Cusick, Washington — Modern Town Sits on a Much Older Community Landscape

Cusick occupies a place important long before Joseph Cusick platted a town there in 1902.

A major Kalispel village existed along this stretch of the Pend Oreille River within a homeland organized around fishing, camas gathering, travel and seasonal use.

The modern Kalispel Reservation remains centered in the region.

Non-Native development later added sawmills, rail connections and river transportation. Timber became a major part of Cusick's economy.

That industrial system contracted.

The relationship between town and tribe did not.

Kalispel tribal government, enterprises and community life remain central to the area's modern economy and civic landscape.

Cusick is a little over a century old.

The human geography beneath it is much older.