Lost to the Lake

The Columbia River Treaty is heralded as a model for international trans-boundary water cooperation, but for some in Lincoln County it brings back painful memories of the community they lost

BY JUSTIN FRANZ // MAY 1, 2019

The sonar image on Dale White’s boat usually depicts what you would expect when he’s fishing on Lake Koocanusa: the lake bottom, rocks and hopefully a few fish waiting to tug on his line. ... But sometimes something else comes across the screen: rubble from foundations, old concrete stairs and outlines of streets. The same streets he ran down as a kid.

White, 69, is a retired logger who spends his summers as a U.S. Forest Service campground host in Rexford. During the summer, he spends his days answering guests’ questions and making sure everyone is having a good time. But if you linger by his camper and ask him a few questions about what was there before Lake Koocanusa, a smile will undoubtedly cross his face as he talks about the old days, when Rexford was a busy little logging and railroad town.

White’s family had a small farm near Rexford and his dad helped run the town water supply. White said the farm would probably be considered a “hobby farm” today, but there was nothing recreational about it back then, and White and his siblings always had work to do. Yet they still found time for play, White recalls.

“The valley had everything a young boy could want,” White said. “Great fishing and great hunting.” ... Talk to any old-timer along the Kootenai and they’ll say the same thing.
....