Plumber in American Falls

American Falls at a glance

American Falls is the county seat of Power County with 4,568 people at the 2020 census. It covers about 1.7 square miles next to the American Falls Reservoir on the Snake River.

What that means for your plumbing

Because the town was rebuilt on a new site in the mid-1920s, many homes and their buried lines date from around that period or later. Water and sewer lines nearly a century old may have corroded or shifted. Low pressure, rusty water and slow drains are signs worth following up; see sewer lines.

Semi-arid climate

American Falls has a semi-arid climate with cold winters. Dry, open land lets wind drive cold into crawl spaces and exterior walls. Protect pipes on the windward side and in unheated spaces before the first hard freeze.

A town that moved

American Falls takes its name from a waterfall on the Snake River, named after a party of American trappers whose boat went over it. The Hunt expedition camped there in 1811, and John C. Frémont came through in 1843. Power plants appeared at the falls in 1901. In 1925 American Falls became the first town in the United States to be entirely relocated, to make way for the American Falls Dam, and the old townsite now lies at the bottom of the reservoir. A larger dam was finished in 1978. Homes from the relocation era are now old enough to need attention, especially their service lines and drains.