The Metaline Mining District

The Metaline Mining District, or Metalines for short, is located in northeastern Washington along the Pend Oreille River. Although the district’s existence was always based on the rich ores—quartz, lead, silver—found there in the late nineteenth century, its mid-twentieth-century transformation ...

Placer Mining at Chinaman Bar

Just downstream from this point, is a place known as Chinaman Bar.

During the 1850s, miners explored remote drainages throughout the American West in search of the next big strike. This activity came to Pend Oreille County in 1855 when ...

Carl Harvey

Nineteenth-century gold seekers were the first non-Indians to settle along the Pend Oreille River. While most of the prospectors departed as anonymously as they came, a few stayed to take up homesteads. One became a beloved fixture in the community. ...

Z Canyon

On the Pend Oreille River, just west of this point, is Z Canyon.

Before hydroelectric dams influenced the Pend Oreille River’s flow, the character of the river varied greatly along its length. The wide and seemingly tranquil river that existed ...

Pend Oreille County Historical Society

The residents of Pend Oreille County have long been interested in the history of their county. In 1923, the Pioneer Historical Society formed to highlight the history of the county’s earliest pioneers. The current Pend Oreille County Historical Society formed ...

Box Canyon Dam

In 1952, the Pend Oreille Public Utility District (the District) commissioned construction of the Box Canyon Dam as the centerpiece of its Box Canyon Hydroelectric Project. Including the spillway, the dam is 500 feet long and over 62 feet high. ...

Sullivan Creek Hydroelectric Project

Located near Metaline Falls, in the northeastern corner of Washington, the Sullivan Creek Hydroelectric Project was constructed in 1909 by the Inland Portland Cement Company (later the Lehigh Cement Company) located in Metaline Falls. The original project included a timber ...

Sullivan Lake CCC

In less than a decade, the Civilian Conservation Corp (CCC) Camp at Sullivan Lake left its mark on Pend Oreille County through the construction of airstrips, lookout towers, trails, roads, bridges, ranger stations, and more. The men worked long hours ...

Metaline Falls School

No single building had as profound of an effect on Metaline Falls as its school. The building’s National Register of Historic Places nomination calls it “the finest example of civic architecture in the town.” Beyond the school’s obvious role as ...

Crawford State Park and Gardner's Cave

Crawford State Park, the only state park in Pend Oreille County, is the site of Gardner’s Cave—the largest limestone cave system in the state. Ed Gardner, for whom the caverns were named, homesteaded in the area and “discovered’ ...