St. Paul's Mission

10/10/2023

Indigenous Peoples' Day recognizes those who have lived on this land since time immemorial. The history and culture of these diverse peoples lives on today. Here are some tribes that have called and continue to call the Lake Roosevelt area home:

Chelan
Chief Joseph Band of Nez Perce
Colville
Entiat
Lakes
Ktunaxa
Methow
Moses-Columbia
Nespelem
Okanogan
Palus
San Poil
Sinixt
Spokane
Wenatchi

Lake Roosevelt NRA preserves important and sometimes difficult history from the Fort Spokane Boarding School to Kettle Falls, a gathering space for thousands of years, now beneath the waters of the lake. Tribes maintain powerful connections to their ancestral landscapes and homelands across the continent. To learn more about native lands near you, visit native-land.ca. To learn about the tribes who manage Lake Roosevelt alongside us, visit colvilletribes.com and spokanetribe.com.

NPS

Image: Black and white photo of three young women looking at the camera. The woman in the middle wears a light-colored dress with patterns throughout. She holds her hands in front of her while holding a bag with a flower design. Her dark hair lies in two braids on each side, and she wears white and black hat. The women on either side are wrapped in dark patterned blankets. Behind the woman is a white tent shaded by two dark pine trees.

05/13/2023

Fur Trade Festival today from 8am-3pm! 🦫🦦🐿️🦨🦬🦌

Why do beavers have a fur coat?

Because they would look silly in a sweater!

Looking for some FREE fun for the family fur real?

Why not stop by our Fur Trade Festival? The festival will be open to the public tomorrow on Saturday, May 13th, 2023, in Kettle Falls, WA from 8:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. The festival takes place outside the Kettle Falls Historical Center.

Take a step back in time into our living history encampment to learn more about the Fur Trade and what life looked like in this area more than 150 years ago!

Some of the topics that will be covered include: Sign Talk, Women of the Fur Trade, Life of a Free Trapper, Primitive Bow and Arrow and more!

See more on the event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/594932175908244

NPS / B. Worbes

Image: A man dressed in fur trade period style clothing talking to a group of students. The students are in rain gear and sit on trunks under a canvas tent. In the background is a forest and a building.

05/07/2023

Less than a week away from the 2023 Fur Trade Festival! 🦫🦨🦌🐻🐾

Looking for some FREE fun for the whole family?

Why not stop by our Fur Trade Festival open to the public. It takes place Saturday, May 13th, 2023, in Kettle Falls, WA from 8:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. The festival takes place outside the Kettle Falls Historical Center.

Take a step back in time into our living history encampment to learn more about the Fur Trade and what life looked like in this area more than 150 years ago!

Some of the topics that will be covered include: Sign Talk, Women of the Fur Trade, Life of a Free Trapper, Primitive Bow and Arrow and more!

Event link: https://www.facebook.com/events/594932175908244

Photo by Brekyn Worbes

Photo Description: Photo of a man dressed in fur trade period style clothing talking to a group of students about the Fur Trade.

04/27/2023

It’s time again for the Fur Trade Festival! The event is located outside the Kettle Falls Historical Center in Kettle Falls, WA. For more information, check out Lake Roosevelt NPS’s post below. 🦫🐿️🦝🐇

What kind of music does a Fur Trader listen to?

Trap Music. 😂

Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area, Friends of Spokane House, and Kettle Falls Historical Center would like to invite you to our upcoming Fur Trade Festival. The festival will take place Saturday May 13th from 8:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. outside the Kettle Falls Historical Center and will be free and open to the whole community.

Take a step back in time, into our living history encampment to learn about the Fur Trade and what life looked like in this area more than 150 years ago! Some of the topics include Sign Talk, Women of the Fur Trade, Primitive Bow and Arrow, Fur Trade Items, Local Fur Trade History and more!

Kettle Falls Historical Center will not be open at this time unfortunately due to extensive water damage.

Event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/594932175908244

For more information check back in on our Lake Roosevelt NPS page or contact: 1-509-754-7800.

We hope to see you all there!

Event Address:
Kettle Falls Historical Center
1188 St. Paul Mission Rd.
Kettle Falls, WA 99141

Photo Description: A reenactor dressed in fur trade period clothing talks to a group of students underneath a tent.

Photo by Brekyn Worbes|NPS

03/13/2023

Christina McDonald McKenzie Williams life history at Hudson Bay Company’s Fort Colvile is worth honoring. Happy !

“…next came Miss Christina, with her gaily beaded leggings and moccasins and gaudy shawl flying in the wind” —Lieutenant Charles Wilson, 1861, on seeing Christina McDonald Williams riding horseback.

is underway, giving us an opportunity to tell the stories of the remarkable women in Lake Roosevelt’s history.

Christina McDonald McKenzie Williams (1847-1925) was a multi-ethnic and multi-lingual fur trader, interpreter, rancher, and businesswoman. She grew up in the old Fort Colville, now submerged by Lake Roosevelt. Her father was a Scottish fur trader working for the Hudson Bay Company, and her mother was French Iroquois and Nez Perce. Christina’s diverse background gave her skills for translation and negotiation between cultures, which she used first to assist her father, and later to run her own successful fur trading business. She was described as “a girl of education, possessed of a fine intellect, a strong personality, and a noted horsewoman” and was remembered by some as the belle of the Colville Valley. Christina’s experience put her at the intersection of Indigenous and Euro-American communities in North America during a time of great change, and her story is part of the larger history of Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area.

To learn more about Christina McDonald McKenzie Williams, visit: https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/christina-mcdonald-mckenzie-williams.htm

British North American Boundary Commission, Courtesy Library of Congress

Image: Black and white historic photo of a young Christine McDonald sitting looking into the camera. She is wearing a long plaid dress, a hat with a large ribbon, and a patterned blanket wrapped around her. A written caption at the bottom reads "No. 80 Christina McDonald Daughter of H.B.C. chief trader at Fort Colville"

12/13/2022

Do you eat your gingerbread house after building or do you leave it displayed for the season? 👩‍🍳

No matter how you celebrate , we want to see your baking skills for the ! How do you think our gingerbread house of St. Paul’s Mission turned out?!

St. Paul’s Mission is a National Historic Building located at the park’s Mission Point in Kettle Falls. In 1845, Father DeSmet, a Belgian Jesuit, established the building near Kettle Falls, where it remained open until 1858. The original St. Paul’s Mission slowly deteriorated into ruins. In 1939, with the assistance of the Colville Kiwanis Club, several businesses, and Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), the mission was rebuilt to its original appearance. Now, the National Park Service maintains the building as a part of the missionary history of the Kettle Falls area.

Stay tuned for more bakes from !

NPS / B. Worbes

Image: A simple, rectangular building with a door and two windows covered in snow with a smaller gingerbread version in front of it.

12/06/2022

recognizes miners and their hard work and dedication to an industry that has fueled the country throughout history. ⛏

In the early 19th century, fur traders at Fort Colvile noticed a sparkling gold-bearing sand on the banks of the Columbia River, but only told a few French-Canadian partners. When it came to gold gossip in the 1850s, however, word spread faster than a wildfire! Soon came groups of miners with gold fever, first by wagons then up the river by steamboats. Communities and towns sprung up along the river, but as fast as they were built, the faster they were gone. However, some were not discouraged by the lack of luck and stayed to make roots in the new Washington Territory. Mining was the first of many key industries along the that helped open up the area to the farming and ranching that is still present today.

NPS

Image: Black and white photo of three people in suits standing in narrow opening in a rock wall. The photo has a tan border and at the bottom a white triangular paper with a penciled cursive caption that reads: "Pitney Butte Mine; Mr. Berge, W.A. Cleghorn, Dr. Whitney."

11/25/2022

America is a land of many cultures dating back to time immemorial. The history and heritage of Native American and Indigenous communities are part of all national park sites, including Lake Roosevelt.

We proudly celebrate the traditions, languages, and stories of Native American and Indigenous communities and ensure their rich histories and contributions continue to thrive with each passing generation.



NPS

Image: Black and white photo of eight adults and a child wearing traditional clothing posed with different items.

06/18/2022

Don’t try this at home, folks! 😲

This was the norm at the historic . People would fish from wooden platforms that hung over the falls. It might look daring, but it was an efficient way to catch the delicious fish swimming up the Columbia River.

Anglers, do you think you’re brave enough to have done this?! AND be successful at it?! 🎣

NPS



Image: Black and white photo of a person in overalls standing on a wooden platform that is sticking out of a rock cliff above a raging river with a waterfall. A group of people watch from the cliff as the person fishes from the platform. Tree lined, rock shore is in on the other side of the river.

05/21/2022

Fur Trade Festival is today until 5pm at Kettle Falls Historical Center! Spokane House Fur Trade Post reenact fur traders from the 1800s. Step back in time into their encampment at this fun, FREE event. 🐻🦡🦬🦦🦨🦫🐰🪶🐾

Location: Kettle Falls Historical Center, St Pauls Mission Road, Kettle Falls, WA 99141

For more information click the event below or this link: https://www.nps.gov/planyourvisit/event-details.htm?id=34E25B5C-E8BD-388E-F25B3CAC2AC6B78C