By Luke Ellington
Signs near entrance to town
Much like the treacherous rock island formation in the Columbia River that nearly blocked pioneering river trade routes, the City of Rock Island is often overlooked these days. Driving along state highway 28, passersby might not think the quaint town was much more than a roadside gas station and truck stop, but there is much more to Rock Island than meets the eye at 60 miles per hour.
In the teacup valley in which Rock Island is currently located, two men, Ingraham and McBride, opened a trading post in the early 1860’s. Their patrons were local Native Americans, who often fished that stretch of the Columbia when the fish were running. The two pioneering men would later move their post to the mouth of the Wenatchee River, leaving little trace of their stay. The most notable figure in Rock Island’s founding is James E. Keane. As the first permanent settler to the Rock Island area, James Keane arrived with a crew of men in 1887. Keane planned to build a home and improve the land that he had acquired through the homestead, pre-emption, and desert acts. Four years later, the Great Northern Railroad made its first survey of the area and began construction toward the valley from the east. One half mile upriver from the well-known Rock Island Rapids, Mr. Keane platted a townsite that he hoped would become a grand railroad town. He named it Hammond. Great Northern, however, changed its plans, and the townsite of Hammond faded away.
The railroad instead chose to cross the Columbia River roughly 2 ½ miles north of Hammond, just outside of the aptly named Rock Island. James E. Keane was also the founder and proprietor of Rock Island and planned for it to be the metropolis of Central Washington. Between 1891 and 1893, Rock Island became a town of considerable importance for the railroad. The mammoth steel bridge that was built across the Columbia drew many laborers to the area, and the small town boomed. Several stores popped up to meet the needs of the workers, and the Rock Island Sun newspaper began publication. In 1893, however, the completion of that first bridge across the Columbia marked the downfall of Rock Island. With few jobs in town to entice them, the employees of the railroad moved away. It would not be the last time Rock Island felt the sting of regression. In The History of the Big Bend Country, published in 1904, Rock Island is referred to as being little more than “a flag station on the Great Northern Railway.”
First bridge across Columbia River One of many Rock Island ponds
Designed and implemented by James E. Keane in 1910, the Keane Wheat Chute was a marvel of modern engineering in its day. Consisting of 2,600 lineal feet of galvanized piping, the chute allowed threshed wheat to be poured into a hopper above Rock Island and come out down by the train tracks. Clogs were handled by kicking and shaking, but they were rare. The chute was used until 1941 and handled over 10,000 bushels of wheat per year. Pieces of the chute are currently on display at the Rocky Reach Dam Museum.
In 1930, Rock Island was able to shine again when the Puget Sound Power and Light Company began construction of a dam just below the Rock Island Rapids. The project was estimated at 10 million dollars and the Rock Island Dam was to be the first dam on the Columbia River. On November 3rd 1930, Rock Island was officially incorporated as a Washington State town, with a population of 421 residents. The town boomed for a second time in its history as workers for the dam project created temporary villages near the town, but it could not last. When two of the dam’s generators began producing power in 1931, and the final spillway was closed in 1932, its prosperity marked the beginning of another detrimental regression in Rock Island’s history.
It is a well known fact among Rock Islanders that their economy has historically depended upon single industries. The more recent “Hanna Mining” facility looming over Rock Island from across the highway stands as a constant reminder to that fact. Though it has been some years since the factory has been shut down, Rock Island’s store, restaurant, and gas pump owners, amongst others, are still upset about the loss of business that the facility brought to the town. Today with the help of the town’s public officials, Rock Island is beginning to focus on a different endeavor they hope will diversify the community‘s economy: tourism.
Plans are currently underway to upgrade the Rock Island Golf Course from nine holes to eighteen. With a larger course near Rock Island’s Marine Golf driving range, the hope is that Rock Island will become even more attractive as a golf destination. The city is also in a process of removing milfoil weed from the lakes surrounding the golf course and town. In fact, the local lakes are one of Rock Island’s greatest features and are the focus of two of Rock Island’s larger city-planned events. Fishing Days, held in Spring, is a chance for local kids and teens to congregate at Pit Lake and fish to their heart’s content. A huge supply of fish are dumped in the lake, and the participants are treated to a barbeque, free give-a-ways, and a chance to have fun as a community. The Mini-Hydroplane Races, in August, are another event which draws in locals and tourists alike to watch as the remote control hydroplanes tear around a local lake. The annual Rod Run in September offers a classic car show that is sure to give Rock Island’s gear-heads plenty to talk about and show off.
If there is one thing that can be said of Rock Island, it is that the small town has an unparalleled ability to bounce back from disaster. Few towns have survived quick booms and even quicker busts the way Rock Island has. The people you meet around town are resilient, happy, and in love with a style of life they can’t find anywhere else. Some say the town is due for another boom, but boom or no, it appears as if Rock Island is here to stay through rain or shine.
When asked about Rock Island’s official mission statement, Mayor Angela Larson was quick to say that though the city does not have one, “we have a vision.” The vision Mayor Larson has for Rock Island is one she and her council have worked on for years, and she assures that they have no false hopes about being a big boom town with sky scrapers and that kind of thing. “I think its more along the lines of keeping a balance between growth, recreation, and what makes Rock Island a beautiful place,” Larson said with a smile on her face. Rock Island’s mayor and resident of over nine years admires the town for its agriculture and what she refers to as “the small town thing.”
Mayor Angela Larson
For a small community that has remained relatively the same for many years, there is a lot going on in the newly renovated town hall in Rock Island. Some of Rock Island’s bigger projects at the moment include a new multi-million dollar sewage system to replace the old one, a plan for furthering the awareness of Rock Island’s unique geological surroundings, and working toward improving the nearby lakes. “You can’t totally eradicate it,” said Larson about the milfoil weed, which is a common problem in many of Washington’s lakes and rivers. Rock Island is doing what it can to fight back, however, by using a combination of herbicides and grass carp, which feed on the plant. Rock Island volunteers have even pulled out the abundant plant by hand.
In her relatively small office, with stack of files and papers about her desk and floor, Mayor Larson talked about what it’s like to be the mayor of a smaller community. She explained how mayors in bigger cities have administrators and department heads that do many of the day-to-day operations. Laughing, she said, “When you’re smaller, you do all of that. You are fighting for funding. You’re digging the hole.” She added, “In a small community you have to wear multiple hats. That’s what I think makes it very enjoyable. It can be complicated and time consuming, but it’s definitely rewarding.” Larson sees a bright future for Rock Island and its citizens, whom she sees as “wonderful, down to earth, grass roots kinda people.”
The youth of Rock Island may not have a city pool, amusement park, or even a theater, but they know how to have a good time. On summer days so hot your air conditioner could not be too cold, Jacob and Brady, a couple of Rock Island locals, are probably heading to Pit Lake with fishing poles over their shoulders. Looking like they came straight out of the Andy Griffith show, the boys enter Rock Island’s man-made juvenile fishing pond and begin their day.
Local boys with bait in hand
The well-stocked Pit Lake, adjacent to the larger Putters Lake, is teaming with tadpoles, crawdads, catfish, bass, and more. There have even been muskrat, otter, and prairie dog sightings. But catching what you want is not always easy, say the boys. For instance, to catch a bass you first need to catch a bluegill (for this, the boys recommend Powerbait). After the bluegill is put out of his misery, his guts must be extracted and put into a container that will not float in the water. In no time at all, the trap will have caught a crawdad worthy for bass bait. But even the professionals have to be careful. “One time a big one bit my toe,” explained Jacob. “Dude,” he added, “it hurt.”
Brady fishing fact #29: “Corn is illegal, the fish can’t digest it”
Brady fishing fact #37: “If you cast where a fish just jumped, you’ll probably catch it.”
As any fisherman knows, catching dinner is not always a sure thing. Catching a fish takes patience, the right bait, good timing and sometimes more. But as Brady and Jacob put it, “we go down to the lake whenever we can and just hope we get one.”
When the glacier moved, it was so strongIt carried huge boulders as it inched alongDepositing river sentinels here and thereAnd islands of rock, stark and bareThis erosion of land caused canyons deepAnd bluffs inaccessible - columned and steepThen the ice melted and water ranLeaving sand, rocks, gravel, an alluvial fanThen the water channeled with a raging roarIt created a river of rapids galoreWith boulder dotted islands away from shoreTall river sentinels on water evermoreEons passed and vegetation grewSagebrush flourished and grasses tooAnimals inhabited this pastoral sceneFeeding on vegetation, lush and greenOregon Territory then its nameAnd “Mighty Columbia” the river becameWild salmon braved the rapids upstream to spawnIndians fished these rapids everyday from dawn …
*This is just a taste of Lucy Keane’s poem “Rock Island Era,” written for the town of Rock Island. Lucy’s deceased husband, Delbert, is the grandson on James E. Keane. Lucy and Delbert’s two sons are Jeff Keane and Dane Keane.
