DescriptionKootenai Falls, on the Kootenai River, has long been sacred to the Kootenai people. In 1808–09, Finan McDonald built a fur trading fort several miles upstream from the falls. Explorer David Thompson made a difficult portage around the falls in 1809, following Indian cairns. Thirty-five years later, Father Pierre-Jean De Smet described the portage in harrowing terms. Frank R. Miles filed water rights on the falls in 1891, hoping to build a hydroelectric dam. He sold that right to lumberman James A. Coram about 1906. Coram’s Kootenai Falls Power Construction Company completed the initial planning for a dam but gave it up. As recently as 1978, plans to build the Northern Lights Dam were proposed, but again, because of opposition by the Kootenai tribe and conservationists, the idea was abandoned. There is a foot trail and swinging bridge for viewing the falls.Personal NamesMcDonald, FinanThompson, DavidSmet, Pierre-Jean deMiles, Frank R.Coram, James A.Contributing InstitutionMontana Historical Society Library and ArchivesGeolocation[1] Elevation1943 ft.CountyLincoln County
