Chelan

History

The original inhabitants of the Chelan area were the Chelan, a tribe of Salish-speaking Native Americans. Relatively little is known about the culture and lifestyle of the early Chelan, as the tribe had adopted the dress, beadwork, and equestrian culture of the Plains Indians by the time of European contact. Infectious diseases including smallpox and measles arrived sometime prior to white settlement of the area, and had killed an estimated 90% of the Indians by the time explorer David Thompson arrived on the Columbia in 1811. Until this point tribal decision-making had been carried out by small family groups as opposed to a single chief. But as whites began to settle in the area, the Indians recognized that consolidation of power in a single representative would help them maintain control of their ancestral lands. Though not a Chelan Indian himself, Chief Moses (a Shahaptin, not Salish speaker from the Columbia Basin and Okanagan) agreed to represent the tribe and was nearly successful in securing them a large Indian reservation. However, the tribe's relatively low population meant that they were largely unable to defend their territory from the ever-increasing number of miners looking for riches in the mountains. As the unrest continued into the 1870s, Lt. Colonel Henry Clay Merriam of the United States Army established Camp Chelan at the foot of Lake Chelan to control and safeguard the Indian population on the Moses Columbia Reservation. The lake was largely inaccessible because of its sheer cliffs on most sides, so a makeshift road was built from the fort to the Columbia River where a courier and mail service from Walla Walla were established and the small village of Chelan Falls would later develop. The fort operated for about a year and was abandoned in October…

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which, is land and is water. Chelan's climate is typical for Eastern Washington. Located behind the rain shadow of the Cascade Mountains, it receives a near-desert amount of precipitation each year.

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  1,512
• Common Raven

  Corvus corax Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  1,381
• Northern Flicker

  Colaptes auratus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  1,309
• California Quail

  Callipepla californica (Shaw, 1798) · Aves
  1,192
• Mallard

  Anas platyrhynchos Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  1,152
• European Starling

  Sturnus vulgaris Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  1,078
• House Finch

  Haemorhous mexicanus (P.L.Statius Müller, 1776) · Aves
  1,069
• American Goldfinch

  Spinus tristis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  898

Largest nearby schools

• Morgen Owings Elementary School
  Elementary · Chelan · 489 students · 13.6:1 ratio
• Chelan High School
  High · Chelan · 446 students · 17.8:1 ratio
• Chelan Middle School
  Middle · Chelan · 324 students · 18:1 ratio
• Manson Elementary
  Elementary · MANSON · 257 students · 12.8:1 ratio
• Manson High School
  High · MANSON · 223 students · 18.6:1 ratio
• Manson Middle School
  Middle · Manson · 135 students · 15:1 ratio
• Lake Chelan Preschool
  Other · Chelan · 54 students
• Chelan School of Innovation
  High · Chelan · 15 students · 7.5:1 ratio

Most recent

• M 2.52 — 2025-09-10
  4 km NW of Waterville, Washington
• M 2.62 — 2025-06-06
  10 km WNW of Entiat, Washington
• M 2.56 — 2024-09-13
  14 km E of Winthrop, Washington
• M 2.6 — 2023-03-22
  26 km NW of Leavenworth, Washington
• M 3.14 — 2021-12-05
  24 km N of Winthrop, Washington
• M 2.77 — 2021-06-26
  12 km NE of Sunnyslope, Washington