Kettle Falls - History

History

About nine thousand years ago Paleo-Indian cultures first gathered at Kettle Falls to fish and gather foods. Salish speaking people arrived about two thousand years ago, and gradually the falls became the center of an extensive network of Native American trade based on a salmon economy. Native peoples came from coastal areas in the west and from the Great Plains in the east to fish, trade, and socialize with the bands of the Columbia River Plateau. Up to fourteen tribes met regularly at Kettle Falls during the salmon spawning season from June to October. They stood on rocks near the shore or on Indian Island in the middle of the falls, fishing with spears and distinctive J-shaped baskets. In his memoir White Grizzly Bear's Legacy: Learning to be Indian, Lawney Reyes described the cultural and economic significance of the falls for his people, the Sinixt, and explained the role of subsistence fishing in maintaining salmon populations: "The bands moved to the banks of the river and caught the salmon that were not strong enough to clear the falls. This method of fishing made sure that only the strongest fish went on to spawn."

The Canadian mapmaker and explorer David Thompson was the first white person to describe the upper portion of the Columbia River. He arrived at Kettle Falls on June 19, 1811, naming it Ilth koy ape, a local name for the baskets the native peoples used to catch fish. Thompson spent two weeks at the falls, preparing for his journey downriver and observing the native fishing culture. He described the village area as "a kind of general rendezvous for news, trade, and settling disputes, in which these villagers acted as arbitrators, never joining any war party". The fur traders of the Hudson's Bay Company established a presence at nearby Fort Colville in 1825. The Jesuit priest Pierre-Jean De Smet visited the area in 1841 and found native people catching up to 3,000 fish a day. The Jesuits established St. Paul's Mission at the falls in 1845. The original town of Kettle Falls was established in 1891 by speculators from Spokane. They built a large hotel on the river overlooking the falls and envisioned a glamorous resort town, but the railroad bypassed the settlement, and the resort never grew much larger than 300 residents.