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.
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
- Meyers Falls Power Plant Historic Districtlisted 1995
Population over time
2 figuresKettle 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.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 1,595 | |
| 2020 | 1,636 | +41 (+3%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
8 surveys from 12 printed sheetsMatched 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.
- 1936 USGS Marcus quadrangle1:96000
- 1942 USGS Marcus quadrangle1:125000, 3 printings
- 1948 USGS Kettle Falls quadrangle1:62500
- 1951 USGS Kettle Falls quadrangle1:62500
- 1954 USGS Okanogan quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1958 USGS Okanogan quadrangle1:250000
- 1969 USGS Kettle Falls quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1984 USGS Republic quadrangle1:100000
Fires near this place
265 since 1992Regional 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/undetermined | 56 |
| Debris and open burning | 44 |
| Natural | 43 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 42 |
| Fireworks | 16 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 15 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 11 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 10 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 9 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 9 |
| Other causes | 6 |
| Smoking | 4 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 September 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 484 acres | Colville National Forest | BISBEE MOUNTAIN |
| 8 September 1999 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Washington State Department of Natural Resources Headquarters | not named |
| 7 September 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2.8 acres | Washington State Department of Natural Resources Headquarters | KIFER ROAD |
| 7 September 2009 | Natural | under an acre | Washington State Department of Natural Resources Headquarters | POTTERS KNOB |
| 7 September 1994 | Other causes | 1.0 acres | Washington State Department of Natural Resources Headquarters | not named |
| 5 September 1992 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area | CAMPFIRE42 |
| 4 September 2019 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 13 acres | Washington State Department of Natural Resources Headquarters | PEACH CREST |
| 4 September 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Washington State Department of Natural Resources Headquarters | SINGERS |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 68 shownRegional 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 | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blue Grouse | Silver, Lead | Occurrence | Vein | |
| Bluegrouse | Silver, Iron | Prospect | ||
| City View | Gold, Lead, Silver, Copper | Occurrence | Vein | |
| City View | Gold, Copper, Lead, Silver | Prospect | ||
| Columbia River | Copper, Antimony, Gold, Silver | Producer | Chalcopyrite, Molybdenite, Pyrite, Tetrahedrite | |
| Columbia, Coyote, Gray Eagle | Molybdenum, Copper, Gold, Silver | Occurrence | Vein | |
| Cornet | Copper, Gold, Lead, Silver | Prospect | ||
| George W Rose | Stone, Dimension | Unknown | ||
| Gold Bar | Gold, Silver, Arsenic, Zinc, Lead, Copper, Antimony | Producer | Pyrite, Sphalerite, Tetrahedrite | |
| Gold Reef | Gold, Silver, Copper | Occurrence |
Storms near this place
9 since 1997Regional 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 1997 | Tornado (F1) | Kettle Falls | $20,000 | NWS Storm survey confirmed second tornado in Kettle Falls |
| July 1997 | Tornado (F1) | Kettle Falls | $20,000 | NWS Storm survey confirmed tornado in Kettle Falls. Path was not continuous |
| July 2014 | Hail | Kettle Falls | $14,000 | Hail 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 2022 | Flash Flood | Kettle Falls | $2,000 | At 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 2023 | Flood | Kettle Falls | $1,000 | Mingo Mtn Road has washout and debris from culvert on road. |
| September 2024 | Thunderstorm Wind | Kettle Falls | $500 | A small metal roof ripped off a structure. A wind gust of 42 was recorded in Kettle Falls. |
| July 1997 | Lightning | Kettle Falls | - | Lightning damage to a power transformer. All power to town is out |
| June 1997 | Hail | Kettle Falls | - | 1 inch hail |
| July 2009 | Hail | Kettle Falls | - | no account filed |
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 | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ward | 1.8 miles | 12 | |
| Greenwood | 2.0 miles | 12 | |
| Blue Town (historical) | 3.7 miles | 12 | |
| Marcus | 3.7 miles | 12 | |
| East Marcus | 4.0 miles | 12 | |
| Powell | 6.8 miles | 12 | |
| Bear | 6.9 miles | 12 | |
| Echo | 7.0 miles | 12 |
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 Falls | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q1508096 | The 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.







