Waterville, Washington — County Seat on Top of the Plateau

Waterville sits high above the Columbia on broad dryland farm country.

That elevation makes the county seat seem oddly removed from the river corridors below.

The reason is agriculture.

Settlers established wheat farms across the Waterville Plateau during the nineteenth century, and the town became Douglas County's governmental center.

Early residents had to negotiate steep grades to reach river crossings and transportation routes below.

Modern roads make the climb easier, but the landscape still changes dramatically.

Drop toward the Columbia and wheat country gives way to cliffs, reservoirs and irrigated orchards.

Waterville stayed associated with dryland farming while enormous water projects transformed lower parts of the county.

The courthouse sits on top because the farms did too.