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Entiat, Washington

The town of Entiat grew up around land that settler John G. Ely purchased from Entiat chief Chilcosahaskt in the late 1890s. Ely built a store and hotel in 1897, and a newly-laid wagon road reached Entiat that same year. By the early twentieth century, Entiat included a post office, second store, tavern, barber shop, confectionery, and Jinkin’s Hall, a community gathering place. Its economy was based on timbering, fruit tree cultivation and, in the early days, sheep, cattle, and horse grazing. The town moved in the 1910s due to a series of fires that devastated the original townsite, as well as the desire to be located closer to the railroad. Chilcosahaskt’s heirs asserted that they were the rightful owners of the land this second town site was built on and sued: although the Chelan County Superior Court agreed with them, the Washington State Superior Court later overturned the verdict. In the 1950s and 60s, before the town site was inundated by Rocky Reach Dam, the Chelan County Public Works Department bought up property in Entiat and helped the community relocate a third time.