Keller, Washington

Last updated
Keller, Washington
Census-designated place
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Keller
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Keller
Coordinates: 48°04′44″N118°41′06″W / 48.07889°N 118.68500°W / 48.07889; -118.68500 Coordinates: 48°04′44″N118°41′06″W / 48.07889°N 118.68500°W / 48.07889; -118.68500
Country United States
State Washington
County Ferry
Area
 • Total 9.5 sq mi (24.6 km2)
 • Land 9.5 sq mi (24.6 km2)
 • Water 0.0 sq mi (0.0 km2)
Elevation 1,499 ft (457 m)
Population (2010)
 • Total 234
 • Density 25/sq mi (9.5/km2)
Time zone Pacific (PST) (UTC-8)
 • Summer (DST) PDT (UTC-7)
ZIP code 99140
Area code(s) 509
GNIS feature ID 1518417 [1]
FIPS code 53-34960

Keller is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in southwestern Ferry County in the northeastern part of the U.S. state of Washington. As of the 2010 census, the population was 234. [2]

Unincorporated area Region of land not governed by own local government

In law, an unincorporated area is a region of land that is not governed by a local municipal corporation; similarly an unincorporated community is a settlement that is not governed by its own local municipal corporation, but rather is administered as part of larger administrative divisions, such as a township, parish, borough, county, city, canton, state, province or country. Occasionally, municipalities dissolve or disincorporate, which may happen if they become fiscally insolvent, and services become the responsibility of a higher administration. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. In most other countries of the world, there are either no unincorporated areas at all, or these are very rare; typically remote, outlying, sparsely populated or uninhabited areas.

A census-designated place (CDP) is a concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counterparts of incorporated places, such as self-governing cities, towns, and villages, for the purposes of gathering and correlating statistical data. CDPs are populated areas that generally include one officially designated but currently unincorporated small community, for which the CDP is named, plus surrounding inhabited countryside of varying dimensions and, occasionally, other, smaller unincorporated communities as well. CDPs include small rural communities, colonias located along the U.S. border with Mexico, and unincorporated resort and retirement communities and their environs.

Ferry County, Washington County in the United States

Ferry County is a county located on the northern border of the U.S. state of Washington. As of the 2010 census, the population was 7,551, making it the fourth-least populous county in Washington. The county seat and largest city is Republic. The county was created out of Stevens County in February 1899 and is named for Elisha P. Ferry, the state's first governor.

Contents

History

The town is located in the valley of the Sanpoil River, and was founded in 1898 [3] by Baby Ray Peone, a local fisherman. The town was located in the area now known as the "God's Country" (or "Old Keller" to the locals); at its height the town had an estimated population of 3,500 and even featured a minor league baseball team and red light district. The town was moved several times beginning in 1941 due to backwatering from the Grand Coulee Dam which flooded its previous locations, and is now located 18 miles (29 km) north of the Columbia River. The series of moves seriously reduced its population over time.

Sanpoil River river in the United States of America

The Sanpoil River is a tributary of the Columbia River, in the U.S. state of Washington. The term Sanpoil is from the Okanagan term [snpʕʷílx], meaning "people of the gray country", or "gray as far as one can see".

Grand Coulee Dam gravity dam

Grand Coulee Dam is a concrete gravity dam on the Columbia River in the U.S. state of Washington, built to produce hydroelectric power and provide irrigation water. Constructed between 1933 and 1942, Grand Coulee originally had only two powerhouses. The third powerhouse, completed in 1974 to increase energy production, makes Grand Coulee the largest power station in the United States by nameplate-capacity at 6,809 MW.

Columbia River River in the Pacific Northwest of the United States

The Columbia River is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river rises in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia, Canada. It flows northwest and then south into the US state of Washington, then turns west to form most of the border between Washington and the state of Oregon before emptying into the Pacific Ocean. The river is 1,243 miles (2,000 km) long, and its largest tributary is the Snake River. Its drainage basin is roughly the size of France and extends into seven US states and a Canadian province. The fourth-largest river in the United States by volume, the Columbia has the greatest flow of any North American river entering the Pacific.

The town is encompassed by the Colville Indian Reservation, which has an estimated population of roughly 1,200 people mostly of Native American descent and primarily members of the Sanpoil tribe, one of the Twelve Tribes that make up the Colville Confederated Tribes and one of the few Indian Nations that was never relocated by order of the U.S. government.

Colville Indian Reservation human settlement in Washington, United States of America

The Colville Indian Reservation is a Native American reservation in the north-central part of the U.S. state of Washington, inhabited and managed by the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, which is federally recognized. Established in 1872, the reservation currently consists of 2,825,000 acres (1,143,000 ha). It is located primarily in the southeastern section of Okanogan County and the southern half of Ferry County, but it includes other pieces of trust land in eastern Washington, including in Chelan County, just to the northwest of the city of Chelan. The reservation's name is adapted from that of Fort Colville, which was named by British colonists for Andrew Colville, a London governor of the Hudson's Bay Company.

Mount Tolman mining proposal

From 2004 to 2006 the town of Keller was the center of attention after the Colville Tribes' controversial decision to explore the possibility of opening up an open-pit molybdenum mine on Mount Tolman in the San Poil Valley. Baby Ray Peone rallied around the opposition to the mine when it soon became evident that the mining project would be too much of a hazard to the population of Washington state, given research that the mine contained hazardous materials such as uranium and toxic dust that, if exposed to a windy location, could spread up to 200 miles (320 km), encompassing most of Washington's economic farming country. The proposal to mine also included the use of acid leaching to retrieve the metals being mined, and given the mountain's short distance to the Columbia River the result would have been disastrous. Other groups also claimed the mountain's spiritual connection to the Sanpoil Tribe (the name "Tolman" comes from the Sanpoil dialect, Tulameen meaning "Red Paint") because many of the tribe's legends and medicines are located on the mountain itself. The group that originally sent in the proposal for the mine mostly focused on the tribe's stagnant economy and the monetary value a molybdenum mine would produce due to the high demand of the substance, a claim that the mining opposition rebutted when the evidence showed that the price of molybdenum was unpredictable and the only consistent price range was when it fell between $0.50 to $1.50 between 1955 and 1982. When the issue was brought to vote by the Colville Tribes the proposal was turned down in three legislative districts, winning approval only in the Inchelium district.

Open-pit mining surface mining technique of extracting rock or minerals from the earth

Open-pit, open-cast or open cut mining is a surface mining technique of extracting rock or minerals from the earth by their removal from an open pit or borrow.

Molybdenum Chemical element with atomic number 42

Molybdenum is a chemical element with symbol Mo and atomic number 42. The name is from Neo-Latin molybdaenum, from Ancient Greek Μόλυβδος molybdos, meaning lead, since its ores were confused with lead ores. Molybdenum minerals have been known throughout history, but the element was discovered in 1778 by Carl Wilhelm Scheele. The metal was first isolated in 1781 by Peter Jacob Hjelm.

Uranium Chemical element with atomic number 92

Uranium is a chemical element with symbol U and atomic number 92. It is a silvery-grey metal in the actinide series of the periodic table. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons. Uranium is weakly radioactive because all isotopes of uranium are unstable, with half-lives varying between 159,200 years and 4.5 billion years. The most common isotopes in natural uranium are uranium-238 and uranium-235. Uranium has the highest atomic weight of the primordially occurring elements. Its density is about 70% higher than that of lead, and slightly lower than that of gold or tungsten. It occurs naturally in low concentrations of a few parts per million in soil, rock and water, and is commercially extracted from uranium-bearing minerals such as uraninite.

Related Research Articles

Inchelium, Washington CDP in Washington, United States

Inchelium is a census-designated place (CDP) in Ferry County, Washington, United States on the Colville Indian Reservation. The population was 409 at the 2010 census.

Republic, Washington City in Washington, United States

Republic is a city in Ferry County, Washington, United States. The population was 1,073 at the 2010 census, a 12.5% increase over the 2000 Census. It is the county seat of Ferry County.

Vantage, Washington CDP in Washington, United States

Vantage is a census-designated place (CDP) in Kittitas County, Washington, United States. The population was 74 at the 2010 census.

The Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation is the federally recognized tribe that controls the Colville Indian Reservation, which is located in northeastern Washington, United States. It is the government for its people.

Franklin D. Roosevelt Lake

Franklin D. Roosevelt Lake is the reservoir created in 1941 by the impoundment of the Columbia River by the Grand Coulee Dam in Washington state. It is named for Franklin D. Roosevelt, who was President during the construction of the dam. Covering 125 square miles, it stretches about 150 miles (240 km) from the Canada–US border to Grand Coulee Dam, with over 600 miles (970 km) of shoreline; by surface area it is the largest lake and reservoir in Washington. It is the home of the Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area.

Kettle Falls waterfall

Kettle Falls was an ancient and important salmon fishing site on the upper reaches of the Columbia River, in what is today the U.S. state of Washington, near the Canada–US border. The falls consisted of a series of rapids and cascades where the river passed through quartzite rocks deposited by prehistoric floods on a substrate of Columbia River basalt. The river dropped nearly 50 feet (15 m), and the sound of the falls could be heard for miles away. Kettle Falls was inundated in 1940, as the waters of the reservoir Lake Roosevelt rose behind Grand Coulee Dam, permanently flooding the site.

Keller Ferry

The Keller Ferry or Clark Ferry, is a ferry crossing on Franklin D. Roosevelt Lake in the US state of Washington. The crossing carries State Route 21 between the Colville Indian Reservation in Ferry County and Clark in Lincoln County. The ferry has been in operation since the 1890s and under state control since 1930. During that time, five vessels have served the crossing, including the Martha S., which operated from 1948 to 2013, and the current ferry, the M/V Sanpoil.

Washington State Route 21 highway in Washington

State Route 21 (SR 21) is a 191.34-mile (307.93 km) long state highway in the U.S. state of Washington that traverses four counties: Franklin, Adams, Lincoln and Ferry. The highway extends from an intersection with SR 260 in Kahlotus north through Lind, Odessa, Clark, Keller, Republic and Curlew before becoming Highway 41 (BC 41) at the Canada–US border in Danville. SR 21 is concurrent with U.S. Route 2 (US 2) in Wilbur and SR 20 in Republic and has two diamond interchanges: at US 395 in Lind and Interstate 90 (I-90) south of Odessa. Between Lincoln and Ferry counties, the roadway crosses Franklin D. Roosevelt Lake on the Keller Ferry, operated fare free by the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) and the Department of Highways (DoH) since 1930.

Nespelem people

The Nespelem people belong to one of twelve aboriginal Confederated Tribes of the Colville Indian Reservation in eastern Washington. They lived primarily near the banks of the Nespelem River, an Upper Columbia River tributary, in an area now known as Nespelem, Washington, located on the Colville Indian Reservation. Alternate spellings include Nespelim or Nespilim.

The Colville people are a Native American people of the Pacific Northwest. The name Colville comes from association with Fort Colville, named after Andrew Colvile of the Hudson's Bay Company. Earlier, outsiders often called them Scheulpi or Chualpay; the French traders called them Les Chaudières in reference to Kettle Falls.

Kettle River Range

The Kettle River Range, often called the Kettle Range, is the southernmost range of the Monashee Mountains, located in far southeastern British Columbia, Canada and Ferry County, Washington, in the United States. Most of the northern half of the range is protected by the Colville National Forest and the southern half of the range is located on the Colville Indian Reservation. The highest peak is Copper Butte, which reaches 2,177 metres (7,142 ft). The range is crossed by Washington State Route 20 at Sherman Pass.

Glacial Lake Columbia

Glacial Lake Columbia was the lake formed on the ice-dammed Columbia River behind the Okanogan lobe of the Cordilleran Ice Sheet when the lobe covered 500 square miles (1,300 km2) of the Waterville Plateau west of Grand Coulee in central Washington state during the Wisconsin glaciation. Lake Columbia was a substantially larger version of the modern-day lake behind the Grand Coulee Dam. Lake Columbia's overflow – the diverted Columbia River – drained first through Foster Coulee, and as the ice dam grew, through first Moses Coulee, and finally, the Grand Coulee.

Impach, Washington Unincorporated community in Washington, United States

Impach, Washington is an unincorporated populated place in east central Ferry County, Washington on the Colville Indian Reservation. It is located within the Inchelium CDP.

Pine Grove, Washington Census-designated place in Washington, United States

Pine Grove is a census-designated place located in Ferry County, Washington, United States.

Twin Lakes, Washington Census-designated place in Washington, United States

Twin Lakes is a census-designated place in Ferry County, Washington, United States.

References

  1. ↑ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Keller, Washington
  2. ↑ "Geographic Identifiers: 2010 Demographic Profile Data (G001): Keller CDP, Washington". U.S. Census Bureau, American Factfinder. Retrieved October 24, 2016.
  3. ↑ HistoryLink Essay: Original Keller Ferry site floods as the Columbia River rises behind the newly constructed Grand Coulee Dam in the winter of 1939/1940
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