In about 1826 the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), British fur traders, set up Fort Colvile on a point next to Kettle Falls (the waterfall - the town did not yet exist) on the Columbia River and began to raise vegetables and grow grain to supply itself and other distant trading posts. Finding an adequate source of power in the Colville River at Meyers Falls, they proceeded to erect a gristmill in about 1826. It was built by a French-Canadian named Lapierre and rebuilt in about 1843 by chief factor Archibald McDonald (1771-1841). This gristmill for many years produced flour for HBC posts and, eventually, US Government outposts, as well.
Interestingly, this early use of the Colville River, followed by a hydroelectric project on the river in 1903 makes the Colville River the oldest source of water power in continual use west of the Mississippi River.
In 1860 the Canada-US border was established on the 49th parallel. With this, the HBC found themselves in US territory and subject to tariffs when shipping goods to and from Canada. To alleviate this situation the HBC moved their operations to a new post just north of the border at Fort Shepherd, leaving the gristmill behind. The HBC officially ended occupation of Fort Colvile on June 8, 1871. Now in American hands the mill continued to supply settlers and the US Military as far away as Fort Spokane for many more years; at least until 1903 when the first hydroelectric station at Meyers Falls was installed.
The gristmill was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on April 12, 1982.
Text from onsite plaque:
Flour Production, First in the Northwest
Historians believe the first mill at Meyers Falls, constructed sometime between 1816 and 1826, represents the first water driven mill in the Pacific Northwest. In 1843 trappers and traders of The Hudson's Bay Company remodeled the original Hudson Bay grist mill under the direction of Mr. Goudy, who later became the mill's namesake. As demand increased and technologies improved the Goudy Mill was renovated several times until it burned down in 1916. Imagine standing here in 1869: envision a dusty US government wagon pulling up to buy flour for Fort Spokane, some eighty miles away, for just 75 cents per 100 pounds.