Stevens County Historical Society Reprints Fort Colville Illustrated Book

The Stevens County Historical Society (SCHS) announced they have printed second editions of “Digging into the Past. The History and Relics of U.S. Fort Colville, Washington Territory,”[1.1][2.1] a book depicting the history of U.S. Military Fort Colville based on items dug up on the fort’s original site. The new edition includes an addendum of new material and images of their efforts.

SCHS officials said only 50 cop- ies of the first edition were printed five years ago. Authors Kevin Konen and Matt Mechler, both of Washing- ton state, became friends through their membership in the Cascade Treasure Club. According to SCHS, the two began discussing writing a book about Fort Colville shortly af- ter they started detecting the fort site in 1996.

The duo researched the history of Fort Colville and followed their findings with over 2,300 photos and illustrations of the site where Fort Colville once stood, approximately two miles northeast of Colville bordering the Aladdin Highway and situated on private property. “For over 30 years, our group of experienced metal detector operators have recovered lost relics of the vanished Indian wars era military site of U.S. Fort Colville,” Konen stated. “Just across Mill Creek from the fort, the wild west town of Pinkney City came to life. Its early days were marked by hardship, pioneer spirit, and gold rushes in the region, but were also laced with true tales of drunken lawlessness, violence, and bloodshed to equal western tales out of Hollywood,” Konen added.

According to Konen, the detectorists recovered thousands of objects, including military insignias, ammunition, and other fascinating objects with “specific tales to tell.” Many relics are of the same type found on Civil War battle sites, he said. “The intent of this book is to share the knowledge and pleasure we have gained from our searches and research,” Kenon stated. “Also to record and attempt to better understand the relics and information we have uncovered regarding Fort Colville.

The historical information included in this book comes from many sources and great effort has been made to be accurate.” Konen added that the second edition was requested by SCHS for the “benefit of the Society and its excellent museum and heritage center.” He said, “Please visit the museum. Local history museums are a great benefit to all. Our thanks to Don Birch, past president of (SCHS), and Richard Willner, current president, for championing this second edition. Our sincere thanks also to the rest of the society board and members of the SCHS.” “Digging into the Past.

The History and Relics of U.S. Fort Colville, Washington Territory” is available at the Stevens County Historical Society museum and online at stevenscountyhistoricalsociety.org.