New Steamboat Rock book tells pictorial history of local landmark

A collection of early and rare photos highlighting the history of Steamboat Rock is being published and will be available for purchase in April.

The book tells a linear story of Steamboat Rock, from Native American legends, to early pioneers, to the introduction of automobiles, to the construction of the dam, the flooding of Banks Lake, becoming a state park, and more.

Local man John "Jay" M. Kemble, compiled the book titled "Steamboat Rock" for Arcadia Publishing's "Images of America" series.

"Learning the history of it helps me appreciate it," he said. "The preservation of history is really why I'm doing this."

The opportunity came to Kemble through his friend Dan Bolyard, a fellow member of Them Dam Writers, who has published a book on Big Bend railroad history and Ephrata through the same publisher.

Kemble spoke to the publisher and pitched Steamboat Rock as a topic, getting the contract in December of 2018.

"It was one of those things where you get on the bus first, then find out where you're going," Kemble said.

Tasked with compiling about 200 photographs along with paragraphs for each one, Kemble was approached by Birdie Hensley who owns the Coulee Pioneer Museum in Electric City.

Kemble was given a key to the museum and access to scrapbooks of photos which Kemble was able to scan for the book.

Kemble said he couldn't have done the book without the museum, and that another big batch of photos came from George Kazinsky from Steamboat Rock State Park.

Kemble said that "once I had the story hashed out in my head, I started getting pictures that would match."

"Everybody knows a good story has a beginning, middle and end, and if not, it's not a complete story," he said. "And so I always try to tie it together somehow. There's a lot of Easter eggs hidden in this book and pieces that do tie together."

Some of what Kemble means by "Easter eggs," is that you can still find many of the historical places in the pictures by bringing the book with you in your boat or car.

"I try to put something in there for everybody, something for the kids to look at in the back seat of the car, something for the people who read more into it who want to dig around and find some of those Easter eggs."

Kemble has climbed Steamboat Rock many times, he said, and considers the geographical Grand Coulee, from Coulee City to the town of Grand Coulee, to be his home.

"Any historian, anyone that loves history will tell you that ... the main goal is to try to preserve history," Kemble said. "The way I interpret that is that to preserve history is to try to bring it to a bigger audience, try to influence people, to present history in a way that's fresh and new even though it's old stories. ... Even more important is to bring back to life the Grand Coulee itself, for the people who have lost interest and look at it with doldrums. I want to try spark their imagination so they once more can take pride in the Grand Coulee, to see that we do live in God's land. We do live in a wonderful place."

Kemble said that a book on Dry Falls may be his next project.

"Steamboat Rock" is available for preorder and will be available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, as well as at http://www.arcadiapublishing.com.

Kemble said a book signing and more are in the future.

The Dry Falls Visitors Center will carry the book, and he hopes that the Grand Coulee Dam Visitors Center will, as well.