Meyers Falls is a 60-foot steep veiling cascade on the Colville River in Stevens County, Washington, just south of the town of Kettle Falls. It powered the Hudson's Bay Company's grist mill in the fur-trade era and has driven a small hydroelectric plant since the early 1900s. The falls sit on private land and are closed to the public.
The falls
The World Waterfall Database gives the drop of the steep, veil-like cascade at about 60 feet and notes the alternate name Lower Meyers Falls. An earlier figure was 80 feet. In its natural state the falls spread more than 200 feet wide; today most of the river is diverted into the power station beside them and the flow is usually 50 to 60 feet wide. A concrete spillway dam, 24.5 feet high and built in 1961, holds a small reservoir at the crest. From there a canal about 360 feet long feeds a riveted steel penstock that drops more than 100 feet to a concrete powerhouse at the foot of the falls, built in 1915–16.
Getting there
The power plant historic district lies about half a mile south of Kettle Falls along Juniper Street. The land is private and the base of the falls is behind a private residence; a public park upstream offers only a restricted view over the top.
When to go
Because the river is diverted for power, the flow over the falls is reduced and uneven, with an average low flow of zero.
On site
There is no public approach to the base or the powerhouse.
History and name
Wheat from the Hudson's Bay Company's Fort Colvile was ground at a mill at these falls, about 3 miles southeast of the fort; the mill is believed to have been the first water-driven mill in the Pacific Northwest, though accounts of its date conflict. The falls are named for Louther Walden Meyer, who came from Ontario in 1862 and leased the company's grist mill and water power in 1866. Hydroelectric development began in 1903. The Meyers Falls Power Plant Historic District, including the present powerhouse, its two turbine-generator units, the canal and an abandoned concrete plant from about 1910 on the south bank, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on June 29, 1995.
Nearby
Upper Meyers Falls is about 0.1 mile away. Kettle Falls on the Columbia River is about 3.7 miles away, and Douglas Falls on Mill Creek about 7.5 miles.
Distances are straight-line.