Meyers Falls - Kettle Falls, WA
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T0SHEA
N 48° 35.653 W 118° 03.571
11U E 421877 N 5382890
Meyers Falls is named after Louther Meyers, an early settler who bought the rights to use the water power from the Colville River from the Hudson's Bay Company.
Waymark Code: WMJAY5
Location: Washington, United States
Date Posted: 10/21/2013
Views: 6
On the Colville River immediately south of the City of Kettle Falls (which in turn was named after a now submerged and extinct falls), Meyers Falls is a series of cascades about 133 feet in total height. In the spring the cascades join to become a single, wide, 133 foot waterfall. Over the years a grist mill, a sawmill, a brick factory and a hydroelectric project have been built above and below the falls.
In 1826 a gristmill was built by the Hudson's Bay Company on the river above the falls and continued in use until after the first generating station was built. In the intervening years a sawmill capable of producing 20,000 board feet of lumber per day was also built at this site. Interestingly, this early use of the Colville River makes it the oldest source of water power in continual use west of the Mississippi River.
The river has sufficient flow through the year to make it a reasonably reliable power source. Unfortunately we visited in early fall, the time of lowest water flow.
Both the Meyers Falls Power Plant and the Hudson's Bay Company Grist Mill have been placed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Coordinates for the site were taken at a viewing area to the northwest of the falls.