This is just the beginning! Our collection holds over 300 years of history, including rare newspapers, obituaries, marriage records, birth records, and so much more—most of which you won’t find anywhere else!
Earliest Placer Establishment of Fort Colville
Historian John B. Slater recounts the early Washington mining era from the 1855 Stevens treaty to the founding of Fort Colville. He documents placer mining from the Columbia mouth to Death Rapids, Wells Fargo support, camp names, and the rise of Chinaman involvement, while noting Indian conflicts and the shift from hand panning to sluicing and quartz mining.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Mammon
Northwest
California
Commonwealths
Columbia Basin
Walla Walla
Isaac I. Stevens
Inland Empire
Congress
Joel Parker
Indian Affairs
Oregon
Washington
Cascade Mountains
Kettle
Falgeyre
Shiseuttehrev
French Prairie
Willamette Valley
Fort Shepard
Pend Oreille River
Wauke
Stevens County
Coast Papers
Eldorado
Wells- Fargo Express Co
Pierre Jerome
Kettle Falls
Mr. Wilson
Wells-Fargo
U. S. Army
Fort Colville
Spokane River
Columbia
Death Rapids
B. C
Placer
U. S. Mint
San Francisco
Wells-Fargo Express
Pasco
Ringlow Bar
Rock Island
Rogers Bar
Hunters
Rickey
Marcus
Evans
Bossburg
China Bar
Marble Sheep Creek
Northport
United States
Oruky Perac'pegan
Daisy
Smith & Pipes
Boundary
Columbia River
Henry Sudbrink
Pingston Creek
Half Mile Bar
Similkameen
Frazer River
Montana
Idaho