Nine Mile Falls, Washington
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Nine Mile Falls is an
unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...
in Spokane County, Washington and Stevens County, Washington, United States. The community straddles the
Spokane River The Spokane River is a tributary of the Columbia River, approximately long, in northern Idaho and eastern Washington in the United States. It drains a low mountainous area east of the Columbia, passing through the Spokane Valley and the city o ...
from downtown
Spokane Spokane ( ) is the most populous city in eastern Washington and the county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It lies along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south ...
, at the location of a former falls that has been the site of Nine Mile Dam since 1908. Nine Mile Falls has a post office with ZIP code 99026.


Geography

As the name suggests, the community is located nine miles northwest of Downtown Spokane along the Spokane River. That naming convention can also be seen in the nearby community of Seven Mile and the Spokane neighborhood of Five Mile Prairie. Unlike those two, however, Nine Mile Falls is not part of the contiguous built up urban and suburban area surrounding Spokane. Suburban sprawl comes within two miles of the community, but does not directly abut it, making Nine Mile Falls an
exurb An exurb (or alternately: exurban area) is an area outside the typically denser inner suburbs, suburban area, at the edge of a metropolitan area, which has some economic and commuting connection to the metro area, low housing-density, and rela ...
of Spokane. The community is located along Washington State Route 291, known in the area as Nine Mile Road, which follows the route of the river. Traveling from Spokane, visitors first encounter the eastern portion of the community. The western portion of the community across the river is accessed by turning off Nine Mile Road onto Charles Road, which crosses the river a few hundred feet downstream of the dam. The post office and most of the services are located on the eastern side of the community. The west side is home to a park, fire station, restaurant and elementary school. Sontag Park on the west side of the community is the western end of the
Spokane River Centennial Trail The Spokane River Centennial Trail is a paved trail in Eastern Washington for alternate transportation and recreational use. It is managed by Washington State Parks as the Centennial Trail State Park. The trail extends from Sontag Park in Ni ...
, which provides access to Riverside State Park which stretches along the river for miles upstream of the community. The
Little Spokane River The Little Spokane River is a major tributary of the Spokane River, approximately long, in eastern Washington in the United States. It drains a rural area of forested foothills and a farming valley north of the city of Spokane along the Idaho– ...
flows into the Spokane River just north of Nine Mile Falls. From that point and extending downstream the Spokane River serves as the border between Spokane and Stevens Counties. Nine Mile Dam impounds the Nine Mile Reservoir. Long Lake, also known as Lake Spokane, the reservoir behind
Long Lake Dam Long Lake Dam is a concrete gravity dam on the Spokane River, between Lincoln County, Washington, Lincoln County and Stevens County, Washington, Stevens County about northwest of Spokane, Washington, Spokane in eastern Washington (U.S. state), Wa ...
, begins almost immediately downstream from Nine Mile Dam. Geologically, the community is dominated by the
Columbia River Basalt Group The Columbia River Basalt Group (CRBG) is the youngest, smallest and one of the best-preserved continental flood basalt provinces on Earth, covering over mainly eastern Oregon and Washington, western Idaho, and part of northern Nevada. The b ...
, alluvium laid down by glacial outburst Missoula floods, and the erosive action of the Spokane and Little Spokane Rivers. The Spokane River turns from a northwestern direction to a western path just downstream of Nine Mile Falls, as it navigates around the southern foothills of the
Selkirk Mountains The Selkirk Mountains are a mountain range spanning the northern portion of the Idaho Panhandle, eastern Washington, and southeastern British Columbia which are part of a larger grouping of mountains, the Columbia Mountains. They begin at Mic ...
. The first of those foothills are visible in the photo at the top of the article. The river cut a thin and steep roughly 200-foot-deep valley through the surrounding plateau. Downstream of the site of the falls the valley widens and becomes shallower. Areas that have not been cleared for development or farming are covered in
ponderosa pine ''Pinus ponderosa'', commonly known as the ponderosa pine, bull pine, blackjack pine, western yellow-pine, or filipinus pine, is a very large pine tree species of variable habitat native to mountainous regions of western North America. It is t ...
forest. Nine Mile Falls is located in the Nine Mile Falls School District. Nine Mile Falls Elementary School is located within the community, but the middle and high schools are located in nearby Suncrest.


History

The
Spokane Spokane ( ) is the most populous city in eastern Washington and the county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It lies along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south ...
people inhabited the area for thousands of years prior to European settlement. The rivers supported salmon runs that provided bountiful food for the area's inhabitants, though the runs were killed off when Long Lake Dam was built in 1915 without a fish ladder. There are ancient rock paintings located along the Little Spokane River just upstream from its confluence with the Spokane River. Europeans have had a constant presence in the Nine Mile area since the
Spokane House Spokane House was a Factory (trading post), fur-trading post founded in 1810 by the British-Canadian North West Company, located on a peninsula where the Spokane River and Little Spokane River meet. When established, the North West Company's fart ...
was established at the confluence of the two rivers in 1810. The community now known as Nine Mile Falls was first developed in 1908 when Spokane industrialist Jay P. Graves built the Nine Mile Dam to provide electricity for his Spokane & Montrose motorized streetcar system. The electricity generated at the dam helped spur the expansion of Spokane's streetcar and
interurban The interurban (or radial railway in Canada) is a type of electric railway, with tram-like electric self-propelled railcars which run within and between cities or towns. The term "interurban" is usually used in North America, with other terms u ...
railway systems, and in turn helped spur the growth of the greater Spokane area. A village was built at the site of Nine Mile Falls to provide housing for dam workers and their families. The hydro plant and adjoining village were placed on the
National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...
in 1990. The historic areas of the hydroelectric complex are jointly managed by Avista Utilities, which operates the dam and power generation, and Riverside State Park.


Gallery

Nine Mile Village 5.png, A cottage at the hydroelectric complex with the dam facility visible behind. 9mileBridge.png, Charles Road crossing the Spokane River and connecting the west and east sides of the community. Nine Mile Village 4.png, Cottage with yards and sheds in the hydroelectric complex.


References


External links

{{authority control Unincorporated communities in Spokane County, Washington Unincorporated communities in Washington (state)