on
Grand Coulee Dam, the second dam built on the Columbia, was the biggest slab of concrete in existence at the time of its construction. The electricity it generated was used in all sorts of industry and the water in Lake Roosevelt, Grand Coulee's reservoir, was used for irrigation.
These mighty men labored by day and by night
Matching their strength 'gainst the river's wild flight
Through rapids and falls, they won the hard fight
So roll on, Columbia, roll on
Construction of a river spanning dam is not easy. The river must be diverted while it's being built. The workers had to create channels so the water would flow around the construction site. For the time, building these dams was one of the greatest achievements of the United States.
