Wawawai Post Office near the Snake River closes to prepare for the town's inundation on December 31, 1967.

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On December 31, 1967, the Wawawai Post Office closes to prepare for the town's inundation by a new lake formed by the damming of the Snake River. The town of Wawawai (rhymes with Hawaii) is located in Whitman County where Wawawai Creek meets the Snake River, three miles upstream (southeast) from the future Lower Granite Dam (first phase completed 1975).

Beginning in 1875 and through the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the community was one of the premier fruit-growing regions in Washington state. Before that the area was inhabited by bands of Palouse and Nez Perce.

The new Lower Granite Lake inundated the site of the town beginning in February 1975, when the first phase of the Lower Granite Dam was completed. The area became home to the Wawawai County Park.

Sources:
HistoryLink.org Online Encyclopedia of Washington State History "Wawawai" (by Phil Dougherty) and "Initial phase of the Lower Granite Dam on the Snake River is completed on February 15, 1975" (by Phil Dougherty) http://www.historylink.org/ (accessed December 26, 2006).

By Phil Dougherty, December 26, 2006

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This essay made possible by:
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Tabor and LaFollette Ranch, Wawawai, Whitman County, 1897
Courtesy WSU Special Collections (Neg. 070515)