The history of Little Falls Dam

LONG LAKE - Little Falls Dam is now overlooked due to the other larger dams in the area, but in its day Little Falls was a technical wonder. It boasted having the largest turbines in the world, matching the size of the Niagara Falls turbines.

It doubled the generating power of the Washington Water Power Company (WWP, now Avista). It was also the most remote of all WWP dams.

There was little advance publication of the construction of the dam. The WWP had gotten permission from U.S. Congress to dam the Spokane River, although it failed to get permission from the Spokane Tribe for the portions on...