North Cascades

SETTLEMENT PATTERNS IN THE NORTH CASCADES

CORRIDORS OF SETTLEMENT: STEHEKIN RIVER

Purple

Map showing Purple's Stehekin homestead.
(Tracing from 1913 Chelan Electric Company Map.)

Also at the head of the lake, along the eastern shore, was the homestead of William (or Whitby) F. Purple. Purple was a miner and homesteader of sorts who came to Stehekin in the 1890s, perhaps on the advice of his friend Merritt Field. On May 7, 1897, the Chelan Leader noted: "W.F. Purple of Tacoma is seeking for a location upon which to make a home, up the lake." By the following month, "Mr. and Mrs. W.F. Purple and three children of Tacoma, lately from Montana, have settled at Stehekin, where Mr. P. will engage in mining." [190] The Purple family apparently remained uplake the year-round. [191]

View of Purple homestead from water, n.d.
Note outbuilding in lower left corner, main residence up slope
with path leading from lake to house.
(NOCA-Stehekin photo file)

In 1898 Stehekin miner Robert Pershall sold his ranch and its improvements at the head of the lake to Purple, ". . . who will move there with his family." [192] It is not known whether this was the same property Purple eventually filed on for homestead entry. In any event, by 1899 Purple had an alternative source of income for himself other than mining: he had become the proprietor of a hostelry in Stehekin known as the Mountain View House. Purple's residence served as the inn. In September of that year he expanded the size of the house, enlarging it with an additional story to "otherwise improve it, to meet the demands of a rapidly growing business." [193] The 1-1/2-story frame structure was capacious, 42' x 50', and situated on a ridge overlooking the lake. Guests could stay with the family in the house, in a wood frame cabin Purple had built close by, or in tents set on platforms beneath tall fir trees. Rock-lined paths; decorative rock piles, both free-standing and surrounding trees; and rustic wooden "branch" furniture ornamented the grounds. Stairs led visitors from the dock at the lakeshore up the knoll and through a small gazebo before reaching the Mountain View House. [194]

Purple's log barn and gate, n.d. (NOCA-Stehekin photo file)	"Purple Inn," also known as Mountain View House, in Stehekin, n.d. (NOCA-Stehekin photo file)

Purple continued to work assessments on promising mining claims in Horseshoe Basin while operating the inn on his homestead. [195] On December 17, 1903, he officially purchased 153 acres which he had diligently improved (T33N R18E, Section 31, lots 3, 5). Later, Purple left Stehekin for Soap Lake, Washington, selling his homestead to W.F. Boardman in 1917, who immediately sold to the Chelan Electric Company. [196] After Purple's departure his residence remained standing until the Golden West Lodge was built on the site in 1926. The rock foundation beneath the present-day lodge may have been part of the rock foundation Purple used for his home.

Early maps indicate that several other log cabins or houses ringed the head of the lake. Who built or owned them is unknown at present. [197] It is likely some of these cabins belonged to pioneers associated with early settlement (whose homesites cannot be located) such as Johnson, McCullom, Wilkeson, McGregor, and Moran. Today all of this land, including the lower portion of Little Boulder Creek, is submerged beneath the waters of Lake Chelan. It is not known whether any of these cabins were saved and relocated, their materials reused, or whether they were destroyed completely when the level of the lake rose in 1927 inundating upwards of 500 acres.

Map illustrating development at Stehekin, before the raising of Lake Chelan.
(Tracing from 1913 Chelan Electric Company map.)