Founded by Seth S. Slater on May 6, 1861, Slaterville had a permanent population of 50 and five edifices, built mainly of colored blankets: two stores, two houses, and a saloon. When the Colonel Wright snapped her tow-line on the Grand Rapids and went whirling through the Big Eddy just below here on May 13, Lewiston was founded to replace the new port. One more steamer reached here on June 1, but Slaterville was doomed.