What you're looking at — and how honest it is

• Real geography: terrain from USGS elevation data; rivers, lakes, and roads from OpenStreetMap; the electric grid from the federal HIFLD infrastructure layer; the ReConnect award area is USDA's own published polygon; the Conconully fiber lines are the PUD's actual engineering routes from its state grant application; wireless sites and coverage come from the PUD's own published access-point map.
• Labeled schematic: the 2002 fiber backbone is drawn along the US-97 corridor it follows (the District has never published the exact route); the lost Methow BEAD area is indicative, not a surveyed boundary; town "lamps" in the electric era are storytelling, not circuit maps.
• Two honest footnotes: the PUD's own history dates its formation vote to 1939, while a statewide association table says 1936 — we show 1939. PUD records describe the 2010 build as ~170 wireless sites; contemporary federal write-ups counted 143 access points. Both are noted in the film.
• The ledger: "public investment · built" counts the three major documented capital moments (1945 purchase, 2010 federal build, Conconully) in nominal dollars — it is deliberately conservative and not inflation-adjusted. "Won, then unwound" is the $30.2M ReConnect award moving to rescission plus the $19.7M BEAD loss.
• Sources: okanoganpud.org, HistoryLink, WPUDA, USDA award records, the 2020 and 2023 county broadband plans, PUD budget workbooks and audited statements, board minutes 2023–26, and Methow Valley News — itemized on the documents page and the timeline.