INCHELIUM - There are two ways to cross the Columbia River in Inchelium.
The Columbian Princess takes four minutes.
But after 7 p.m., the same trip takes an hour and 10 minutes, via a bumpy two-lane road and a crossing at Kettle Falls. To those who live, work, or vacation on the Colville Indian Reservation, that's a bridge too far.
Until last week, the free ferry ran from 6 a.m. until 10 p.m., one round-trip every half-hour. Now the Bureau of Indian Affairs has cut the hours from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Deckhand Joe Dale hears the complaints nearly every trip, from tribal members, truck drivers, softball players, resort owners and campers. "They can't go to a movie," he said. "They can't even go for a steak dinner in Daisy."
The cutback is causing problems for businesspeople, commuters and vacationers alike. The Gifford landing is 85 miles northwest of Spokane, an hour-and-a-half drive when traffic is light. Eight o'clock appointments in town are an impossibility, they say, and those who work until 5 p.m. had better count on taking the long way around.
"It's a horrible problem for anyone who has property up here, or who has visitors coming over," says Fred Wilson, Ephrata, owner of a cabin at Twin Lakes. "If they can't make it by 7 o'clock, they're screwed."
The Bureau of Indian Affairs, however, maintains that the ferry costs too much to operate – and that reservation roads are suffering as a result. The agency has operated the ferry for 10 years, and paid $4 million to build the Columbian Princess in 1981.
A long-running private ferry operation provided unprofitable in the early 1970s, and the BIA thought service essential for the community, explains George Davis, superintendent of the agency office in Nespelem.
But he says congressional appropriations haven't kept pace with operating costs. Ferry money comes from the $900,000 roads budget, $405,000 of it earmarked for the Princess.
Representative Tom Foley, D-Wash., has proposed a $430,000 appropriation for the ferry next year. The proposal is before the House Interior Subcommittee, but in the meantime, says Davis, the reduced schedule will continue.
A contract to be negotiated with boat operators in October will provide for a similar schedule through winter, he says, with full service resuming in April.
It was his decision, Davis says – and he's not surprised people are upset. "I'm not having a great time sitting here and doing it."
But he says the condition of the roads left him little choice. Maintenance on the reservation's macadam highways has been forestalled for five years, and Davis says with out a new seal coating, the roads will fall apart. Meanwhile, the ferry itself needs major repairs – all four engines will have to be rebuilt sometime soon.
Davis says an analysis two years ago showed that a fare wouldn't help the financial picture. Currently the ferry falls under the purview of the American Bureau of Shipping. A far would place it under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Coast Guard – and that means restrooms would have to be installed, another deckhand and a toll collector would have to be hired, and the BIA would have to monitor the cash flow. A fare would just pay for itself, he said.
When the study was made, ridership stood at 80,000 vehicles per year. A non-subsidized paying operation would have cost riders about $5 per trip, Davis says. Now the ferry carries 105,000 cars annually, and the cost might fall to $3.50 or $4 – but he says that's still steep enough to drive reservation residents to Kettle Falls.
While the Department of Transportation operates a similar ferry on the Columbia River south of Keller, Davis says a state takeover is unlikely in the Gramm-Rudman era. Washington also would have to declare the connecting roads to be state highways, and take over their maintenance – which makes the prospect even more remote.
Tribal councilman Lou Stone says he agrees with the arguments against the fare. With more than 60 percent unemployment on the reservation, few residents would be able to afford it. But the reduced hours will also put a crimp into employment: Fewer tourists will be able to make the trip from Spokane.
"I'm really disgusted, because there's a bigger picture," Stone says. The Colville Business Council had recommended putting the ferry on a split shift, shutting down for four hours in the afternoon.
Davis disagreed – the crew's schedule would be disrupted and workers would have to be paid for on-call time.
"What the superintendent has failed to realize is that the service is for the people, not the employees," Stone says. "The superintendent has to pay more attention to service provision than the politics of management."
Stone has organized a letter-writing campaign to Foley and Republican Sens. Dan Evans and Slade Gorton. Reservation roads are in bad shape, he says, and the only real answer is additional money from Congress.
The cutback is already beginning to be felt by the community. Inchelium is barely big enough for a grocery store, a post office, a school, and a community center.
At the Inchelium Short Stop – a combination convenience store, gas station, and short-order grill – clerk Jerry Signor still is celebrating two lopsided victories by the store's softball team earlier this week. Softball is about the only thing that happens in Inchelium during the summer, he says.
There are seven teams in the coed league. There were going to be 11, but four teams from across the river had to drop out. The games usually don't even begin until 6:30, he says.
Resort owner Marc Charbonneau is rankled by the lack of public input. "The Inchelium and Twin Lakes area is cut off without any say-so." While he's booked up for the summer, he doesn't expect his guests to take kindly to the Kettle Falls-Inchelium Road. "They ought to have an alignment shop on either end," he says.
And on the other bank, not far from the Gifford landing, Sharon Cranston is bemoaning the loss of traffic. Owner of the Lakeside Daisy Inn, she used to serve vacationers from the reservation resorts. Seven o'clock, they usually come for dinner, and catch the last ferry at a quarter to 10. Now there's no way they're going to have time to sit down and eat."
Until last week, she said she had 50 regulars from across the river. But only two have shown up since the hours were cut. They had to start dinner at 3:30, she said – and they weren't too happy about it.
The 20-car ferry often runs at capacity at this time of year, and none of the regulars seem impressed by the cutbacks. "I think it stinks," said Washington Water Power Co. representative and repairman Jim Pettet. "It hurts me bad, because this is my territory."
Pettet lives in Gifford, and makes the trip in his cherry-picker truck several times a day. "I'd rather see them charge for it, if it meant resuming full service. I think most businesspeople would."
Darigold route driver Dan Terry says, "I'm just glad I get over here early in the day. If it was later, I'd be in trouble."
Even so, he predicts he won't be selling as much milk and ice cream on the reservation. Business will be down everywhere, he says. "Things are tough enough as it is without having to work against something like that."
Kim Swain does here shopping in Chewelah and Spokane, where the selection is better and prices are lower. She says her husband is a contractor, and often buys lumber in Spokane. Getting back in time for the ferry will be difficult. "It was bad before," she says. "Now it's even worse."
Lew Lemery lives in Inchelium. He has a construction job in Wellpinit, but he has to be there by 7 a.m. Either he can get up at 3:30 a.m., he says – or he can move.
"I don't like it. I don't like it at all," says Al Brown, pastor of the Chapel of the Pines in Inchelium. The announcement came suddenly, week before last, and a friend of his sat and waited at the Gifford landing Wednesday night before he realized the ferry wasn't coming, Brown says. Then he had to drive to Inchelium, a couple of miles as the crow flies, more than 50 by car.
"It almost dictates when we can come out and go back," Brown says. "It almost makes us isolated. We're not, but it makes us feel that way."
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