This marker indicates the site of the Hudson's Bay Company trading post, which stood to the east of the site of the marker, at a spot now submerged by the Columbia River in 1939. It was the construction of the
Grand Coulee Dam 100 miles or so downstream which flooded the Columbia River Valley nearly to the Canadian border.
The first white settlement in Stevens County, which then encompassed much of northeast Washington, northern Idaho and western Montana, the post was established sometime between 1816 and 1826. There are conflicting reports concerning the exact date of its establishment. The marker states that it was established in 1826. It was abandoned in 1871 with the decline of the fur trade.
With arable land at hand and the availability of water power from the Colville River, this post grew grain and vegetables and raised livestock to supply other posts in the area which were established later. The company also built a grist mill on the Colville River to produce flour for this and other posts.
To find the marker, first get yourself to
St. Paul's Mission on the eastern bank of the Columbia, west of the town of Kettle Falls, then follow the walking trail northwest toward the river. After reaching
The Sharpening Stone follow the trail along the river's edge to the east and you will eventually encounter this marker. A sign on the north side of Highway 20/395 points out the road/trail leading in to the mission. The Mission, incidentally, is a National Historic Site, established near the Fort Colville Hudson's Bay Trading Post in 1830.
Following is the entry for Fort Colville from Washington: a guide to the Evergreen State, published in 1941. We suspect that the writers actually viewed the stone monument at St. Paul's Mission while there, as their text is eerily similar to that on the monument.
North of Kettle Falls the route swings eastward a short distance, State 22 coinciding with US 395 (see Tour 6a). At 78 m. State 22 and US 395 separate again. State 22, the main route, turns left across the Colville River meadows.
At 81.7 m. is a junction with a graveled road.
Left here to the SITE OF OLD FORT COLVILE. 0.5 m. Erected in 1826, this fort, named for Lord Colvile, served the Hudson's Bay Company for many years (1826-71). With its history is interwoven the lives of John Work, Archibald and Angus McDonald, and other factors of the post. Around the fort stock raising, farming, milling, and trading began. In 1853 Angus McDonald entertained Governor Isaac Stevens and Captain George B. McClellan at the fort. "I had fifty imperial gallons . . . to entertain the gentlemen," wrote McDonald. "The governor was rather fond of it. 'Mac" he said, 'this is powerful wine.' The captain put his arm around my neck and whispered in my ear: 'Mac, my proud father, too, was at Culloden,' and ... slipped from the sofa to the floor."
From Washington: a guide to the Evergreen State Page 436