Hand painted with whitewash on a basalt outcropping by an old old dirt road in the Dry Coulee is the Phillips and Welch sign. Located on what was probably once a wagon trail is one of the oldest advertisements in the Coulee. Phillips and Welch was a hardware and grocer that most likely sold some... Continue Reading →

There are so many things that are lost to time, people forget and they fade away. It was a hot dry summer night in the 1940s in the Coulee several miles past Steamboat Rock on the Coulee City side. The men all stood around the parked pick-up on the side of the Speedball Highway, drinking... Continue Reading →

It all started for me with the Speedball Highway. This road of yesterday ran down the coulee from Coulee City to Grand Coulee. It was for many the road of dreams, taking them away from the Great Depression of the early 1930s and to the land of economic prosperity: The Grand Coulee Dam. But not... Continue Reading →

The whole world was broke it seemed, and no one could spare a dime, but the Grand Coulee Dam was in full swing, lining the pockets of workers and merchants with disposable income. B Street exploded and out into the muddy streets fell all types of people from all walks of life, and all suddenly... Continue Reading →

Banks Lake was filled after the creation of Grand Coulee Dam and was always part of the over all master irrigation plan. Flood the upper coulee with water creating a 27 mile lake that at places could be as wide as five miles. The dam would pump the water out at the feet of Electric... Continue Reading →

If you ever look for the history of Million Dollar Mile you will find out that a million dollars was an astronomical amount of money to spend on such a short strip of road back in 1948. What you will learn is that the construction workers and engineers had to make the costly ramp to... Continue Reading →

Located on a decommissioned and isolated strip of the old Sunset Highway is this forgotten sign for the National Bank of Commerce. The National Bank of Commerce has its roots in Seattle and what today is known as the historic Holyoke Building. Richard Holyoke came to Seattle in the 1860's from Canada seeking to make... Continue Reading →

This is the story of Sagebrush Annie. Her real name was Anna May Dorman and she owned a sandy beach on Blue Lake where she would sometimes charge people to swim. Her house was located on a small basalt point overlooking the lake. Annie was often seen hitchhiking into Soap Lake where she would pick... Continue Reading →

There was a time when the coulee that holds Banks Lake was dry. It was the early 1900's The Homestead act of 1862 was still in effect allowing people to move into the Washington Territory and claim a parcel of 160 acres if proper conditions were met. In 1904 William and Richard Andrews heard the... Continue Reading →

    What I love most is discovery. But I also think I love nature just as much, and spend hours isolated away from people, televisions, computers and even cars just to get out and feel the world. Everything is new, everytime I look at it. I heard these stories about a painted billboard on... Continue Reading →