(final) 2024 Campbell's Resort Directory - Flipbook - Page 17
During the twentieth century, Chelan developed
in much the same manner as other rural
communities in the West, enjoying periods of
boom punctuated by episodes of bust. The area's
timber and mineral resources were eventually all
but exhausted, but its third great resource, water,
has played a vital and continuing role. In
significant ways, the past and present story of the
city of Chelan is found in its relationship to the
waters of the lake from which it takes its name.
Word of the natural beauty of Lake Chelan
The first true residence (as opposed to the earlier
shacks) on the Chelan townsite was built by Thomas
R. Gibson.
From times long past through the early days of nonIndian settlement, the primary means of reaching
Lake Chelan was on trails, some blazed by
Indigenous peoples, others trampled down by the
habitual passage of wildlife. The Columbia River was
less than four miles from the lake, but passage
between the two at their nearest point was
spread early, and by the late 1800s tourism
already was a major source of revenue for the
town and the region. Facilities to house visitors
sprang up at Chelan, Lakeside, and Stehekin to
the north, and tourists flowed in, primarily from
west of the Cascades. There were guest
accommodations in place as early as 1892, and in
1901 at Chelan, Clinton C. Campbell (1855-1938)
built the Campbell Hotel, renamed the Chelan
Hotel in 1904, and still in business today as
Campbell's Resort.
exceedingly difficult. One prominent foot trail ran
from Navarre Coulee on the Columbia northeast
about seven miles to the south end of the lake, and
this was used most frequently by the earliest
settlers. Other trails pierced the forest at the north
end of the lake, from which the settlements to the
south could be reached by boat.
A wagon road connected the towns of Chelan and
Lakeside, and in 1889 a wooden bridge was built
that spanned the Chelan River where it left the lake,
The economy of the city is, and has been for
joining the settlements on either side. In later years,
decades, dominated by tourism, and this is likely to
additional rough roads would be cut, but well into
hold true for decades to come. In the earlier years
the twentieth century, Chelan was not an easy place
of the twentieth century, a few sawmills, and box
to get to. Plans by the Chelan Railroad & Navigation
factories that primarily made shipping boxes for
Company in 1903 to build an electric railway from
local growers, provided additional employment and
the Columbia River to the town never materialized,
income for the town.
and no passenger rail line would ever reach the lake.
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