ENTIAT

First town

In 1877, Lewis Detwiler, the first white settler, arrived in the Entiat Valley. In the late 1880s settlers and their children learned Chinook Jargon to communicate with the indigenous population. Local historian Lindley Hull noted that many of the town's schoolchildren would speak in Chinook to one another in the late 1880s and early 1890s. In 1896, Chief Silico Saska sold the town site of Entiat. He died in 1903.

This first town site was located approx. half a mile west of the Columbia River, on Entiat River's north side. The first public school was established in Entiat in 1891. In 1895 the first Entiat Post Office was established. The Entiat Power Plant opened for business in 1908. The Keystone Fruit Company opened for business in the valley in 1910. E.P. Murphy began publishing the Entiat Times in 1913, and railroad service began in Entiat in 1914. In 1915 only six businesses survived a fire. The Entiat school opened in 1916 in its current location.

Second town

In 1920, the tradition of Numeral Mountain began as High School seniors painted their graduation class number on the Mountainside across the Entiat River from the school. Entiat was officially incorporated on April 25, 1944.

Third town

In 1960, Rocky Reach Dam was constructed downriver from Entiat; much of the town had to be relocated to higher ground due to the rising waters behind the dam. Most of the original buildings were razed or moved to a location north of the original town. This third town of Entiat was officially open for business in 1961.