This archaeological district encompasses 19 sites, most now partially submerged beneath the waters of Lake Roosevelt, formed when Grand Coulee Dam was constructed by the Bureau of Reclamation. The area around Kettle Falls attracted human occupation over thousands of years because it provided a particularly fine setting for harvesting of the abundant salmon runs in the Columbia. Tribes from a large area now encompassing southern British Columbia and the Pacific Northwest gathered at Kettle Falls annually to fish, trade goods, and interact. The district includes prehistoric camp and village sites and fishing locales, some with artifacts dating back 7,000 years.  Because tribes gathered at Kettle Falls, in the early nineteenth century the Catholic Church established St. Paul’s Mission and the Hudson’s Bay Company established the Fort Colvile fur trading post at the location. For 30 years, Fort Colvile and St. Paul’s Mission represented the largest European settlement between the Cascade Mountains and the Rockies. The historic district is located within the Grand Coulee National Recreation Area, managed by the National Park Service. St. Paul’s Mission is maintained by the National Park Service as a visitor destination.

St. Paul’s Mission is the oldest church building of any faith still standing in the State of Washington. This church was built in 1847 and served the region almost without interruption until 1869. During a smallpox epidemic in 1853–54, the fathers of the church, working under great difficulty, saved the lives of many Native Americans and early settlers. In the days of the fur trade, St. Paul’s, in addition to its religious importance, was also a center of culture on this frontier. Nearby is the portage used by the fur traders in their journeys North and South around Kettle Falls, now covered by the Coulee Dam backwaters.

The Columbia River Bridge at Kettle Falls was completed in 1941 and connects Ferry and Stevens counties. The structure is significant in several ways: This steel truss bridge crosses one of the most historic features in the region, the Kettle Falls of the Columbia River, now inundated. Waters behind Grand Coulee Dam (Lake Roosevelt) cover the falls where Native American peoples gathered to fish and trade for thousands of years. What was once a destination point is now a crossing on two of the state’s major highways: State Route 20, traversing the Okanogan Highlands and the North Cascades, and U.S. Route 395, connecting southern British Columbia with Spokane and points east and south. In addition to its historical significance, the bridge is also important for engineering and design features, such as the use of sloping struts to provide longitudinal support to resist weight and pressure induced by massive fill. This represents the successful realization of innovative design concepts.

This is the location of one of the oldest grist mills in the Western United States. The site has been used continuously as a source of water power since 1826, making it one of the oldest known industrial sites in the Inland Empire and possibly in Eastern Washington. It was an integral part of the Hudson’s Bay Company’s commercial enterprises, doing a brisk trade with settlers and Indians covering a vast area of the Pacific Northwest. In 1866 the mill produced a cereal locally reputed to be the first farina sold commercially in this part of the country. This was accomplished during the ownership of Louther W. Meyers, founder of the town of Meyers Falls and an important early pioneer of Northeast Washington Territory.

The abandoned and operational properties included within this district represent a continuity of properties related to hydroelectric development in northeastern Washington State during the period of significance (1903–present). Collectively, these resources illustrate the evolution of hydroelectric technology in Stevens County in the beginning decades of the twentieth century. In addition, the properties that comprise the present Meyers Falls hydroelectric plant are representative of a well-preserved example of a small-scale, high-head plant. Essentially unaltered from its original design and workmanship, the Meyers Falls hydroelectric plant has operated continuously since its construction in 1915. Together, these properties possess a significant linkage of structures and buildings related by physical development to the progress of hydroelectric development in Stevens County. The historic properties within the District admirably convey a sense of their association with social, economic, and technological advances important in the history of Stevens County and to the region of northeastern Washington, and illustrate the evolution of hydroelectric development at that location.