Taming the Mighty Columbia
The Columbia River, was a lifeway for Indian Tribes, a pathway for white explorers, a highway for steamboats and barges, and today a source of irrigation, hydropower, and recreation. What was once a wild and awe-inspiring force of nature, with rapids and salmon runs, is currently a pacified string of lakes that provide sustenance to the Pacific Northwest and energy to the nation. This tour introduces some of the more significant historic sites, such as Kettle Falls, Grand Coulee Dam, Town of Marcus, and Chief Joseph Fish Hatchery.
The Lake Roosevelt Partnership is a collaboration between Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area and the History Department at Eastern Washington University. Since 2012 these partners have worked together to tell the stories of the park to a wider audience while training the next generation of park interpreters in digital storytelling.
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Stories 22
Carving the Columbia: The Ice Age Floods
These gently sloping hills beside the lake show the marks of a tumultuous process at work. This region of the Columbia Basin was carved over eons by the meander of the river, by slow erosion, and by explosive ice-age floods.
Chief Joseph Dam
Bridgeport, WA was fading in into the surrounding fields and orchards, but was revived with the construction of the Chief Joseph Dam. Nestled on the outside of a bend in the Columbia River, the small…
Salmon Past and Present
The Chief Joseph Fish Hatchery, being constructed by the Colville Tribe on this site, is part of an attempt to restore not only some threatened species, but also an endangered way of life. For many…
Grand Coulee Dam: Electricity for Jackrabbits
Larger than all of the Pyramids of Giza put together, this mammoth concrete structure began as a dream in a small arid Central Washington farm town. In 1918, Billy Clapp, a lawyer in Ephrata,…
Mason City
In the depths of America's Great Depression, news of a huge construction project in Washington State brought a flood of unemployed men seeking jobs. The "mushroom towns of the Grand Coulee" sprouted…
B Street
This quiet street once had a national reputation - for drunkenness and debauchery.
Elephant in the Desert
Even before the dam was complete, Grand Coulee attracted visitors eager to view this unique geological landscape. Once construction started on the dam, sightseers came from all over the world to…
A Town No More: The Drowned Town of Gifford
Now submerged beneath Lake Roosevelt, Gifford was a small town founded by a man with a westering spirit.
The Gifford Odd Fellows: The Independent Order of the Odd Fellows were not so odd.
An organization that spread across America and the world like a wildfire, The Independent Order of Odd Fellows is a fraternal organization that was the first of its kind to include women. The Odd Fellows Hall in Gifford is one of the town’s oldest establishments.
How the West was Watered: The Fruitland Company Irrigation System
If they’d known it would end up under a lake, they might not have worked so hard to bring water to this land.
The Fishery at Kettle Falls
Beneath the placid waters of Lake Roosevelt at this location lies what was once one of the most important native sites on the Columbia plateau - Kettle Falls. For thousands of years, Indians from as…
The Ceremony of Tears: The rising waters of Lake Roosevelt ended a 10,000-year native tradition
As Kettle Falls, a popular Native American fishing and gathering spot slipped slipped below the surface of Lake Roosevelt, Indians gathered for one final ceremony.
The Sharpening Stone
Etches of Time
Resurrection of St. Paul's Mission: And the Blackrobes of Kettle Falls
Once a magnet for Catholics in the area, St. Paul's was left abandoned in the woods for forty years before its "resurrection" as a historic site.
Buried and Forgotten: St. Paul's Mission Cemetery
Beneath the pine needles that cover this historic cemetery lie generations of native and fur trade families.
Fort Colvile: A Hidden Gem in the Columbia Basin
Two global fur trade companies became one through a forced merger, a deal that would have a lasting effect on the fur trade in the Pacific Northwest.
The Steamboat Forty-Nine: Gold Mining on the Upper Columbia
Captain Leonard White piloted the first steamboat to cross the 49th parallel bringing miners and supplies to the goldfields of British Columbia.
The Boundary Commission: Drawing the International Border While Calling Marcus Home
How is an international border drawn and who does the drawing?
Make Way for Rising Waters: The 1310 Line and the Flooding of Lake Roosevelt
How do you get two tribes, six counties, and nine federal agencies to agree on something? As work began on the Grand Coulee Dam, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation was busy acquiring the land that would lie within the reservoir’s 500 miles of coastline.
Good Fishing on the Main Street of Marcus
Once a thriving Columbia River town, the site of Marcus now lies beneath the waters of Lake Roosevelt.
The City of Kettle Falls: Moving on Up
How do you move an entire town to a new location? Very carefully.
The Late, Great Meyers Falls: The Annexation of Meyers Falls
How Meyers Falls became Kettle Falls.Tour curated by: The Lake Roosevelt Partnership | This tour was edited and polished by Logan Camporeale.