"Roll On, Columbia, Roll On" is an American folk song written in 1941 by American folk singer Woody Guthrie, who popularized the song through his own recording of it. The song glamorized the harnessing of the Columbia River in the Pacific Northwest. The 11 hydroelectric dams built on the American stretch of the Columbia helped farms and industry, but their construction also permanently altered the character of the river. The song became famous as an anthem about American public works projects arising out of the New Deal in the Great Depression. In 1987, it was adopted as the official folk song of the State of Washington. "Roll On, Columbia, Roll On" was part of the Columbia River Ballads, a set of twenty-six songs written by Guthrie as part of a commission by the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA), the federal agency created to sell and distribute power from the river's federal hydroelectric facilities (primarily Bonneville Dam and Grand Coulee Dam). As he did many times, Guthrie used a well known tune for his lyrics. In this case it was Leadbelly's "Good Night Irene". The best known recordings are by Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger. Other songs and tunes by Woody Guthrie: "Deportees" "Gypsy Davy" "Hard Travelin" "Hard, Ain't It Hard" "Pastures of Plenty" "The Philadelphia Lawyer" "The Reuben James" "Roll On Columbia" "So Long, It’s Been Good To Know You" "Talking Blues" "This Land Is Your Land" "Union Maid" "Woody's Rag"