(final) 2024 Campbell's Resort Directory - Flipbook - Page 15
Chelan History
THE STORY BEHIND CHELAN
The City of Chelan, in the North Central Washington county of the
same name, straddles the entrance to the Chelan River at the
southern extremity of Lake Chelan, the largest natural lake in
Washington. Chelan (the town) was started in the late 1880s,
sustained during its first decades by logging, mining, agriculture, and
early tourism.
Although its remote location slowed population growth, the
magnificent setting and abundant resources eventually drew many
to the area. The town prospered and the Chelan River was soon
dammed for irrigation and hydropower. In more recent years, with
the timber and mining industries largely inactive, Chelan has been
best known as a scenic resort community supported primarily by
tourism, with contributions from orchards, vineyards, and wineries.
Lake Chelan was formed more than 10,000 years ago, carved out by
a valley glacier that extended from the crests of the Cascade
Mountains to the Columbia River. The narrow lake (two miles at its
widest) snakes through the hills for more than 50 miles in a
northwest to southeast direction, ending in the south at the inlet to
the Chelan River. It is the largest, longest, and at nearly 1,500 feet,
deepest lake in Washington and the third deepest in America.
Ironically, it empties into the state's shortest river -- the Chelan,
which (although dammed dry for much of the twentieth century)
flows barely four miles before joining the Columbia for the run to the
sea.
The lake is fed by multiple streams and one sizable river, the
Stehekin. Along much of its length, the shoreline is dominated by
steep terrain and is nearly inaccessible by land. But in the southeast
it opens into an area of fertile, rolling hills, and it was mostly here
that both Native American and non-Native American settlers chose
to put down roots.
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