The “Tracking Your Money” report by Bob Mc- Naney and Becky Nahn on the $667,000 state-funded fishing pier on Dower Lake near Staples was an excellent and commendable piece of investigative journalism. A 612-foot fishing pier on a lake this size certainly appears to be a huge serving of pork. However, a quick look at the context of this project might make it appear less so.

From the report, one could conclude that the late Senator Sams was in the mood for a nice boondogle one day, and hatched the idea for this outlandish pier out of thin air. The fact is, however, that a pier of this length has been at this location on this lake for more than a century. The 2008 pier project was actually a restoration project.

In the late 19th century after the Northern Pacific tracks were laid and trains began running through Staples, the pier was first built to pump water for the steam engines out of the middle of the lake, where the water was the clearest. A large pipe carried the water into the rail yards in the middle of the town. Later, the pier was used for transporting blocks of ice out of the lake for refrigerated freight cars. Eventually, it was used only as a fishing pier. Finally, it deteriorated to the point where it was unsafe as a fishing pier.

Today, the pier is an integral part of the Dower Lake Recreation Area, which includes a campground, pavilion, swimming beach, softball fields and other facilities.

Thus, this pier project was far from being a scandalous, mindless and arbitrary squandering of taxpayer dollars. It preserves an historic regional landmark, and strengthens a significant present-day recreational resource.
Hal Dower
Bethesda, Md.