John Jacob Astor's fur traders built Fort Okanogan in September, 1811. The British North West Company took possession in the War of 1812. The Hudson's Bay Company owned the Fort from 1821 to 1860. It was moved in the 1830s to the Columbia River. A . . . — — Map (db m266672) HM
Prior to mineral entry in 1896, a Chinese man named Chee Saw and his Indian wife lived on an Indian trail on Myers Creek. The site soon became a mining center with about 250 inhabitants and was named Chesaw after its long time resident. Chesaw . . . — — Map (db m302225) HM
The Chesaw 4th of July Rodeo has been held annually since 1942. Chesaw celebrated the Nation's Independence Day annually from the early 1900's until 1942 with events such as mining competitions, horse races and games. The rodeo facilities were . . . — — Map (db m303497) HM
Conconully sprang alive in 1896, a rip-roaring mining camp known as Salmon City. Fire wiped out most of the town in 1892, in May 1894 a run off flood roared down the north fork of Salmon Creek wiping out the business district. The reservoir below . . . — — Map (db m296629) HM
The lakes at Conconully were created by earthen work dams in the early
1900s to provide agricultural irrigation for farms and orchards to the
south on Pogue Flat. Conconully Reservoir was one of the first two such
Western water storage lakes . . . — — Map (db m303492) HM
This log cabin is a replica of the one that stood on the John Perkins ranch at the head of Johnson Creek and was Okanogan County's first courthouse. In March, 1888, the three commissioners, William Granger, George Hurley and Guy Waring, appointed by . . . — — Map (db m296634) HM
Scotch Creek Basin, bordered by Schalow Mt. on the west and by Dunn Mt. and the Lime belt on the east, provided an ancient Indian trail to the Sinlahekin valley and north to Canada. Contorted sediments in the landmark Barnett Bluff are evidence . . . — — Map (db m223520) HM
When completed in 1941, Grand Coulee Dam was the world's largest concrete structure. It still is today.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt supported this massive federal project to dam the Columbia River because it put people to work during the . . . — — Map (db m196825) HM
In the fall of 1885 Fr. Etienne de Rouge, S.J., recently ordained, found standing a small primitive cabin left by his predecessor, Fr. Urban Grassi, S.J. This cabin marked a favorite meeting place of the Okanogans. They called the site . . . — — Map (db m266715) HM
This is the eastern junction of one of the most historic pathways in Okanogan County, connecting the Okanogan and Methow River valleys. From here, the Chillowist Trail, also known by the Indians as "the old horse trail,” follows the Chillowist Creek . . . — — Map (db m270167) HM
When the nearby Squaw Creek mining boom collapsed in 1898, W.A. Bolinger moved his store to this site - it stands just south of this marker - and the town of Methow was born. A tenth of a mile north of here is a log schoolhouse also moved from . . . — — Map (db m303502) HM
Richard G. Sidley Territorial Police and Customs Collector settled here in 1889. He started an international town, general store, saloon, livery barn, and black smith’s shop. He served as postmaster and kept an eye out for horse thieves. Dominion . . . — — Map (db m154992) HM
Was built in 1914 and served as a twelve year school 1915-1962. In 1962, the high school students were bussed to Oroville as part of a centralization process which was completed in 1969, when the school was closed.
We invite you to tour the . . . — — Map (db m303498) HM
Founded by the Molsons of Montreal, Quebec, as a mining and townsite venture, it boomed in 1900 - died in 1901. Homesteaders came, then the railroad came in 1905. Molson built up again to become the commercial center of the Okanogan Highlands - . . . — — Map (db m154989) HM
Started in 1919, construction of this building was finished in 1920. The
building was praised as one of the most modem and up-to-date bank
buildings in eastern Washington. Featuring two stories and a full
basement, the building is faced with red . . . — — Map (db m303495) HM
December 18, 1925 marked the formal opening of the Cariboo Inn,
approximately one year after fire destroyed the landmark Bureau
Hotel. Strongly promoted by the Commercial Club, the building of
the Cariboo Inn received solid financial support . . . — — Map (db m303499) HM
Lest we
forget
Joe Biart • W.C. Sockwell • Major Hodges • Tom Robinson • Percy Reed • William Hess • James F. Kane • Alvin H. Smith • George F. Dick • Frank M. Clapp • Frank O'Brien • Hughie Frasier • Stanley Bricht • William Morrow • Henry . . . — — Map (db m197127) WM
Queen City of the Okanogan County silver boom, Ruby was born in the spring of 1886. Main Street, following this county road, was 60 feet wide. Both sides were solidly lined with business places for 1/4 mile. Cabins and shacks clung to the hillsides. . . . — — Map (db m265864) HM
This beautiful river valley forms a natural north-south passage, used for centuries by Indians. Later came Hudson’s Bay Company fur brigades, packing pelts from Canada to Fort Okanogan. Hardly had the dust settled from the last brigade (1846) when . . . — — Map (db m129000) HM
Before 1900, the cattlemen had the rangeland to themselves, except for wild horses. Then sheep appeared. Tempers flared instantly. Haystacks put up by sheepmen mysteriously burned. The hostility reached its climax one night in the spring of 1903 . . . — — Map (db m154939) HM
Welcome, folks, to Old Molson, founded in 1900. She was a lively mining camp until a farmer claimed the whole town as part of his homestead. While the dispute raged, disgusted citizens founded New Molson half-a-mile north. People, businesses, the . . . — — Map (db m154982) HM
A French nobleman turned priest, Etienne DeRouge, S.J. established St. Mary's Mission at the invitation of Chief Smitkin in 1886. From a single log cabin, St. Mary's grew into a junior college—complete with dormitories, hospital, band, museum, and . . . — — Map (db m270171) HM
In 1906, 40 acres were set aside for a townsite. A one-room schoolhouse and quarters for a teacher were built. The railroad maintained a crew bunkhouse and quarters for the section foreman’s families. Trains stopped here 20 min. - 1/2 hr. to cool . . . — — Map (db m155004) HM
Just across Lake Osoyoos from here, Hiram F. (Okanogan) Smith, in the late 1850's, became Okanogan County's first white settler. For years, his lonely trading post was a welcome sight to travelers. In 1857 Smith planted 1200 small apple trees . . . — — Map (db m265865) HM
An Indian princess on falling in love with a captured brave was permitted to marry and return with him to his people on the promise that she would not look back. Happy and gay and forgetting her promise, she laughingly looked back and was turned to . . . — — Map (db m265866) HM
In 1886, shortly after their arrival, Lee Ives and his wife Rena built two log cabins near the river bank and started taking in travelers. Their cabins were located very near this spot in what was to become Pateros.
Lee Ives built the Ive's . . . — — Map (db m129012) HM
The first to settle in the area were the Methow Indians. Although they moved frequently in summer to take advantage of various foods (berries, deer and roots), they usually wintered less than one mile from the mouth of the Methow River.
The . . . — — Map (db m128998) HM
The iron U-bolt imbedded in this rock helped many a Columbia River sternwheeler pull herself through the Methow rapids a mile downstream from here. During spring runoff, the rapids boiled. Then, the crew would fasten a cable to the U-bolt ring . . . — — Map (db m266922) HM
By this time, Pateros had about 850 residents. The main street boasted more than forty businesses that included two grocery stores, Elgin Yeager’s Barber Shop, a hardware store, the Pateros Theater and two lumber yards, Brownson and Wagner. There . . . — — Map (db m128996) HM
Pateros has provided a hardy breed of men and women known for their independence, hard work, and patriotism. Over the last century hundreds have served in our armed forces to protect our American way of life. In the early 20th Century several . . . — — Map (db m129013) HM WM
Below this sign you can see the remnants of the China Ditch built by Chinese miners sometime between 1860 and 1880. This ditch carried water from a diversion point three miles up the Methow River to sluice gold from the Columbia River sandbars a . . . — — Map (db m128997) HM
In 1965, the entire downtown area of Pateros was destroyed when Wells Dam, located six miles downstream, was being constructed on the Columbia River. The entire downtown business district of Pateros was leveled. Paralleling the Columbia River, . . . — — Map (db m129014) HM
The head of navigation on the Okanogan River during steamboat days until 1914 when the railroad came. The shrill sound of the boat whistle to open the drawbridge, rattle of freight wagons and ringing of freight bells which served the north half of . . . — — Map (db m207934) HM
In 1886 Wellington French immigrated from Quebec Canada to the Okanagan Valley and homesteaded this ranch on Scotch Creek. He married Mary McCaskill on Nov. 11 1889 in Spokane. She bore four children: Eva, Katie, Robert and Ray, all of whom grew up . . . — — Map (db m207932) HM
Upset by an increasing flow of miners heading for British Columbia gold fields, Indians lay in ambush through the length of this canyon on July 29 1858, as 160 men lead by David McLoughlin approached from the south. The warriors had camouflaged . . . — — Map (db m265862) HM
The Methow Valley Irrigation District canal you can see behind this sign follows the route of the old high line ditch. Both the ditch and the MVID canal have been vital to the Valley's agricultural production. A fruit-growing boom in the early . . . — — Map (db m303506) HM
Only Indians and a few trappers and prospectors knew this lovely valley until the Chief Moses Reservation was opened to settlement in 1886. Then homesteaders began arriving. In 1887, near the river, Jim Byrnes started a trading post. This became . . . — — Map (db m303508) HM
The first town of Bodie was started by prospectors
at the mouth of Bodie Creek, about a mile south of
here in 1896. There was a general store, a restaurant,
a livery barn, blacksmith shop and many homes, all
made of logs. The town was moved to . . . — — Map (db m302227) HM
The first Wauconda came into being after the three Hedge brothers, from Wauconda, IL, discovered a wide ledge of quartz carrying free gold in the Spring of 1896. This discovery touched off a headlong rush to the area as prospectors envisioned . . . — — Map (db m274064) HM
In 1897 three brothers named Hedges found
gold about three miles east of the present
Wauconda store. The town started in 1898 just
east of the Wauconda summit and was named
after the Hedges hometown in Illinois. Several
roads were built to . . . — — Map (db m302233) HM
Here at the forks of the rushing Methow, Boston-bred Guy Waring founded Winthrop in 1891. Trappers, prospectors and homesteaders tramped into his frontier store. In '95 Colonel Thomas Hart came through to carve a narrow-gauge wagon road across the . . . — — Map (db m36497) HM
