February 2020
Million Dollar Mile part 1
With the second World War over, work started on the creation of a 27 mile long reservoir from Electric City to Coulee City. The old highway ran down the Upper Coulee floor and a new replacement route would have to be built. To avoid being flooded the new highway would cling to the southern coulee wall. This road was named Secondary State Highway 2F and ran through several condemned farmyards as it made its way across the coulee. Just outside Coulee City the ground at the base of the east wall was unstable due to a series of unpredictable alkali lakes and 2F was detoured up and across the top of the plateau on an impossible looking ramp seemingly made of local materials. At the top of the ramp the workers leveled the land by creating a deep channel for the cars to pass through before reaching the summit of the mesa. From there you can drive along the edge of a 600-foot drop into the man-made lake before descending the other side with a spectacular view of Steamboat Rock. The stretch of highway became known as the Million Dollar Mile and the highway became State Route 155.
John M. Kemble, Them Dam Writers online 2020
March 2020
Million Dollar Mile part 2
The Million Dollar Mile refers to the up-ramp and basalt cut that directly follows it on the south, Coulee City, side of the ascent, it then runs for a mile along the cliff top before descending with a spectacular view of Steamboat Rock. It took an estimated million dollars to blast and construct the area, while it took about 4 million total to complete the whole highway from Coulee City to Grand Coulee. It was the exorbitant price and the media that dubbed this area Million Dollar Mile. When SR155 was created in the late 1940s / early 1950s a million dollars was an astronomical amount. While constructing the south end of the SR155 Million Dollar Mile cut the road crew worked around the clock on a tight schedule. The technique required drills, dynamite and much elbow grease. During the construction many rattlesnakes were encountered and crawled into everything, including trucks and equipment creating quite a stir with the workers on all shifts. After completing the Million Dollar Mile the new highway streaked across the top of the bluff past two important landmarks that are now mostly forgotten; Salishan Mesa and Rabbit Rock, and through what turned out to be an ancient campground.
John M. Kemble, Them Dam Writers online 2020
April 2020
May 2020
Million Dollar Mile part 3
When the Million Dollar Mile outside of Coulee City was created it inadvertently ran through a field with a level area and a natural spring surrounded by trees. For uncounted years this was a camping spot for the original nomadic inhabitants of the Upper Grand Coulee. The spring was nestled up on the cliff wall just out of sight, and the trail up ran along a cut to the south east. Once there was a large stone table for preparing food and families gathered together at the spring for generations. Down below in the coulee were several lakes that attracted game, and abundant produce grew wild in the surrounding landscape. To the west of the spring was Salishan Mesa, it’s original name forgotten, standing tall and proud above the landscape, teetering on the edge of the coulee wall. From on top of the mesa Steamboat Rock could be seen in the distance, and down below in the coulee the main trail leading to it. Sometimes if you listen closely enough you will hear tales of a tragic battle that took place in the coulee below, under the watchful eye of Rabbit Rock and Salishan Mesa.
John M. Kemble, Them Dam Writers online 2020
June 2020
Million Dollar Mile part 4
According to the legend, in a fit of rage Coyote flung Rabbit from the top of Steamboat Rock where he landed and stuck in the side of the coulee wall below Salishan Mesa. Rabbit was then changed to stone and became Rabbit Rock. One of the earliest postcards from the 1930’s identifies the rock basalt column as Rabbit Ears Rock, and at one time the ears stuck further out the top than they do today, giving the rock an even more rabbit like appearance. At one time the Old Speedball Highway ran under the rock and people would take shots at the rabbit from down below. Some people say this is why the rabbit’s ears are so short, others say it was because of the blasting during the construction of the Million Dollar Mile. Rabbit Rock is still there, looking North to Steamboat Rock. At the bottom of the North end of the Million Dollar Mile is Payne Gulch, where old Len Dillman lived in his golden years until dying suddenly in a wreck. Word is his old, dilapidated Model T truck went off the road and hit a big boulder, flying all to pieces and killing the Optimistic Bachelor, as he was known. A slice of the old road on which he was traveling can still be seen running from Banks Lake to Larsen Falls.
John M. Kemble, Them Dam Writers online 2020
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