thumb|right|350px|Kettle Falls in 1860
Kettle Falls (Salish: Shonitkwu, meaning "roaring or noisy waters", also Schwenetekoo translated as "Keep Sounding Water") 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 , and the sound of the falls could be heard for miles away. Native peoples came from coastal areas in the west and from the Great Plains in the east to fish, trade, and socialize with the bands of the Columbia River Plateau. Up to fourteen tribes met regularly at Kettle Falls during the salmon spawning season from June to October.
The Canadian mapmaker and explorer David Thompson was the first white person to describe the upper portion of the Columbia River. He arrived at Kettle Falls on June 19, 1811, naming it Ilth koy ape, a local name for the baskets the native peoples used to catch fish. In June 1940, an estimated 8,000 to 10,000 people mourned the falls at a "Ceremony of Tears" organized by the Colville people and attended by representatives of the Yakama, Spokane, Nez Perce, Flathead, Blackfeet, Coeur d'Alene, Tulalip, and Pend d'Oreilles tribes. As with the flooding of Priest Rapids, Celilo Falls, and Cascades Rapids downriver, the loss of Kettle Falls ended the traditional way of life for the native cultures that revolved around salmon fishing. Many native people moved out of the area, but others live today on the nearby Spokane and Colville Indian Reservations. The Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation filed a lawsuit against the United States government, which was settled in 1994 for $53 million, plus $15.25 million annually from 1996 onward.
The Third Powerhouse
thumb|Aerial view of Kettle Falls, partially exposed during drawdown in April 1969.
During the late 1960s and early 1970s Grand Coulee Dam was expanded to include a new group of generators, commonly known as the Third Powerhouse. During the spring months of this period of construction Lake Roosevelt was drastically lowered (referred to as a drawdown). The largest of these drawdowns occurred during the spring of 1969 and 1974 partially exposing Kettle Falls. In addition to exposing the falls these drawdowns also allowed the Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area and the United States Bureau of Reclamation to undergo a major archaeological salvage program of Native American and historical sites previously flooded by Lake Roosevelt.
See also
- List of waterfalls
- List of waterfalls by flow rate
- List of rapids of the Columbia River
- Celilo Falls
- Cascades Rapids
- Bridge River Rapids