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Thompson Metal Ships Parts for Snake River Dam by Staff The Columbian, November 9, 2010

Conference to focus on several issues that will affect water supplies for eastside

Vancouver-based Thompson Metal Fab Inc. prepared this week to ship out an $8 million, 750-ton gate system the company built to replace the locks at the Lower Monumental Dam on the Snake River near Walla Walla.

The equipment will make a 254-mile trip up the Columbia River and the Snake, a Columbia tributary. The new gate is being shipped as three 250-ton fabricated sections that will be welded together on site to construct the new gate, a replacement for the dam's aging gate.

The new gate is part of a larger effort by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to improve infrastructure for river traffic and fish passage on the Columbia-Snake system.