Almota () is a

ghost town A ghost town, deserted city, extinct town, or abandoned city is an abandoned settlement, usually one that contains substantial visible remaining buildings and infrastructure such as roads. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economi ...

in Whitman County, in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

. The

GNIS The Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) is a database of name and location information about more than two million physical and cultural features, encompassing the United States and its territories; the associated states of the Marshal ...

classifies it as a populated place.

Native American settlement

The Almota area had been historically occupied by the Almotipu band of the

Nez Perce The Nez Perce (; autonym in Nez Perce language: , meaning 'we, the people') are an Indigenous people of the Plateau who still live on a fraction of the lands on the southeastern Columbia River Plateau in the Pacific Northwest. This region h ...

peoples who lived in several villages on the south shore of the Snake River, one of which was known as Alamotin (Nez Perce for "The Soaring Flame"). The

Lewis and Clark Expedition The Lewis and Clark Expedition, also known as the Corps of Discovery Expedition, was the United States expedition to cross the newly acquired western portion of the country after the Louisiana Purchase. The Corps of Discovery was a select gro ...

passed through the area on their return journey from the Pacific Coast, camping in the area below Almota creek on October 11, 1805, although the exact site has not been found.

History of Almota

Almota was first surveyed for a townsite in the late 1870s following the removal of rapids from the

Snake River The Snake River is a major river in the interior Pacific Northwest region of the United States. About long, it is the largest tributary of the Columbia River, which is the largest North American river that empties into the Pacific Ocean. Begin ...

that would finally allow uninterrupted boat traffic to directly reach the wheat growers of the

Palouse The Palouse ( ) is a geographic region of the northwestern United States, encompassing parts of North Central Idaho, north central Idaho, southeastern Washington (part of eastern Washington), and by some definitions, parts of northeast Oregon. ...

. The community took its name from Almota creek, which enters the Snake River at the site. Almota became an important wheat shipping port for the region as well as a ferry crossing. A post office was established in 1878, and remained in operation until 1961. In 1917 it was reported as on the line of the

Oregon–Washington Railroad and Navigation Company The Oregon Railroad and Navigation Company (OR&N) was a Rail transport company, rail and Steamboats of the Columbia River, steamboat transport company that operated a rail network of running east from Portland, Oregon, Portland, Oregon, United ...

, which is currently part of the Riparian subdivision of the Great Northwest Railroad that connects the Tri-Cities to

Lewiston, Idaho Lewiston is a city and the county seat of Nez Perce County, Idaho, United States, in the state's North Central Idaho, north central region. It is the third-largest city in the Idaho Panhandle, northern Idaho region, behind Post Falls, Idaho, Pos ...

. The construction of the

Little Goose Dam Little Goose Lock and Dam is a hydroelectric, concrete, run-of-the-river dam in the northwest United States, on the lower Snake River in southeast Washington. At the dam, the river is the border between Columbia and Whitman counties; it is ...

from 1963 to 1970 subsequently flooded what was left of the original village. The only buildings at Almota today comprise a large grain shipping terminal operated by the Almota Elevator Co., which is built on fill over the original townsite.

References

Ghost towns in Whitman County, Washington Ghost towns in Washington (state) Geography of Whitman County, Washington {{Ghost-town-stub