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Kettle Falls, Washington

12 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1936 and the latest in 1984. It stands in the Kettle Falls census division. It lies in ZIP code area 99141. The Survey maps it on the Kettle Falls quadrangle. 1,636 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,631 feet above sea level.

Kettle Falls within Stevens County

On record in Kettle Falls

Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.

On the National Register 1 record

Population over time

2 figures

Kettle Falls grew from 1,595 to 1,636 between 2010 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.

YearPeople Change
20101,595
20201,636+41 (+3%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

8 surveys from 12 printed sheets

Matched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.

Fires near this place

265 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 265 fires within 5 miles of Kettle Falls between 1992 and 2020, burning about 6,179 acres in total. 43 started naturally. 11 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause Fires
Missing data/not specified/undetermined56
Debris and open burning44
Natural43
Recreation and ceremony42
Fireworks16
Railroad operations and maintenance15
Arson/incendiarism11
Equipment and vehicle use10
Power generation/transmission/distribution9
Misuse of fire by a minor9
Other causes6
Smoking4

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
9 September 2006Missing data/not specified/undetermined484 acresColville National ForestBISBEE MOUNTAIN
8 September 1999Debris and open burningunder an acreWashington State Department of Natural Resources Headquartersnot named
7 September 2020Missing data/not specified/undetermined2.8 acresWashington State Department of Natural Resources HeadquartersKIFER ROAD
7 September 2009Naturalunder an acreWashington State Department of Natural Resources HeadquartersPOTTERS KNOB
7 September 1994Other causes1.0 acresWashington State Department of Natural Resources Headquartersnot named
5 September 1992Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreLake Roosevelt National Recreation AreaCAMPFIRE42
4 September 2019Railroad operations and maintenance13 acresWashington State Department of Natural Resources HeadquartersPEACH CREST
4 September 2019Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreWashington State Department of Natural Resources HeadquartersSINGERS

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Stevens County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 68 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 68 workings within 5 miles of Kettle Falls: 29 occurrences, 18 prospects, 11 past producers, 6 unknowns. 4 still produce. What was taken out: Gold, Copper, Silver, Sand and Gravel, Construction. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Blue GrouseSilver, LeadOccurrenceVein
BluegrouseSilver, IronProspect
City ViewGold, Lead, Silver, CopperOccurrenceVein
City ViewGold, Copper, Lead, SilverProspect
Columbia RiverCopper, Antimony, Gold, SilverProducerChalcopyrite, Molybdenite, Pyrite, Tetrahedrite
Columbia, Coyote, Gray EagleMolybdenum, Copper, Gold, SilverOccurrenceVein
CornetCopper, Gold, Lead, SilverProspect
George W RoseStone, DimensionUnknown
Gold BarGold, Silver, Arsenic, Zinc, Lead, Copper, AntimonyProducerPyrite, Sphalerite, Tetrahedrite
Gold ReefGold, Silver, CopperOccurrence

Every working recorded in Stevens County

Storms near this place

9 since 1997

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Kettle Falls in 9 storm reports between 1997 and 2024: 3 hail, 2 tornado, 1 lightning, 1 flash flood. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
July 1997Tornado (F1)Kettle Falls$20,000NWS Storm survey confirmed second tornado in Kettle Falls
July 1997Tornado (F1)Kettle Falls$20,000NWS Storm survey confirmed tornado in Kettle Falls. Path was not continuous
July 2014HailKettle Falls$14,000Hail ranging between quarters and hen eggs fell across eastern reaches of Kettle Falls, WA. Seven vehicles were damaged at Pingston Creek Road and Highway 395. The vehicles were dented in spots and some windows were cracked. The hail also left dents on metal roofs of shop buildings with one resident stating that it was the worst storm he witnessed in 72 years. A resident two miles south southeast of Kettle Falls stated the hail destroyed the vinyl siding on the south and western portions of his home. The storm continued to produce severe hail as it tracked northeast toward the Canadian Border. Hail to the size of half dollars was reported by the public four miles east southeast of Northport, WA. Winds estimated around 50 mph also accompanied the storm leading to some tree damage eight miles southeast of Northport, WA.
July 2022Flash FloodKettle Falls$2,000At least six inches of sand, mud, and debris on route 25 north of rice from flash flooding. There were two public reports of 2 of rain near Kettle Falls north of the flooded roadway.
April 2023FloodKettle Falls$1,000Mingo Mtn Road has washout and debris from culvert on road.
September 2024Thunderstorm WindKettle Falls$500A small metal roof ripped off a structure. A wind gust of 42 was recorded in Kettle Falls.
July 1997LightningKettle Falls-Lightning damage to a power transformer. All power to town is out
June 1997HailKettle Falls-1 inch hail
July 2009HailKettle Falls-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Stevens County

Nearest settlements

The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.

Map PlaceDistance Sheets
Ward1.8 miles12
Greenwood2.0 miles12
Blue Town (historical)3.7 miles12
Marcus3.7 miles12
East Marcus4.0 miles12
Powell6.8 miles12
Bear6.9 miles12
Echo7.0 miles12

Elsewhere

Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.

Wikipedia article on Kettle FallsAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q1508096The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0).

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 1530955. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.

Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.