The Late, Great Meyers Falls

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In 1862 Louther Meyers arrived in Colville Valley from his home in New York state, determined to make his fortune in the west. He worked as a carpenter for homesteaders and at a flour mill on the Little Pend Oreille River near the village of Hart. By 1869, he was able to send his wife $700 dollars that he had earned so that she and their two sons could join him in the Washington territory. They settled down near what became known as Meyers Falls. Meyers owned and operated a sawmill and gristmill and operated a trading post in the fledgling community.

In 1890, the town of Meyers Falls benefited from a new railroad that ran through the town. Meyers built a bridge over the Colville River in the same place where the newer one stands today. Businesses such as stores, barber shops, pool halls, hotels, and others started to fill the town. Promotional fliers circulated to encourage people to move to Meyer Falls; describing the Meyers Falls Valley as an area of peace and beauty.

In 1942, near the end of the construction of the Grand Coulee Dam, the town of Kettle Falls was forced to relocate due to the rising waters in the reservoir. The residents of Kettle Falls, the largest city in the county, took over parts of Meyers Falls and began to move their homes and businesses to the new location, safely above the rising waters. Both of the small towns grew to become what is today Kettle Falls.