Twenty-Five Mile Creek State Park History

Twenty-Five Mile Creek State Park lies at the farthest uplake point accessible by road on Lake Chelan, just about midway from its toe in the sun-kissed rain shadow of central Washington to its head among the ramparts of the North Cascades.

Lake Chelan’s basin was carved by multiple advances of glacial ice during the most recent ice age. Uniquely, the southern basin of the lake was carved by a lobe of ice flowing up the course of the lake, while the deeper, longer northern basin was sculpted by a tongue of ice flowing down the valley. The two bodies of ice met at a point about seven miles south of today’s Twenty-Five Mile Creek State Park known as “The Narrows.”

The excavating power of the ice deepened the trough of today’s lake to 1,486 feet at its deepest point, which lies 386 feet below sea level! Lake Chelan ranks as the 24th deepest lake on Earth.

Indigenous Lands

Twenty-Five Mile Creek State Park lies within the traditional territories of Interior Salish Indigenous people whose present-day descendants include members of the Chelan Band of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation and the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation. The name Chelan (ščəl̕ámxəxʷ) is purported to mean “deep water.” For thousands of years these eastern slopes of the Cascade Mountains and the lakes and rivers that flow through them have provided habitat for a diverse community of life that forms the basis of their cultures.

The waters of Lake Chelan provide a pathway from the Columbia River deep into the North Cascades, and ancient routes across the mountains provided access to coastal relatives in the Skagit River Valley. Due to the access that Lake Chelan provided into the mountains, the Chelan Band were known for mountain goat hunting. Goat wool, hides and meat were prized for local consumption and as trade goods. 

The Chelan Band was not represented at the Walla Walla Treaty Council held by Territorial Governor Isaac Stevens on June 9, 1855. Subsequently, an Executive Order of President Rutherford B. Hayes on April 18, 1879, created the Columbia (or “Moses”) Reservation, extending from the north shore of Lake Chelan to the British Columbia border. Non-tribal miners living in the area protested the order. On July 4, 1884, the reservation was dissolved, and the land returned to the public domain of the US federal government. On May 1, 1886, the area was formally opened for settlement. Tribal heads of households who wished to remain in the area were allotted up to 640 acres of land. Forty allotments were issued, including several on the north shore of Lake Chelan.

Land Distribution

Government surveys were completed in 1895 and most of the land in today’s Twenty-Five Mile Creek State Park passed into private ownership as a Cash Entry patent, a type of sale of public domain lands, to Charles E. Whaley in 1899. Additional park lands were “proved up” as Homestead Entry patents when their owners fulfilled required improvements to the land to receive title.

Though the area was included within the boundary of the Washington Forest Reserve proclaimed by President Grover Cleveland in 1897, several claims with valid existing rights in the Twenty-Five Mile Creek Valley remained as inholdings in the new reserve. Private landowners developed fruit orchards irrigated by the creek water. As tourism became a mainstay of the Lake Chelan area economy, the area around the mouth of Twenty-Five Mile Creek was developed as a resort and marina.

Creating a State Park

The Twenty-Five Mile Creek Resort was purchased by the Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission (WSPRC) from David Davis in two parcels in 1972 and 1973. The WSPRC continued operation of the resort with a concession contract. The property also included an active orchard producing bartlett pears and red and gold delicious apples. Orchard operations were continued with a concession contract as well.

Twenty-Five Mile Creek State Park lies within an area that is subject to wildland fires, and recent major fires burned through sections of the park in 2015 and 2021, requiring evacuations and closures. As in all Washington State Parks, managers and planners work to harmonize park development with the natural conditions of their location to protect the land and better serve park visitors.