Nespelem River before the river empties into the Columbia River. This reach of the Columbia River is several miles below Grand Coulee Dam and many miles above Chief Joseph Dam. The impounded Columbia River behind Chief Joseph Dam, into which the Nespelem River flows, is called Rufus Woods Lake. Nespelem River The Nespelem River is a northern tributary of the Columbia River, in the U.S. state of Washington. It is completely contained within Okanogan County and the Colville Indian Reservation. The name "Nespelem" is said to come from the Indian word "nesilim", meaning "flat land". The Nespelem River originates in eastern Okanogan
Grand Coulee of Lower Grand Coulee. The Great Cataract forms the divide from the upper to lower coulees. The Lower Coulee tends along the monoclinal flexure to Soap Lake where the canyons end and the water flowed out into Quincy Basin. Quincy Basin is filled with the eroded gravels and silts from the Coulee. The Lower Coulee, also created its own path across the plains. Evidence of this is found in the tilted flows visible at Hogback islands in Lake Lenore and tilted flows along Washington 17 from Dry Falls to Park Lake. Numerous canyons acted as a distribution system for the