The town was established by Charles Isecke and Daniel McIvor in June of 1878. Anatone is a Nez Perce name for Tenmile Creek, to the east. Two stories state that the name comes from that of a Nez Perce Indian woman in the area. Some say Anatone was her name; others that it was Tony Ann, reversed by Charles Isecke to produce Anatone. Once the range of horses and cattle, and later largely under cultivation. A score of old frame buildings clustered along narrow streets and nestled at the foot of the Blue Mountains. One of the oldest trading posts of the region, this was the canter of considerable activity in the 1860s, when it was a regular stopping point on the Asotin route to the gold-fields of Florence and Elk City in the Salmon River country of Idaho Territory. In the late 1870s rumors of impending trouble with the Native Americans sent the settlers of the region scurrying to the John Carter place, a half-mile from Anatone, where they built a stockade 100 feet square and stocked it with provisions and arms. No hostilities occurred, but the fort served to hold settlers in the region until they recovered from their fright. At about this time William Parish built a small sawmill near Anatone; within a few years he was running at least eight mills and hauling the cut lumber by ox team to the Snake River to be rafted downstream. This activity slowly died and eventually slowed to supply the needs of the wheat farmers and stockmen of the surrounding area.