Annals of the Big Bend

The Great Northern Railway Rock Ovens Between Quincy and Trinidad, WA

The start of a long project: 2 of 2

Stratford

This small farming community is named for Shakespeare’s Stratford-on-Avon, and the town at one time kept up communication with its namesake.

Crab Lake was located north of this marker and south of Billy Clapp Lake, where a seeps lake now exists from this last reservoir at the top end of the Columbia Basin Reclamation Project. Pinto Dam is the earthen dam at the south end of Billy Clapp Lake, accessible by taking Road J NE north out of Stratford.

Brook Lake can still be found southeast of the marker, parallel to the railroad tracks, during spring runoff in particularly wet years. Often the north-south road across this depression is washed out when this former lake floods again.

Wilson Creek

Another small farming community, Wilson Creek was incorporated in 1903. Railroad Street, the main road through town, still features historical buildings, including a beautiful brick former bank that was once robbed in dramatic fashion. It now holds a museum.

The site of the former large Great Northern roundhouse and its associated coal towers is to the south of the current grain silos and track alignments.

Crab Creek once meandered through town, but was eventually rerouted in order to provide less interruption in the design of Wilson Creek’s layout.

The Southeast Trail

Para Homestead

The Para family immigrated to the Othello area in 1913, and began a homestead farm at this location. They were influential and civic-minded residents, providing a consistent supply of fruit, vegetables, and meat to Othello residents during the Great Depression. Later, Mr. Para would also become involved in the local public schools and with the soil conservation district. He was also an outspoken supporter of the Columbia Basin Irrigation Project.

On the cliff face to the south, beside Morgan Lake, can be seen the profile of a native warrior. The mesa featuring this natural landform is known as Deadman’s Bluff, for an unfortunate cowboy who fell to his death here. Prominent in these channeled scablands are many examples of the hexagonal, columnar basalt common to the Columbia Basin.

O’Sullivan Dam to the north of the Para Homestead is also an earthen dam, rising 200 feet from the channel floor and stretching more than three miles across the desert. It holds back Potholes Reservoir, the collection basin for runoff from the northern part of the Colulmbia Basin Reclamation Project, allowing these waters to be used in the lower part of the basin. It is one of the largest earthen dams in the country, and was constructed between 1947 and 1949..

The Southwest Trail

Wanapum Dam Area

This heritage marker near the dam no longer exists; it once read:

“History of the Wanapum Dam Area:

This area was in the territory claimed by the Wanapum Indians, whose main village was at Priest Rapids Dam. Many Indians lived on both sides of this river. The main Indian fishery was located at Priest Rapids Dam. Several old military wagon roads passes through this area. In 1858 Gen. Joel Palmer passed here while freighting minig supplies to the caribou mines in Canada. In the 1860s thousands of cattle were driven past this point from Oregon to the Canadian gold fields. Craigs Ferry was operating in 1905 at the moth of Crab Creek. The hills across the River are in the U.S. Military Training Exercise Reservation, known as the Yakima Firing Range.”

This area has an extensive history. Leading down to the dam on I-90, a sculpture called “Grandfather Cuts Loose the Ponies” is the first stopping point. The original design included a large basket from which the wild ponies in this native legend were released. Local school children collected pennies in the 1980s which were used to create this massive sculpture.

Ginkgo Petrified Forest, a 6000-acre State Park opposite the Columbia River from the Wild Horse monument, is one of only a handful of such forests found in lava flows. The scenic overlook on I-90 to the east of Vantage offers a short historical marker to this fascinating national landmark, but the trip to the interpretive center east of the town of Vantage is a definite must-see. This location also includes a display of local petroglyphs that were moved before the dam at Wanapum and the subsequent flooding occurred.

The old Vantage Highway, and the various ferries that once crossed the river in that area, now lie beneath the Wanapum Reservoir. The western edge of that highway stretches out into the water east of the Ginkgo Petrified Forest, off the Vantage Highway. The eastern side also disappears beneath the waves west of George off the Old Vantage Highway from Silica Road. Both roads are accessible nearly to the water.

The Wanupum were peaceful fishermen who lived off the land. Their territory stretched from this point south into the Tri-Cities area, and they were never removed to a reservation as were other local tribes. The tribe is dwindling in size as the younger generations blend into the diverse ethnic culture of the Columbia Basin, but they have actively begun educating the public on their tribal customs.

South of the Wanapum Village and the abandoned Beverly railroad bridge on Highway 283, the remnant of another abandoned structure hides in the face of the Saddle Mountains, roughly six miles east on Lower Crab Creek Road. To the south of the road, passing less than 1000 feet through a large alkali bed, is a dirt road leading to a small wooden frame in the hillside. In the early 1900s, this ice cave was used as a meat locker by local cattle ranchers and a former subsidiary of the Milwaukee Road, which maintained a spur out to this point. For safety reasons, the cave entrance was caved in. Local resident Gladys Para remembers playing in the cave as a child, as well as the collapse of the entrance. Only about three feet of the original doorway still shows, but there is a slight coldness that still emanates from the rocks.

Beverly-Burke Road leads up the Frenchman Hills behind the Wanapum village, north toward George. On Road 7 SW, a short excursion will soon offer views of open pit diatomaceous mines, large white stretches of the remnants of ancient marine creatures. These gritty shells laid down during the glacial flooding of the Columbia Basin are found in vast supply in southwestern Grant County, and are used to deter pests in potting mediums. Other diatomaceous deposits can be seen just off I-90 on Silica Road between Vantage and George.

The city of George was dedicated July 4, 1957 as the only town in the United States named entirely for the first president of our country. That day, a ½ ton cherry pie was baked in a custom-built brick oven, beginning a favorite tradition of area residents. George founder Charlie Brown and his wife began the town’s first business, Martha’s Inn; though no longer in business, the building and large sign can still be seen from I-90. The brick business strip a few blocks away is the site of the famous George sign seen in early advertisements for the new town. The streets are all named for varieties of cherry trees, which was also the first tree planted in George.

Trinidad

The original heritage marker no longer exists at the rest area west of Quincy on Highway 28. The text originally read:

“History of Trinidad Rest Area:

Indians traveled this route from the Columbia River to hunt and fish in the Columbia Basin. In 1858 Gen. Joel Palmer drove freight wagons loaded with mining supplies to Fort Kamloops in Canada up the ravine just west of this point. Placer gold was mined from the river in 1850 – 1860. Several miners were killed by Indians. Several thousand head of cattle wintered in this area during 1860 – 1870. The railroad was built in 1892. First homesteaders settled in 1901. Quincy and Trinidad were platted in 1902. Early settlers crossed the river on the Crescent Bar ferry in 1908.”

A dramatic horseshoe curve, originally built in 1893 (the current one was built in 1941), begins the railroad’s long descent past Trinidad to the Columbia River from a point north of the Quincy Valley Rest Area near Baird Springs Road. (Pic Trinidad main)  A coal mine was once located near Trinidad; the town supposedly resembles a coal-mining town in Colorado, and was named for it. Also in Trinidad, near the grain silos at the train siding north of town on Baird Springs Road, is the remnant of a series of “Italian” ovens used by workers to bake bread during the construction of the railroad line.

Below Trinidad is the resort town of Crescent Bar at the river’s edge. The ferry one mile east of the current town offered access to the West Bar, the site of the social scene in the 1930s. The site of the ferry on the south side of the Columbia River is marked by a small ravine filled with trees; nearer to the north side along the road to Crescent Bar, a concrete foundation can be seen in the water, possibly from either the ferry dock or from a proposed natural gas pipeline in the 1960s that was never completed. The ferry was built in 1910, featured sixty feet of cable, and was still in use in the 1960s before the Wanapum and Priest Rapid Dams were built.

The start of a long project: 1 of 2

In 1976 and 1977, local engineer and history buff Jim Lynch began a project which produced thirteen historical markers for Grant County, documenting much of the lost and forgotten history of area tribes, military expeditions, and early homesteaders. Other jurisdictions have added other heritage markers and monuments, adding to an appreciation of the Columbia Basin’s rich history.

These markers spread out from Moses Lake in three general directions: north, southeast and southwest. Grab your map, this brief guide to area history, and a sense of adventure, and explore the historical tales and landmarks that make up this unique Eastern Washington region.

As a friendly note of precaution, please watch carefully to avoid meeting many of our less-friendly desert creatures, such as rattlesnakes, scorpions and ticks. Keep to obvious paths, and carry repellent or bite kits.

Moses Lake

This town in the center of Grant County was begun in 1910 as a small community of farmer-ranchers on the shores of this meandering lake; it was called Neppell for 28 years, until it was renamed for Chief Moses, the head of the local Columbias, or Sinkiuse tribe. The lake itself was once called Salt Lake. This band of natives once corralled their horses on the peninsula that is now the downtown district, while they camped on the hill below the current location of Samaritan Hospital.

According to Mr. Lynch, the military trail through the area was still visible in 2006 where it crossed what is now I-90 south of town. The military built Larson Air Force Base (originally a bomber training base) northwest of town along highway 17 in the 1940s; the longest runway in the country -- and yet one thick enough to accommodate the weight of the proposed space shuttle -- is found here at the existing airport behind Big Bend Community College. There were also several Titan missile sites built in the surrounding area during the cold war.

On May 29, 1952, World War II veteran Gary Dunn was gifted with a full farm – including everything from home and barn to furniture and a planted field – constructed in 24 hours as part of the Farm in a Day program. It was an advertising campaign for the Columbia Basin Irrigation Project. More information can be found on this and other irrigation related history at the Moses Lake Art Center on Third Avenue.

The Northern Trail

Rocky Ford

This area was named for the military trail that forded the stream in this valley in the 1800s. To the north of the current alignment of Highway 17 is the original road alignment, now blocked to through traffic, but marked by a large tree at the East end.

The fish hatchery mentioned on the marker is found on Troutlodge Road off of Highway 17 as it travels north from here toward Soap Lake; it can be viewed from many places along Troutlodge Road and Road B.3, but it no longer offers tours.

Ephrata

This area was known by tribes across the region for the springs both up the hill behind the courthouse and the hot Indian Grave Springs which originally heated that courthouse. Cottonwood Springs, as it was once called, flowed down the hill along Baird Springs Road and through town; the ravine still exists but the water no longer reaches town. The town was originally named for the hot springs, but then renamed for Frank Beezley, the first homesteader in the area.

It wasn’t until the early 1900s that the town was named Ephrata; a railroad employee in the area had traveled to Israel, and upon returning, announced that the view from the Beezley Hills reminded him of the Holy Land, and this area in particular of Bethlehem.

The area was well-known as the stomping grounds for herds of wild horses, and great “roundups” began here on a regular basis. the marker here is mistaken, in that the last roundup occurred in 1906. Cattle and sheep ranching were popular here as well before Grand Coulee Dam was built to irrigate the dry desert of the Columbia Basin.

In 1918, Ephrata residents were influential in lobbying the government to develop an irrigation system in the desert of Eastern Washington; the project would irrigate over one million acres, and was made possible by the construction of Grand Coulee Dam.

In the 1040s, an Army air base was built to the east of town, and was in operation for three years. The airport is still in use, though for non-military purposes, as well as housing the Port of Ephrata.

A monument in the courthouse lawn on C Street remembers local soldiers lost in the Southeast Asian conflict.

The main thoroughfare of Ephrata, Basin Street, exhibits an eclectic mix of commercial design from various decades and still functions as the center of civic life in an agricultural community.

Soap Lake

This town at the south end of the Grand Coulee became popular for its reputed healing powers, due to the high alkalinity of the waters, last in a chain of nearly a dozen lakes. Twenty-three minerals are found in the water, the most prominent being calcium bicarbonate and sodium; no other body of water in the world has as varied a mix of minerals. Today, area research universities continue to investigate the reasons for its healing properties, though the waters are now diluted due to seepage from the Columbia Basin Reclamation Project.

Soapy suds appear on the shoreline of Soap Lake in the spring and fall, when cool winds blow across the water. The lake has no outlet, so the minerals which seep through the basalt in this area collect in the water, allowing a light lather to form on the waves. Though there are many alkaline lakes in the Columbia Basin, this one held the highest concentrations and was thus the most popular.

The local tribes had a long acquaintance with the lake, often using its mud and waters in their sweat lodges. Mr. O. A. Anderberg, also known as “Doctor Mud,” learned these tribal practices, and established an extremely popular mud-bath business on the shores of the lake in 1908. The natives called the lake Smokiam, meaning “witch doctor.”
 

Over the last century, many sanitoriums and health-related businesses were established along these shores, though most were destroyed by either fire or the economic depression of the 1920s. During this time, visitors traveled here from around the world to seek healing from the sudsy lake and its smooth mud; Greek and Russian immigrants were drawn to the area because of the lake’s similarity to the therapeutic Black Sea in their homelands.

The Soap Lake Mercantile, owned by Carl Jensen, opened in 1904 as the town’s first business. The town’s first hotel was opened the next year. President Franklin D. Roosevelt headed a move in 1933 to use the reported success of these waters to the nation’s benefit; in 1938, the Earl McKay Memorial Hospital was built to treat veterans of World War I suffering from circulatory, skin and stomach disorders. It was the only establishment treating Buerger’s Disease in the nation at that time, and it was named for the veteran who promoted the waters of Soap Lake as the remedy for this disease.

In town, south of the lake and west of the Inn at Soap Lake on Main Street, twin spigots bring both lake water and city water to a unique public drinking fountain.

Lake Lenore Caves

These shallow caves were carved out of the basalt cliffs by glacial flooding long ago. They were used by area tribes for preparation of food stores gathered and hunted while on journeys through the Grand Coulee. They once contained remnants left behind from these activities, now stored and documented by archaeologists and museums.

The Cariboo Cattle Trail

The location of this sign is just a stop on this 500-mile trail leading up from Oregon toward the Canadian border. It was named for the Cariboo gold mine in Canada to which many of these cattle were being driven in the 1860s.

This heritage marker sits on a tribal campsite beside Blue Lake; any of the dry washes to the west of the marker could accommodate a traveling band of thirsty horses, and the native bunchgrasses would provide them sufficient food as well.

Forty years after the Cariboo Trail fell into disuse by miners, the path to nearby Coulee City would allow homesteaders to travel from this coulee to the nearest large town in the neighboring Dry Coulee. The exit of the trail out of the valley here can be seen from nearby Moore Road following a dirt road and power lines up a small transverse coulee to the east of the marker.

While Blue Lake is less alkaline than Soap Lake further to the south, many white alkali deposits can be seen in the sagebrush flats and basalt cliffs nearby.

Dry Falls

Taller and wider in its day than Niagara Falls, this dramatic basin is believed to have been carved out of the basalt by massive floods from Glacial Lake Missoula during the last ice age. It is thought that the flow of water over this massive cliff rose 300 feet over the current plateau to the north.

The topography below and around Sun Lakes and the chain of alkaline lakes to the south would have created the down-river rapids below these falls. An interpretive center on-site collects a small fee, but provides more information on the geologic history of the landmark.

The floor of the canyon can be reached by way of a dirt road leading north from Sun Lakes State Park. This less-common perspective emphasizes the height of the canyon walls.

Coulee City

Once a thriving boom town, this small city still holds a great deal of history. The railroad still pulls loaded grain cars out of Coulee City’s silos, and the town still functions as a major crossing point in the middle section of the Grand Coulee.

The area was first known for its importance as a major source of water; what is now known as Railroad Springs or McEntee Springs sits below a white water tower to the southeast of town near Road J NE. Eleven years before the town of Coulee City was platted, the area was called Middle Pass by the military. Next, it was called McEntee’s Crossing in 1889 after Philip McEntee, the early homesteader who created a railroad depot at this important intersection of multiple lines and modes of travel. For roughly ten years during the 1920s and 30s, the local post office was identified under the name Coulee.

The road leading easterly into town from Highway 17 is actually an earthen dam, called both South and Dry Falls Dam; it holds back Banks Lake, the middle reservoir from which the Columbia Basin draws its irrigation water. A monument near the marina in the Coulee City Campground attributes the naming of Banks Lake to engineer Frank Banks, a civic leader who oversaw the construction of Grand Coulee Dam.

After part of the original town was relocated to the east and south, the area north of the current city was flooded in 1951; the old highway still enters the lake on the east side at Fordair Road. In the mid-1980s, an electrical plant was built at Dry Falls Dam, forcing the waters of Banks Lake to be drawn down, allowing a brief glimpse of the original roads now covered by the lake.

Roughly one mile north-northeast of Coulee City near Road I NE is a non-descript white building still housing a large crane. At one time, it removed loads of materials intended for the construction of Grand Coulee Dam from mainline railroad cars onto government cars traveling between the local siding of Odair and Mason City. The section of track beside this federal building is the last remnant of the government railroad created for this project.

Steamboat Rock

This marker is being repaired by the staff at nearby Steamboat Rock State Park, and is due to be returned to its location along Highway 155 sometime this summer.

The original heritage marker at this location states:

“History of Steamboat Rock Area:

Indians, fur traders, military expeditions and early settlers traveled where you are now standing. A major Indian trail passed at this location. Alexander Ross passed here in 1841. John Works, Hudson’s Bay Co., was here in 1825. The famous botanist, David Douglas, was here in 1826. Lt. Johnson of the Wilkes Expedition explored here in 1841. Lt. Arnold passed this point in 1853. Old Camp Chelan-Ft. Walla Walla trail passed near here. Ferguson-Ladd stock crossing used in 1880 passed south of here. Old trail on west side of coulee was named Okanogan Trail, American Trail on east side.”

Long before Banks Lake was flooded in the 1950s, the original trail connecting the Wenatchee area and the Kettle Falls area crossed the coulee floor just south of Steamboat Rock. The native name for this landmark means “something set down in the open.”

Grand Coulee

Long ago, the Bretz floods (named for the geologist who formulated theory on their formation) carved out a large system of coulees in the basalt and granite plateau of the inland Northwest . Dry Coulee and Grand Coulee formed as two branches in this water flow, carving out more and more basalt as the flooding continued, possibly multiple times.

The construction of Grand Coulee Dam from 1933 to 1941 created not only the largest concrete structure in the world even into recent times, but also a vast amount of history. Irrigated farmland in the arid desert of the Columbia Basin is possible due to an extensive system of canals originating from Lake Roosevelt behind this dam, then pumped up the hillside into Banks Lake.

The original towns in the area were named Coulee heights, Coulee Center and Grand Coulee. In 1935, these three towns incorporated into one, named Grand Coulee. During construction, the area west of the dam was called Engineer City, and the town east of the dam was called Mason City. The latter was named not for the workers’ village there, but for the chairman of the main contracting firm involved in the construction of the dam. Above Mason City, the mine where aggregate was extracted for use in the dam can still be seen, and a massive pile of aggregate still looms over the town.

The hillside west of the dam is still littered with railroad grades. The construction effort used steam engines of the type used in logging; they were capable of tight turns and switchbacks like those along the granite cliffs of Coulee Dam. Near the city hall between Lincoln Avenue and Ferry Avenue (don’t forget this one, Joel) is an abandoned tunnel carved out of the rock; it was unused because the bridge downstream was deemed unsuitable for use by the railroad. It stands as a testament to the dramatic effort to construct this massive powerhouse.

Above, in the city of Grand Coulee, three blocks off the Bridgeport Highway, another marker describes what is called “the Best Boom Town Street Ever.” It offered housing and entertainment to the thousands of workers who spent both their workdays and personal time around the dam they constructed. The marker lists the names of the businesses that existed along “B” Street.

The history of this project and its people are documented throughout the town and area in numerous national, state, county and local historic markers and in self-guided tours.