The Place:
Surprisingly, though Chief Joseph is a dam, the hydro facility is run-of-the-river, as the reservoir behind the dam is insufficient to supply the requisite volume of water over the long term.
"Chief Joseph Dam is in Douglas and Okanogan counties, 1.5 miles upstream from Bridgeport, WA and 545 miles upstream from the mouth of the Columbia River at Astoria, Oregon. Its electricity is marketed by the Bonneville Power Administration. Construction began in 1949, with the main dam and intake structure completed in 1955. Installation of the initial generating units was completed in 1958. Eleven additional turbines were installed between 1973 and 1979, and the dam and lake were raised 10 ft, boosting the capacity to 2.620 GW (gigawatts), making Chief Joseph Dam the second largest hydroelectric power producer in the United States. It now has 27 main generators in the powerhouse.
The reservoir behind the dam is named Rufus Woods Lake, and runs 51 mi up the river channel. Bridgeport State Park, on the lake, is adjacent to the dam."
Source: Wikipedia
The Person:
With authorization for the construction of the dam coming forth in 1946, in 1948 the River and Harbor Act (Public Law 80-858 of the 80th Congress, 2nd session) renamed the project Chief Joseph Dam to honour the Nez Perce Chief who spent the last few years of his life in exile on the Colville Indian Reservation in northern Washington.
In 1871
Chief Joseph, or Young Joseph, succeeded his father as leader of the Wallowa band of the Nez Perce Nation in the Wallowa Valley area of north eastern Oregon. Born on March 3, 1840, he died, it is said, of a broken heart on September 21, 1904 (or 1905), having failed in every attempt to enable his people to return to their ancestral home.
The discovery of gold and consequent settlement on lands of the Nez Perce ultimately led to what was known as the "Nez Perce War", with Chief Joseph leading his people on an epic 1,170-mile fighting retreat, resisting resettlement of his people and seeking asylum with Sioux Chief Sitting Bull in Canada.
Here is a touching and in-depth article by a descendant of
Chief Joseph.
A rather complete account of Chief Joseph's life can be found at Wikipedia.