Note: There is no ATM in Stehekin and few businesses accept credit cards.

Accommodations

North Cascades Stehekin Lodge: Write to P.O. Box 457, Chelan, WA 98816, visit: www.stehekin.com or call: (509) 682-4494.

Silver Bay Inn Resort: Write to P.O. Box 68, visit: www.silverbayinn.com or call (800) 555-7781.

Stehekin Rainbow Lodge: Write to P.O. Box 66, visit: www.stehekinrainbowlodge.com or call: (206) 669-1777.

Stehekin Valley Ranch: Visit the Courtney Log Office, write to P.O. Box 36, call: (800) 536-0745 or visit: www.stehekin.biz.

Housekeeping Cabins: These are individual cabins available for rent by owners. Locations vary from 1.2 to 6 miles from the landing.

• Flick Creek: Write to P.O. Box 25, e-mail: barnhartphoto@starband.net.
• Stehekin Cedar Home: Write to P.O. Box 14.
• Stehekin Log Cabins: Write to P.O. Box 67, call (509) 682-7742, or visit www.stehekin.biz.
• Stehekin Mountain Cabin: Write to P.O. Box 38 or e-mail: pittscabin@starband.net.

A Place of Journeys

Lake Chelan Pictographs

"STEHEKIN" IS BASED ON A NATIVE AMERICAN WORD meaning "the way through." The Stehekin River was part of a travel route linking the tribes of the Puget Sound and Skagit areas with those of the Columbia River Plateau. In between the two was a formidable barrier: the North Cascades Mountain Range. Although archeological evidence shows that people had been using the mountains for thousands of years, the sheer rock faces and deep winter snows were as inhospitable as they are today. Nevertheless, groups traded goods such as wild hemp and sea shells across the mountains through Cascade Pass. Canoes at the head of Lake Chelan carried travelers the last miles out to the plateau. Red ochre pictographs are a striking reminder left by the early people who passed through the area.

Alexander Ross was the first Euro-American to come through the Stehekin Valley. Representing the Pacific Fur Company, he had a specific goal in mind: to extend trading bycrossing the mountains due west and reaching the Pacific. He set out with three guides from Fort Okanogan in 1814 and got to within about four days of the ocean before turning around. Despite his failure to reach the coast, Ross would later describe the journey as a "project of discovery".

In the last quarter of the 19th century, prospectors began exploring for mineral wealth. They found gold, silver, lead and copper ore. Early claims concentrated in the vicinities of Doubtful Lake and Horseshoe Basin. The real excitement came in the late 1880s and early 1890s. Chelan was built up mostly as a mining town, despite its distance of more than 60 miles (97 km) from claims. Supplies were shipped by boat up the lake and thence into the mountains.

Buckner Orchard

A few of the prospectors and suppliers settled up lake in Stehekin, which still served as a central point, this time between Chelan and mining claims. While mining activities continued into the early 20th century, most companies failed to profit. As the 19th century ended and the 20th century began, mining quietly slowed, and some of the prospectors became homesteaders. One such prospector was William Buzzard, who sold his ranch to the Buckners. The Buckner Ranch, which operated as an apple orchard in the first half of the 20th century, remains an important landmark contributing to the character of Stehekin.

While a few people settled permanently in Stehekin, at the beginning of the 20th century a new sort of traveler discovered the valley: tourists. Now, as part of the North Cascades National Park Service Complex, Stehekin is no longer "a way through;" it is a destination.