Kahlotus, WA

Kahlotus is a city in Franklin County, Washington, United States. The 2020 census counted 147 residents. The first organized settlement of Kahlotus was by German immigrants, imported by the railroads, in around 1880. Soon after, the Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway began construction on a second railroad on the south shore of nearby Kahlotus Lake, including tunnels through the basalt cliffs near the southeast corner of town. The first schoolhouse was built in 1916 and was a two-story school house that housed every class from 1916–1954. That mix gives Kahlotus a clear local shape within Washington, with older layers still visible in current places.

The local scoop is a place whose streets, landmarks, and institutions keep its earlier story close to the present. State Route 263 has its northern terminus in Kahlotus, from which it extends through the Devils Canyon to the Lower Monumental Dam on the Snake River six miles south of the city. The Columbia Plateau Trail passes through Kahlotus, entering the city from the east along Washtucna Coulee before turning south into the Devils Canyon. Kahlotus includes the dam also made the Snake River.