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Community Profile: Chelan - A Piece of Heaven on Earth |
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Written On: July/August 2004 |
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Written By: by Paul Schlienz |
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For years, rain-soaked Seattleites flocked to Chelan to bake in the summer sun, inhale the fresh desert air, cool off in the mountain breeze coming off the lake, bask in the spectacular mountain scenery, and a get a jolt from the icy cold waters of pristine Lake Chelan. For many escaping the hustle and bustle of city life, this place is like a piece of heaven on earth!
Chelan, 30 miles north of Wenatchee, was a destination resort town long before any leisure marketer thought up the concept. It is unique because it is dominated by family-owned businesses instead of international resort operators.
“Tsillan,” as Native Americans spelled Chelan, also is an agriculture hub with its orchards, vineyards, fruit processors and a growing number of wineries.
Chelan with its 3,500 year-round residents sees its population swell to at least twice that every summer as people from the west side arrive to wash off the rust and replace it with a golden tan.
A fishing and hunting ground for Plateau Indians for thousands of years, the Wenatchee Valley was settled during the 1870's by ranchers, traders and apple growers. With the arrival of the railroad in 1892, it became an important shipping hub for the region's agricultural produce. Irrigation began in 1904, greatly expanding the valley's arable land, and helped boost it to the forefront of Washington's apple industry. Chelan depends upon Wenatchee, which remains an important agricultural center, but its economy has diversified to include manufacturing, medical services, utilities and government service.
Lake Chelan is “Something Special”
The lake itself is something very special. Fifty miles long and 1,500 feet deep (over 400 feet below sea level at its deepest) with an average width of less than two miles, Lake Chelan’s scenery is astonishingly varied and beautiful. The semi-arid south end of the lake centers on populated towns of Chelan and Manson. It is the most developed part with its wineries, golf courses, resorts and water recreation opportunities abound.
Further up Lake Chelan, the vegetation changes and gradually the most treeless ridges are blanketed with ponderosa pine. Beyond Twenty-Five Mile Creek State Park, the lake plunges deep into a roadless wilderness. The fjord-like lake winds deep into the Cascades. Its peaceful precincts are perfect for lakeside camping, boating and fishing.
The northernmost reaches are a pristine, alpine wonderland. At the head of the lake is Stehekin, a tiny resort village surrounded by snow-capped peaks, in the heart of the Lake Chelan National Recreation Area. From Stehekin, there is easy access to North Cascades National Park.
Gateway to the North Cascades
Regularly scheduled ferry boats cruise up and down the lake, linking Chelan with Stehekin and the equally remote Holden Village, once a copper mining town and now a Lutheran retreat center.
Chelan began as a military post on the Cariboo Trail, the famed route traveled by fortune seekers on their way to prospect gold deep in the interior of British Columbia. In 1886, the first white homesteaders settled in the Chelan area.
Then, in 1889, Clinton C. Campbell, a magistrate from Sioux City, Iowa, arrived after a three-day walk from Wenatchee. Judge Campbell knew the great beauty of Lake Chelan would draw tourists, but the accommodations at the time were crude at best.
Campbell filled this gap building a hotel for $5,000 on a commanding lakeside promontory he purchased for $400. The seller bragged to his friends that he had “sold a sand dune to a sucker.”
Fooling the Land Speculators
Campbell’s hostelry, first called the Chelan Hotel, later became known as Campbell’s, opened in 1901. An immediate success, it served prospectors, sports enthusiasts, tourists, and teamsters driving horse drawn freight wagons.
With 170 guest rooms, Campbell’s Resort has vastly expanded in more than 100 years. It is thriving and still owned by the Campbell family. It remains Chelan’s landmark resort.
“My generation of the family has taken over in the last 20 years. We’ve gone through a fairly aggressive expansion phase,” said Art Campbell, Judge Campbell’s great grandson.
Today’s Campbell’s Resort includes new guest quarters, conference facilities, a boardwalk promenade, boat moorage, and restoration work in Campbell’s House, the original hotel building - one of Chelan’s most recognizable landmarks. In 2002, the River Room Day Spa, featuring massage, body treatments and skin care services opened.
Campbell’s is within walking distance to downtown Chelan, an old fashioned, pedestrian-oriented business district full of small, locally owned shops and restaurants. Along the Chelan River, which carries Lake Chelan’s outflow past downtown through a hydroelectric dam and into the Columbia River, is the Riverwalk, a peaceful promenade bracketing the river’s banks.
Chelan is an Area in Transition
Although tourism and apples have long been mainstays of Chelan’s economy, there have been major changes in recent years.
“There was a shakedown in the apple industry,” Chelan Mayor Jay Witherbee observed. “The small 10 to 25 acre orchards don’t really exist anymore. It’s the larger economy of scale operations that have survived.” Property values are rising, making small orchards are uneconomical.
Meanwhile, Washington’s rebounding apple industry is shifting south to the relatively flat lands of the Columbia Basin which are more suited for large agricultural operations. Meanwhile, many of Chelan’s apple orchards are being converted into vineyards.
“Conditions in Chelan produce a very unique tasting grape because of the heat of summer during the day and the coolness after the sun goes down,” said Roni Freund of the Lake Chelan Tourism Promotion Group.
Chelan’s future can clearly be seen at Tsillan Cellars, a new winery with a commanding view of the lake. In addition to attracting wine tourists, Tsillan also has an outdoor amphitheater that is bringing in big name entertainers.
“Right now there are six vineyards in Chelan,” Freund said. “Seven more are slated to open next year.”
In addition to being a tourist destination, increasing numbers of people are building second homes. A new fiber optic system has also made living in Chelan a practical option for people who telecommute or run home businesses from their computers.
Chelan’s real estate market is booming as tourists come to Chelan and stay. “I came from Auburn,” Witherbee remembered. “I came to Chelan and found I didn’t want to go back. So I bought some property and built a house, got involved in the community, and opened some small businesses.”
Like Witherbee, more people are finding there is just something magical about Lake Chelan. It is magnetic.
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