South of the Customhouse the highway follows the flat, sandy shoreline, bare of habitation, of long, narrow Osoyoos Lake. The Kalispel Native American word for “narrow” is soyoos, and it was by that word that this lake was originally designated; among the region's early settlers, however, was an Irishman who insisted that the word be civilized by the addition of the Irish “O.”

Port of entry and customs and immigration station, north of the confluence of the Similkameen and Okanogan Rivers, is noted for mining, lumbering, and fruit canning. The development that came with the railroad is visible in the substantial modern structures of the compact little business section beyond the depot. Originally named Oro (Sp. “gold”), the “ville” was added to avoid confusion with Oso, another town in the State. A rush...

Points of Interest

Oroville Depot

The valley once contained what is known as the Okanogan Lobe of the Cordilleran Ice Sheet. Rocks, sandy patches, and gravelly areas indicate thousands of years of glacial action. Broad-leafed cottonwood, thicketed birches, willows, alders, and aspen (quaking asp), with their smooth, greenish-white bark and easily agitated leaves, line the banks of the Okanogan River. Many of these are of commercial value. The willow, flexible and easily cut, is used...

The tour skirts the low hills of Whiskey Range. Flumes cling to the hillside high above the river and remain the arteries of the Oroville-Tonasket Federal Irrigation Project, which furnishes water for 12,000 acres extending from the Canadian Boundary to five miles south of Tonasket. By the 1940s, about one-third of the area was planted in orchards.

About 30 families of Dunkard Bretheren, who came during the World War, live on their small orchard farms in the immediate vicinity of Ellisford, across the river. The brethren allow their beards to grow, but not mustaches. The name is a combination of the last names of George H. Ellis and James E. Forde, pioneer merchants and ranchers.

Sprawled along the east bank of the Okanogan River on a narrow flat beneath rising hills. The place was named for To-nas-ket, chief of the Okanogan people. He donated land for the first school to be established in the area on what had been once been used as one of his many campsites.

Tour climbs along the slopes of the west bank of the Okanogan River. Along the river cottonwoods rustle in the wind and willow and aspen quiver in rhythm with the stream’s current. Narrow side roads struggle through canyons to valleys supporting small farms, surrounded by split-rail fences, their houses mottled by the weather and warped from their cornerstones. The frontier spirit, quaint humor, and dialect of the inhabitants of these...

  The sleepy little village is confined to a hollow on the west bank of the lazy Okanogan River, it has an air of rustic serenity, emphasized by yellow roses and hollyhocks and vine-covered houses. Nevertheless, Riverside was once a bustling little metropolis and a point of great strategic value in the flow of Okanogan Valley commerce. A short distance north of town McLoughlin Rapids transform a section of the...

Mile: 299

The tour passes irrigated farms, green in spring and dry during the hot summer months, and the apple orchards of Robinson Flat. It was named for James Robinson, who trapped there in the 1890s. A post office operated there between 1900 and 1902.

Mile: 294

Virtually wiped out on April 19, 1938, by a flood resulting from the bursting of a dam on Loop Loop Creek, has been rebuilt into an attractive modern town. Its former dingy structures were carried away when the water swept through the main street. No lives were lost, and normal shipments of fruit and livestock were not interrupted. Sand drifts and other scattered evidences of the flood are still visible...

An early route to the Methow Valley. Stop for the historical marker. Since the carving of a road in the steep rocky sides of the Methow River, farther south, this trail has been little traveled. It winds up through the Chiliwist Canyon, thence over trails that climb the 30-to-50-degree mountain slopes to the summit, then leads down into the beautiful and bounteous Methow Valley. The trail was named after Native...

At the confluence of the Okanogan and Columbia Rivers, a village of a few new brick and many old frame buildings, surrounded by lawn-bordered houses scattered among the sagebrush, is an oasis in this desert country. Originally, it was a junction point for navigation on the Okanogan and Columbia Rivers. The first attempt to build here was in 1892, but the depression of 1893 delayed development. In 1896 a steamboat...

With shady streets, Pateros is an inviting spot in this customarily hot and dry area. Formerly called Ives Landing, the town was named Pateros by Lieutenant Nosler, an Army officer who had campaigned near a town of the same name in the Philippines during the Spanish-American War. Situated at the mouth of the Methow River, Pateros is the gateway to the mining and farming region of the Methow Valley. The...

Mile: 254

A railway station on the Columbia River. The railroad station was named by the Great Northern Railway for R. W. Starr, a prominent fruit grower, from whom the railroad acquired a right-of-way. Some maps use the name Star. Between Star and Azwell, the tour follows the west bank of the Columbia River through a region of rocks, sand, and sagebrush. Square boulders of all sizes seem like dice which were...

Named by the Great Northern Railway for A. Z. Wells of Wenatchee, who owned the land on which Azwell was built. Originally the name was Wells but was changed to the present name in 1936, which includes the initials of Mr. Well’s first and middle names.

Mile: 245

A suburb of the community of Chelan on the south shore of Lake Chelan in east central Chelan County. The descriptive name was given by local residents. Many boat landings lie below sloping green lawns bordering comfortable cottages.

Mile: 232

Tour follows the southwestern shore of Lake Chelan and passes many orchards. Between Lake Chelan and the Columbia River the highway winds its way through coulees. Large boulders and odd stratifications are numerous in the coulees. At Knapp’s Hill the tour passes through a 600 feet long, 26 feet wide, and 21 feet high tunnel, which eliminated the dangerous cutbacks and steep grades of the old road that wound above.

Mile: 229

A community on the west bank of the Columbia River. In 1909, a post office was established, and the name suggested was Coles View, to honor Postmaster Elizabeth Cole. Postal authorities objected to two words, and from a submitted list picked the present name. It is for the variety of apple which was once popular in this area of orchards.

Mile: 222

Native American for “rapid water”, a village scattered about the mouth of the Entiat River, guards the entrance to a fertile valley and sportsmen's paradise.

Between Entiat and Lincoln Rock, the highway follows the Columbia River; the shallow bar, just below the mouth of the Entiat River, was caused by the dumping of thousands of boulders into the Columbia by Entiat's rushing waters.

Mile: 214

A prominent geological feature first named in 1889 when it was noted by Wenatchee pioneers that the rock outcropping’s profile resembled that of Abraham Lincoln. It is now part of Lincoln Rock State Park, an 80-acre camping park on the east side of Lake Entiat, created by Rocky Reach Dam blocking the flow of the Columbia River north of Wenatchee.     This rock formation is on the north bank...

Mile: 205

Many roads, some of them paved, wound among modern bungalows and farm homes. Fruit ranches in this district through the 1940s averaged only seven acres, the size preferred for intensive orchard cultivation. The network of roads permits rapid transit to and from near-by Wenatchee. Shallow at this point, the river is pitted with many rocks; small islands snuggle against the shores. White, yellow, and brown cliffs become lower; sunburned hills...

Mile: 200

Outside of Wenatchee, the highway becomes a narrow lane between apple orchards, a foam of bloom in the spring. At the opening of the harvest season, which begins early with peaches, pears, and soft fruits, the valley is the mecca for thousands who seek work in the orchards. Men, women, and children in all sorts of vehicles invade the city, crowd the auto camps, and fill the camps established on...

A typical apple-country town, with conspicuous warehouses and attractive school. Monitor is a community six-and-a-half miles northwest of Wenatchee on the Wenatchee River. The name was chosen by townsite platters for reasons which are not of record, and which appear to have no local significance. Prior to platting, the place was known as Brown’s Flats.

Points of Interest

Burbank Homestead Waterwheel

In 1907, the Puget Sound Bridge and Dredging Company constructed a two-span steel pin connected Pratt truss over the Wenatchee River. This 320-foot structure consists of two 140 foot steel trusses, and two 20-foot timber trestle approach spans. Each truss is composed of seven 20 foot panels, and rests on two pairs of riveted steel cylinder piers which are filled with concrete, and are braced by two eyebars with turnbuckles....

Shaded by locust and maple trees, this is an orchard community but perhaps best known as the home of “Aplets, the confection of the fairies,” a sweetmeat flavored with apple juice and enriched by walnuts and spices. Tours are available of the Liberty Orchards Factory, which makes Aplets and Cotlets along with other fruit candies and chocolates, at the corner of Aplets Way and Mission Ave. Cashmere’s main commercial street...

Points of Interest

Cottage Avenue Historic District

The Pioneer Village

The tour follows the banks of the winding Wenatchee River, above which rise foothills dotted with clumps of pines. Orchards claim every available foot of valley land. Dryden, a fruit-packing and shipping center, was named by the Great Northern Railroad in honor of a noted Canadian horticulturist. In 1907, it was named by Great Northern Railway officials, for an eminent Canadian horticulturist who accompanied James Hill on a tour through...

Points of Interest

Johnson Barn

The lodge, heavily altered from the original structure, is now a restaurant and trading post. Across US 97 (Old Blewett Rd.) are campgrounds and Ingalls Creek Road. Ingalls Creek is a small community on the Peshastin River opposite its mouth. Captain Benjamin Ingalls led a party of surveyors and guards, over two hundred men in all, over the Wenatchee Mountains around 1855. He is reportedly the first person to discover...

Mile: 178

Prospectors returning from British Columbia’s Cariboo and Fraser districts in 1860 wandered into the foothills of the Cascade Mountains and began placer mining on the creeks. The town was named Edward Blewitt of Seattle, who operated a gold mining company that owned many of the claims in the area. At one time, more than 300 miners worked in the area. Prior to 1879, Blewett was reached only by trail; in...

Points of Interest

The Blewett Arrastra

Mile: 174

Below Sheep Mountain, this was a Forest Service Guard station. Shaser Creek rises from below Miller Peak and flows east to Peshasten Creek in southwest Chelan County. A blockhouse was built on the creek in 1878 on the G.W. Shaser farm to protect local residents from possible Indian raids.

Mile: 172

This is a sulphur spring on Baker Creek around which a forest camp was built.

Mile: 156