Business & Finance: Bonneville's Bananaman

In the gorges of the Skagit River, high in the mountains above Seattle, is a grove of palms and banana plants. They were grown there by James Delmage Ross, superintendent of Seattle's power system, after someone told him it couldn't be done. Almost as surprising as a banana plant in the State of Washington is a Republican in the high councils of the New Deal, but such is Mr. Ross. A utility expert who expressed hearty "disapproval of Franklin Roosevelt's early ideas on power distribution, he nonetheless became Franklin Roosevelt's firm friend, was appointed by him two years ago to the...

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