Peach, WA :: An Underwater Town
Peach, Washington was an early pioneer town located in Lincoln County, Washington that once sat at the confluence of Hawk Creek and the Columbia River. It was established in 1896 by George B. Young and quickly became a hub for fruit farmers who discovered the area to be rich for growing orchards. Peach, as it grew, boasted a hotel, school, post office, general store and feed, churches, and a service station.
In 1939, Peach was unfortunately slated to become the first town to be inundated beneath the 40-mile reservoir, or what we now know as Lake Roosevelt, that formed behind the Bureau of Reclamation's Grand Coulee Dam project. Residents in the Peach community, as well as several other small communities, were issued a deadline of January 1, 1939 to vacate their homes and land. Landowners received a stipend from the government for the land that they were being forced to surrender and the town opted to disperse to other area communities rather than relocate the town itself, such as Kettle Falls and Marcus did. Cemeteries, including Indian burial sites, had to be exhumed to be reinterred to higher ground by the Bureau of Land Management.Â
The post office was officially decommissioned on April 9, 1939 and the area was deemed "cleared" by July of that same year. Once cleared, the Bureau of Reclamation came in and burned the remaining structures, brush and orchards to prevent the accumulation of debris in the new reservoir. All that remains of the community of Peach is the Peach Cemetery in nearby Lincoln.
©2019 E. Deasy unless otherwise noted.
