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Introduction
Scenic Lake Chelan lies within an eighty mile long glacial valley near the geographic center of Washington State. The rolling hills surrounding the resort community of Chelan give little hint of the spectacular views offered by this fjord-like lake, which for most of its length lies in a valley far deeper than the Grand Canyon.
Beyond the end of the road, rugged snow-capped peaks rise over 7,000 feet from the lake shore with dark evergreens covering the mountain sides. Deep valleys rise from the lake to massive glaciers in the heart of the North Cascades. Wildlife abounds on the rocky mountainsides, and weathered historical artifacts bear witness to the perseverance and ingenuity of earlier human inhabitants of the area.
At the upper end of Lake Chelan, the limited local roads do not connect the communities of Stehekin and Holden to the outside world. The remoteness and the spectacular setting have inspired Federal protection for much of the area. Portions of a National Park, two National Forest Wilderness areas, and a National Recreation Area encompass much of the Chelan drainage.
From the apple orchards of Chelan to the alpine firs and glaciers of the Cascade Crest, the Lake Chelan area offers an unparalleled variety of scenic and recreational experiences. The following editorial; will help you understand the rich history and special features of this unique area.
Stehekin
Stehekin is a remote community scattered along the lower few miles of the Stehekin River. Residents earns their livings with jobs as varied as leading pack trips in the mountains to baking cinnamon rolls for tourists. The Stehekin boats landing at the head of the Lake Chelan is the final destination of many travelers. The North Cascades Lodge, a restaurant, and a National Park Service ranger station are located at Stehekin. The National Parks also operates a shuttle bus service which, for a nominal fee, will take you anywhere along the twenty-three-mile long Stehekin valley road. Several major trail heads, including access to the famed Pacific Crest Trail and other trails leading into the North Cascade National Park, are accessible from the shuttle bus. The road also leads to about a dozen campgrounds in the forested Stehekin River valley. During the summer season a tour bus, leaving just after the boat arrives, can take visitors three miles up the valley to beautiful Rainbow Falls.
Holden
The modest dock at Lucerne is the transfer point for travelers bound for Holden Village or Domke Lake.
Holden Village occupies a site, which was once the largest copper mine in Washington State. Following closure of the mine in 1957, the mining claims and remaining buildings were donated to the Lutheran Bible Institute in 1960 by the Howe Sound Mining Company for use as a retreat center. The village was cleaned up and a hydroelectric generator installed on nearby Copper Creek. The Forest Service issued a special use permit to Holden Village since most of the usable buildings are located on the Wenatchee National Forest. Holden Village owns 239 acres of patented mining claims most of which are on the steep, rocky slopes of Copper Peak. Holden Village, Inc. (a non-organization, associated with the Lutheran Church) now offers a delightful dormitory-style retreat for people of all religious persuasions. The retreat includes a summer program of social and theological seminars, nightly Vesper services, crafts workshops and nature study. Holden is also a major trail head for visitors to the nearby Glacier Peak Wilderness.
From Lucerne, buses take hikers and guest of Holden Village the twelve miles up to Holden. The buses make two round trips daily during the summer, coordinating their schedule with the passenger boat service on Lake Chelan.
FORMATION OF LAKE CHELAN
Mountain Building
Lake Chelan formed gradually over millions of years with the rise of the Cascade Mountains. It is now being destroyed just as gradually as the mountains erode and sediments are deposited in the lake.
A series of great mountain ranges existed in western North America at various times in the geologic past. Many of the rocks along the shores of Lake Chelan were once volcanic sediments deposited on the ocean floor. These sediments were transformed by tremendous heat and pressure into a hard crystalline rock called "gneiss" (pronounced "nice") which is the predominant rock in the Lake Chelan area. Molten rock from deep within the earths crust oozed up along fault cracks and other weak areas. Where these rocks cooled and crystallized underground, "granite" was formed. If the molten rock reached the surface before it solidified, a volcano was born.
The North Cascade has risen during relatively recent times along with other mountain ranges in the Pacific Northwest. The mountains here are higher than those further south because uplifting occurred more rapidly and the rock, typically, is more resistant to erosion.
The Glaciers
As the Cascade rose, erosion began tearing them down. At first streams carved away at the base of low hills, following lines of least resistance to the sea. Global climate began cooling during the time the Cascade were rising, and glaciers grew on the higher peaks.
As the range rose, the glaciers became larger, retreating up the valleys during brief warm periods and descending again when the climate cooled. A mountain glacier last descended the Chelan valley about 17,000 years ago carving and sculpturing the lake side mountain slopes. Up to a mile-and-a-half thick and eighty miles long, it quarried bedrock to a depth of 600 feet below sea level. Sediments carried by the Stehekin River, Railroad Creek, and other tributaries have now partially filled the basin. The lake has a depth of 1541 feet (440 feet below sea level) at its deepest known point, which is about two miles down lake from Graham Harbor.
Several times during the past million and a half years ice sheets developed in Canada and followed the Okanogan and Columbia River valleys to the south. About 14,000 years ago, a glacier poured into the lower end of Lake Chelan and also spilled over high passes above the Stehekin River, covering that area as well. For a time, ice blocked the lower end of Lake Chelan, forcing the lake to find a new outlet. Highway 97Alt from Wenatchee follows one of these outlets through Knapp s Coulee, just south of Chelan. At that time, Lake Chelan was several hundred feet deeper than it is today. This glacier put the finishing touches on the Lake Chelan basin below Manson and left a pile of glacial rubble sticking out into the lake. This debris is now known as Wapato Point..
Today about 100 glaciers are liberally sprinkled on the peaks draining into Lake Chelan. Though a light frosting compared to the ice-age glaciers, they are still actively wearing down the peaks, which support them. These glaciers are an important facet of the economy of eastern Washington since they store water through the summer, which helps irrigate the productive fruit orchards in the lowlands.
Native Americans
Native Americans probably inhabited the lower Chelan valley for thousand of years prior to its "discovery" by pioneer trappers, explorers, and prospectors in the 1800s. The Indians derived their names from the world in which they lived, thus the Indians in the Chelan valley were called the "Tsill-ane", later spelled Chelan. To them this meant "deep notch".
The Indians found hospitable living conditions east of the Cascades with open country for hunting, lake and streams for fishing, and a great diversity of plants for food and medicine. The Chelan tribe had several permanent villages in the lower Chelan valley. One at Willow Point, near Manson, had up to 500 occupants. Another on Wapato Point was home to about 100 people. These people were frequently on the move, systematically traveling in and out of the mountains with the seasons, collecting plants and hunting game. During the spring they gathered the abundant sunflowers, bitterroot, and camas, which they ate fresh or dried for later use. Later in the summer they headed high into the mountains to collect the abundant huckleberries in the alpine meadows.
The watery highway of Lake Chelan provided a relatively easy transportation route from the Columbia River deep into the Cascades. Occasionally, to trade with or visit coastal relatives, the Chelan’s would canoe up to the head of the lake where they knew of a route, which followed a swift stream between high peaks. Crossing between the glaciers and cliffs on the crest of the mountains, they descended through the tall forests to the land of the Skagit’s. The Chelans often traded mountain goat wool for dried clams and salmon, or for seashells, which they used for future trade or ornamentation.
With the coming of white settlers, the Chelans were forced to move to the Columbia Reservation, which extended from the north shore of Lake Chelan to Canada. Congress in 1886, and those not able to obtain property in the greater Chelan area moved to the Colville Indian Reservation east of Okanogan, Washington nullified this reservation.
The Miners
In the 1880s the lure of precious metals brought prospectors to the upper regions of Lake Chelan. Miners began to trickle into the Stehekin valley on the old Indian trail over Cascade Pass and on other routes from the Skagit River mining district on the western slopes of the Cascades. Stehekin became a busy lake port for miners supplies, which were ferried up lake from Chelan. At the peak of the rush in the late 1890s, hundred of prospectors were searching for ore in the mountains above the valley. About twenty-five miles up-valley from Stehekin, the Black Warrior, Blue Evil, and Upper Horseshoe Basin mines showed the greatest promise for production. A wagon road was constructed up the lower ten miles of the Stehekin Valley and a rough trail covered the remaining distance.
Dan Devore, M.E. Field, and others packed machinery and supplies for the miners in the upper Stehekin for two cent per pound. Henry Buckner, upset over these outrageously high prices, brought his own pack string to pack his supplies. Buckner operated the Upper Horseshoe Basin mine located just below the spires of Rapsaw Ridge. In 1909 and 1910 the mine operated the year round. Some of the miners spent the winter in meager quarters, which were cabled onto the steep rock face and completely covered by snow.
Most miners left the valley, to return when the snow melted or to seek there fortunes elsewhere. A few stayed on during the winter and ran trap lines in attempts to supplement their minimal incomes. In addition to exploring the Stehekin and Railroad Creek valleys, the miners, including James Holden, staked claims on the shores of Lake Chelan. Some of the entrances to these miners were flooded when the Chelan Dam raised the lake level twenty-one feet in 1928. Some of the buildings you may see along the upper portions of Lake Chelan are built on private lands, which were originally mining claims.
Holden Mine
Railroad survey crews looking for a trans-Cascade route for the Northern Pacific Railroad did initial exploration of the Railroad Creek valley during the 1880s. Members of the crew noticed extensive materialization in the area, and in 1896 James H. Holden staked four claims on the north side of Copper Peak. It was evident that the deposit discovered by Holden was a major ore body, but due to the remoteness of the site it was difficult to attract a sponsor to fund development. Little work was done on the deposit and the claim changed ownership several times before its purchase by the Howe Sound Mining Company in 1930. Howe Sound spent over $3,000,000 developing the mill, transportation system, and support facilities for the mine, which was a showpiece of mining technology and employee comfort. Up to 600 people lived at Holden during peak operation of the mine. There were 100 homes for families, dormitory quarters for single miners, fourteen company chalets, a movie theater, bowling alley, barbershop, and a baseball park.
One of the thorniest problems was how to power the mine and the village. There were several hydropower schemes, but the one that met final approval, in late July 1937, was a power line from Chelan Falls. A 110,000-volt transmission line ran from Holden past Domke Lake, crossed Lake Chelan at Bear Creek and followed its north shore forty miles. Total length of the line was fifty-two miles, and it was completed in only five and a half months! Electric came from the Washington Water Power Company hydroelectric plant at Chelan Falls, which utilized the 400-foot drop between Lake Chelan and the Columbia River to produce electricity.
After initial processing of the ore at Holden, the concentrate was trucked to Lucerne and loaded onto barges for the trip to Chelan . It was then trucked to Chelan Falls and shipped by rail to the American Smelting Refining Company in Tacoma, Washington.
Though the Holden Mine was originally thought to contain enough ore to operate for fifty years, plummeting copper prices in the 1950s forced the mine to shut down after only twenty years of operation. During this time, $66,500,000 worth of copper, gold, silver, and zinc was extracted. Howe Sound departed in 1958 leaving in its wake the rusting hulk of the mill, the village of Holden, and a mile-long, 150-foot-deep pile of orange tailings (sandy wastes left over from the ore concentration process). The clearing for the power line is still visible along the Railroad Creek road and near Domke Lake.
Chelan History
The first white explorers who ventured into the Chelan area were Alexander Ross of the Pacific Fur Company and David Thompson of the rival Northwest Company. Both were on wide-ranging explorations to become familiar with the terrain and establish strategic fur-trading centers for commerce with the Indians. Ross passed through the area long the Columbia River in 1811, and he noted the "Tsill-ane" River on one of his maps. Indians told him of a large lake nearby, but he did not see it. David Thompson was more interested in cartography than Ross and had a remarkably accurate map showing Lake Chelan in 1814. Since no mention of the lake is made in his journals, no one knows how he obtained such accurate details..
The area was largely unnoticed, except by a few hardy prospectors, until much later in the century. While on a reconnaissance trip for the U.S Army in 1880, Lt. Thomas Symons saw Lake Chelan and proclaimed it "the most grandly beautiful lake I have ever seen." On his recommendation the Army established Camp Chelan the following year, but due to the difficult access it was relocated to Spokane after only one year in service.
With the influx of miners in the 1890s Chelan began to grow, and homesteaders moved in. It was not long before the first fruit orchards were established, after the potential for irrigation was seen. Surprisingly, irrigation water came not from Lake Chelan but from creeks draining into it on its north shore.
Irrigation began in 1908 using an overland pipeline from these creeks. Following a series of dry years, the irrigation line was extended to Safety Harbor Creek, a distance of twenty miles from the storage reservoir at Antilon Lake. The irrigation line, severely damaged by forest fires in 1929 and 1970, was maintained until the early 1970s. Since that time, irrigation water has been pumped out of Lake Chelan and piped to the orchards.
Attracting Attention
The mines of Stehekin did not make many people rich, but other visitors to the area saw that its lasting value lay not in the gold and silver hidden in the hills, but in its scenic grandeur. Robert Moore opened a resort facility in 1892 at Moore’s Point, six miles down lake from Stehekin.
M.E. Field also started a hotel in the same year at the very head of the lake in Stehekin. His hotel was gradually enlarged so that by the turn of the century it could accommodate up to one hundred guests in Victorian splendor. Even with these facilities, the influx of tourists and miners demanded more accommodations. The Purple Hotel opened in 1898 and another facility, frequented primarily by miners, operated at Bridge Creek from 1900 to 1910. The field Hotel was dismantled in 1926, since it occupied ground that was to be inundated with the completion of the Chelan Dam. Lumber from it was used to construct the Golden West Lodge, which served visitors through 1971.
Mining interest gradually shifted to Holden, and by the early 1930s the landing at Lucerne was much busier than at Stehekin. Tourists continued to visit Stehekin, and during the 1940s a brief renaissance in mining occurred.
In the early 1900s several proposals were advanced to formally recognize the scenic and wilderness qualities of the Stehekin area through the establishment of a National Park. Sentiment for a park mounted slowly but reached a fever pitch in the 1960s when Congress deliberated over the creation of a National Park in the North Cascades. A bill was passed in 1968 creating the North Cascades National Park, Ross Lake National Recreation Area, Lake Chelan National Recreation Area, and the Pasayten Wilderness.
Through the miners and trappers have long since left the area, their independence and self-reliant spirit live on in many of the hardy resident of the valley. To this day, no telephone lines or roads connect Stehekin to the outside world. Only in 1963 did the community acquire its own hydroelectric power plant a decidedly mixed blessing, according to some residents. During the winter the ferry comes up lake from Chelan with the mail and fresh food only four times a week. The boat is still the primary source of transportation and communication to Stehekin, though commercial float plane services also make frequent trips to Chelan weather permitting.
Boat Access Campgrounds
A unique recreational aspect of Lake Chelan is the opportunity to camp in one of the seventeen campgrounds along the lake, which are accessible by boat, but have no road access. In fact, most do not even have trail access! Most of these campgrounds have picnic tables, fire rings, pit toilets, and dock space. Several campgrounds also have primitive shelters. Water can be obtained from nearby streams or Lake Chelan, but for safety should be purified before drinking.
The level of Lake Chelan fluctuates seasonally as much as twenty feet as a result of the Chelan Public utility Departments operation of the Lake Chelan Hydroelectric Project. Lake level is regulated by the Chelan Dam. As a result, dock access is possible only from the late spring to fall when the lake level is high.
Before embarking on a trip up Lake Chelan with your own boat, please keep these trips in mind.
Gas and services are not available between Twenty-five Mile Creed and Stehekin a distance of thirty miles. Public boat launches and services are found at several locations on the lower end of Lake Chelan.
During the summer, strong down lake winds capable of producing four-foot or larger waves frequently develop in the late morning. Due to these rough conditions, early morning is often the best time for travel. This is particularly true for non-motorized craft.
Severe lake conditions may necessitate locating the nearest moorage. With a good map, such as the Wenatchee National Forest Map, you will be able to chart your progress and quickly determine moorage points.
Logs and other floating debris can be a problem on the lake, particularly in the spring when runoff is high. Be alert for these hazards.
The lake shore camping areas are located in very dry forest. Since fire danger is often critical during the summer months, please keep your fire small and in an established fire pit. Extinguish your fire completely with water before leaving camp.
Some areas of private property are located along Lake Chelan. Please respect them.
Plant and Animals of Lake Chelan
Mountain Goat
The local population of mountain goats has suffered a significant decline during recent years. At the turn of the century the goat herd was so large that it was thought to be "inexhaustible". Even after careful study, it is still not clear what caused the decline during the 1960s and 1970s. It seems likely that is was due to a number of factors including over-hunting of nannys and series of heavy winter snowpacks during the mid 1970s. In an attempt to bolster the population, forty-four goats were transplanted to Lake Chelan from the Olympic National Park in 1983 and 1984. It is hoped that this project will help the mountain goat population recover.
Mountain Wildflowers
In the lush subalpine meadows of the high country, a rich and diverse flora splashes the mountain slopes with color during the brief but intense alpine summer. In the North Cascades some of the most spectacular floral displays occur in areas where the soil has been disturbed by snow avalanching, burning, or grazing by wild or domestic animals. Upper Horseshoe Basin lies beneath the crags of Ripsaw Ridge.
White-Tailed Ptarmigan
The white-tailed ptarmigan is a grouse-like bird, which inhabits the high alpine areas of the Cascades. In the winter its snow-white winter plumage, it molts to a mottled brown in spring that enables it to blend in well with the barren rocks of summer. Stiff feathers between the birds toes give it a set of little "snowshoes" which enable it to walk easily on the deep snow.
Ponderosa Pine
One of more common trees that grow in the Chelan valley is the ponderosa pine. Its long needles impart a lacy appearance to the tree, further accentuated by its rich cinnamon-colored bark. On warm summer days the tree releases an aromatic scent reminiscent of vanilla. The tree grows most abundantly on the sunny north shore of Lake Chelan. A unique feature of this pine is its tolerance to fire. The thick bark insulates the sensitive cambium from the fires heat and the needles spread wide apart allowing heat and smoke to rise past the tree.
Pacific Rattlesnake
The Pacific rattlesnake may be encountered by hikers on the dry north shore of Lake Chelan and in the lower portions of Stehekin Valley. Curiously, these reptiles are rarely seen on the shadowy south shore of Lake Chelan up lake from Twenty-five Mile Creek. Though they do have a potentially dangerous bite, they will seldom strike unless unduly provoked.
Back Country Recreation
For the more adventurous visitors, numerous trails lead into the mountains beside Lake Chelan. These trails range in difficulty from easy forest walks along the Stehekin River to rugged, seldom-used trails which cross high passes. The headwaters of Lake Chelan boast the greatest concentration of peaks over 9,000 feet in the Cascade Range. These peaks offer some of the most difficult and rewarding mountaineering in America.
If you prefer the view from the saddle or like the idea of a horse carrying your pack, commercial packer services are available in Stehekin. Several packers who operate in the Chelan drainage are based out of Methow Valley to the north. A variety of services are offered from drop camps to horse-assisted overnight hikes. Outside the National Park Complex and the Wilderness areas, certain trails are open to use by motorbikes or ATVs. Please inquire at the joint Forest Service/National Park Service information office in Chelan for current information on hiker, stock, and motorized trails.
NATIONAL PARK, NATIONAL FOREST, WHATS THE DIFFERENCE
Except for a large amount of private land near the town of Chelan, about 600 private acres in the Stehekin valley, and a few scattered parcels here and there, most of the Lake Chelan area is owned by the American people. Two different Federal agencies are entrusted with the stewardship of these lands. The agencies reflect different goals of land management as mandated by the people through Congress.
The National Park Services is responsible for reserving and protecting certain special lands around the nation for the enjoyment of this and future generations. The North Cascades National Park Service Complex is administered with these goals, in mind. Within the complex are two units of the National Park and two National Recreation Areas. The North Cascades National Park Service Complex was established in 1968 to preserve the spectacular peaks, glaciers, and alpine meadows of the North Cascade Range. The upper Stehekin valley is included within the North Cascades National Park. Due to a variety of established uses, Congress placed the lower Stehekin valley within the Lake Chelan National Recreation Area. The National Recreation Area classification allows for protection of the natural, historic, and other scenic and recreational values of the Stehekin area while allowing certain activities, such and hunting, which are not permitted in the National Park.
The Forest Service administers the Wenatchee National Forest which includes the bulk of the Lake Chelan drainage. By law, the Forest Service may permit a much greater range of resources use than is allowed in a National Park. These uses may include timber harvest, mining, grazing, prescribed fire, and off-road vehicle use where these activities will not seriously detract from the resource values. The Forest Service administers large portions of two federal Wilderness areas with in the Chelan drainage, Glacier Peak and Lake Chelan-Sawtooth. Congress has directed the Forest Service to preserve these areas in their natural, undeveloped state for primitive recreation and scientific purposes. By law a federal Wilderness is an area…"where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain."
Acknowledgments ...
Written by: Gary Paull
Edited by: John Douglass, Paul Hart, Shirley Moore
Special thanks to: Diane Allen, Simeon Beeson, Joel Bernatz, Joanne Brubaker, Sideny Burns, Pat Hammett, Hobby Morehead, Roger Ockfen, Rick Roberts, Claude Southwick, Heather Wallis, and Cheri Ziebart. | 
