Meyers Falls Dam - Kettle Falls, WA - Historic Hand Operated Sluice Gates on Waymarking.com

This dam has, as best we can tell, a single small manually operated sluice gate which is about two thirds of the way up the furthest west section of the dam. Apparently spring runoff is simply allowed to flow over the top, so we really don't know the purpose of this sluice gate. You'll notice in the photos, though, that it was partially open when we visited.

This 24.5 foot high dam replaced the original timber-crib dam built in 1915 which failed in 1961, necessitating the construction of this dam.

The first hydro station, near the dam, was built in 1903, with upgrades taking place in 1910 and 1915, with further development taking place at later dates. It is still operational and supplies power equivalent to that required by about 1,000 homes. A second generating station was added across the river in 1915 and both continue to produce power.

In 1830 a gristmill was built by the Hudson's Bay Company on the river above the dam and continued in use until after the first generating station was built. 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 Meyers Falls Power Plant was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on June 29, 1995.

Name of Waterway.: Colville River Roughly when was the Waterway created?: 1915 Is this waterway working?: Working What is the condition of the sluice gate?: Reasonable What is/was the water used for?: Other

Visit Instructions:
Please take photo of your visit.

Recent Visits/Logs:

Date Logged Log   10/04/2020 Rock Chalk visited it