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. His name was Carl Harvey.

Born in Colorado in 1849, orphaned at six, and put into messenger service as a preteen by the Union Army during the Civil War, Harvey had already lived a relatively full life when he first passed through the Inland Empire as a teenager in 1865. The landscape made an impression on him and a few years later, he returned for good, residing for a while near Spokane Falls. By 1889, Harvey had located placer claims along the Pend Oreille River above Z Canyon where he panned for gold during the summer and worked trap lines in the winter. Unlike most prospectors who came to the Metalines in search of wealth and quickly left, Harvey stayed for the solitude and a place to indulge his love of nature.

In 1912, Harvey gave up the subsistence lifestyle he had been living and retired to a nearby homestead. During his final years, he endeared himself to the community with visits to Metaline Falls on Christmas and St. Patrick’s Day when his white beard left children in awe. When Harvey died in 1926, a close friend summed up his legacy to the community, “There were many who learned to know and love this man of refinement and culture, who though preferring the companionship of nature to that of man, always had a hearty and courteous welcome for visitors to his home.”

The remains of Harvey’s riverside log cabin are located 3 miles from the Canadian border. His gravesite, about 1.5 miles north, is visible from Highway 31 and stands as a monument to this pioneering prospector of the Metalines.

Credits and Sources:

Bamonte, Tony, and Susan Schaeffer Bamonte. History of Pend Oreille County. Spokane: Tornado Creek Publications, 1996.

Dressel, Art. “Harvey was Pioneer of Great Northwest.” Newport Miner, April 13, 1926.

McInturff, Margaret. “Honor Memory of Area Pioneer. Metaline Falls News, November 22, 1962.

______, “Carl Harvey of the Metalines.” Big Smoke, 1980.

Photographs courtesy of the Pend Oreille County Historical Society and Pend Oreille County Library District.