MOSES LAKE — It’s been a little over 15 months since the Confederated Tribes of the Colville opened Colville Fuels Half-Sun Travel Plaza of the southwest corner of South Wanapum Drive and West Lakeshore Drive.

While specific fuel or merchandise sales numbers weren’t readily available, the excitement in returning to ancestral lands for a business venture is both exciting and gratifying to those involved in the tribal-owned convenience store and gas station, on the 9.25-acre parcel of land off exit 176.

“This is re-establishing, re-claiming, the former Moses-Columbia Reservation,” Colville Tribal Federal Corporation member Gene Nicholson told the Colville Tribal Tribune. “That to me means more than this facility. With that, I’m looking for more ventures down in Grant County.”

The new tribal travel plaza is the largest business venture to date for Colville Fuels, a subsidiary of the Colville Tribes’ business corporation, which runs Noisy Waters near Kettle Falls, Deep Water in Manson and Tribal Trails in Omak. It includes an 11,000-square-foot convenience store with fueling stations for retail customers and commercial truckers.

“I would say things are going better than initially expected. The feedback we’ve received from both motorists and the truckers has been positive,” said Half Sun manager Jordan Moulton, whose operation has an estimated 25 local employees. “We’re the only station around that has ethanol free gas and that’s been appreciated. The food sales have stayed consistent across the board. It’s the same whether you’re serving pizza or sandwiches.”

The tribal travel plaza is a full-service destination for the trucking industry. It doesn’t have a mechanic on-site, but does have scales. It also has seven showers; washers and dryers; free wi-fi and two zero-gravity massage chairs. Half-Sun has a smoking deck with propane heaters, as well as indoor lounge; a conference room; a sandwich shop; and fully stocked shelves and coolers. The location features a large, metal statue by tribal artist Virgil “Smoker” Marchand.

“It’s performing well and we’re learning more about the demographic,” said Colville Chief Operating Officer Chris O’Neil. “Some things have been different than expected, but it’s been performing well.

“The broad strokes are there. It’s only been a year and a few months into operation. There’s little refinements to make and I think that’s where we’re focused on now.”

One area of expansion under consideration is creating a fueling station for RV’s and trailer traffic. With Moses Lake being the third largest lake in the state of Washington, there is a considerable amount of people refueling both boats and vehicles. The length of vehicle and trailer takes up two pumps with the current layout.

By adding pumps in the adjacent lot across from the Chevron islands, they could expand the area to accommodate trailers with boats or off-road vehicles coming into town to utilize the Moses Lake Sand Dunes and free up the flow of traffic on the island for single vehicles.

“We’re thinking about putting in a larger island for the vehicles with trailers to make things smoother for both,” Moulton said. “I think that would really help, because we have so many trucks with boats and now with the sand dunes traffic and people coming into town.”

The business venture is source of pride for the Confederated Tribes of the Colville. Elder Barb Aripa, a direct descendant to Chief Moses, blessed the 9.25-acre parcel of land during the groundbreaking and cut the ribbon a the grand opening (June 2, 2017) for the project, which was funded through an 8-year, $7.4 million loan approved by the Colville Business Council.

“It’s definitely an honor to come back to ancestral lands to contribute to the tribe’s off-rez business ventures,” Moulton said. “We have these pictures on the wall and I actually had a guy come in the other day and tell me one of them was his ancestor. He knew several of the people in the other pictures, which was pretty cool.”

Rodney Harwood is a writer for the Columbia Basin Herald and can be reached at rharwood@columbiabasinherald.com.