Washington's Big Bet on the Columbia: A Dam at Kettle Falls
Washington Water Power expects a federal license within weeks and plans to begin work on a hydroelectric dam and powerhouse at Kettle Falls, with the first unit running by the summer of 1926.
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Issuance of a permanent federal license for the development of the Kettle Falls hydro-electric project by the Washington Water Power company is expected shortly after the preliminary survey work is completed about May 15, according to D. L. Huntington, president. The work on the dam and power house at Kettle Falls will start immediately after the federal license is issued. The first step will be the construction of several miles of railway from the main line to the power site. It is estimated that the first unit will take two years to build and should be in operation in the summer of '26.
“It is estimated that the first unit will take two years to build and should be in operation in the summer of '26.”
Kettle Falls has always stood at the center of Washington's fight over rivers and power. The company got its wish, but within two decades the great dams that followed on the Columbia, including Grand Coulee, would submerge the falls this project meant to harness. Today the same river system that promised endless electricity in 1925 anchors debates over salmon, tribal treaty rights, and who controls the water.
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