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Chelan, Washington

14 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1901 and the latest in 2004. It stands in the Chelan census division. It lies in ZIP code area 98816. It lies near Cagle Gulch. The Survey maps it on the Chelan quadrangle. 4,222 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,129 feet above sea level.

Chelan within Chelan County

On record in Chelan

Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.

On the National Register 6 records

Population over time

2 figures

Chelan grew from 3,890 to 4,222 between 2010 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.

YearPeople Change
20103,890
20204,222+332 (+9%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

5 surveys from 14 printed sheets

Matched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.

Fires near this place

52 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 52 fires within 5 miles of Chelan between 1992 and 2020, burning about 101,066 acres in total. 20 started naturally. 1 was recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause Fires
Natural20
Debris and open burning10
Missing data/not specified/undetermined8
Other causes4
Recreation and ceremony3
Fireworks2
Misuse of fire by a minor1
Power generation/transmission/distribution1
Equipment and vehicle use1
Firearms and explosives use1
Arson/incendiarism1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
4 September 1992Arson/incendiarism5.0 acresWashington State Department of Natural Resources Headquartersnot named
18 September 2020Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreWashington State Department of Natural Resources HeadquartersUNION 3
13 September 1996Natural175 acresSpokane DistrictDEER MTN
6 August 1999Naturalunder an acreWashington State Department of Natural Resources Headquartersnot named
5 August 2003Natural440 acresOkanogan-Wenatchee National ForestTHE BUTTE
5 August 2003Naturalunder an acreWashington State Department of Natural Resources Headquartersnot named
3 August 1999Natural168 acresWashington State Department of Natural Resources HeadquartersUNION VALLEY
17 August 2018Naturalunder an acreWashington State Department of Natural Resources HeadquartersROSEMARY COURT

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Chelan County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 20 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 20 workings within 5 miles of Chelan: 15 past producers, 3 occurrences, 1 unknown, 1 prospect. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Gold, Pumice, Stone, Crushed/Broken. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Chelan ButteTinOccurrence
Chelan Falls DepositMicaPast Producer
ChelanClayPast Producer
Chelan QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
LakesidePumiceOccurrence
StaymenPumiceOccurrence
Union ValleyClayPast Producer
Unnamed PitStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
ButteGoldUnknown
CookGoldPast Producer

Every working recorded in Chelan County

Storms near this place

18 since 1997

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Chelan in 18 storm reports between 1997 and 2022: 10 hail, 3 wildfire, 2 flash flood, 1 lightning. The reports record 6 injuries. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
August 1999LightningChelan6 hurt6 Persons injured while camping in Lake Wenatchee State Park
August 1998WildfireChelan$10,000,000Lightning sparked a large fire at Twenty five mile creek on Lake Chelan. Over 6300 acres of forest land have burned. The fire was allowed to burn out and will not be officially out until mid October.
August 2001WildfireChelan$200,000The "Rex Creek Complex" of fires resulted from numerous lightning strikes early on the morning of August 12. One vacation home on the north shore of Lake Chelan was destroyed in the first day of the fires' existence. Over half of the acres burned in this complex of fires were on federally-designated wilderness land. The fire burned until late September, scorching over 50,000 acres.
July 2022Flash FloodChelan$1,000Residence and garage flooded in Chelan.
May 2015HailChelan-A trained weather spotter reported 1.0 inch hail denting cars in the Manson, Washington area which is approximately 3 miles west of Chelan, WA.
May 2015HailChelan-A trained spotter reported 0.75 inch hail just south of Manson on Lake Chelan, WA.
May 2015HailChelan-A trained spotter reported 0.75 inch hail near across Lake Chelan not too far from Manson, WA.
May 2015Heavy RainChelan-Heavy rain from thunderstorms washed debris out onto Wapato Lake Road near Mills Bay Casino near Chelan, WA.
August 1999WildfireChelan-160 Acre fire 5N of Chelan
June 1997HailChelan-3/4 INCH HAIL
June 1997HailChelan-1 INCH HAIL
June 1997HailChelan-3/4 INCH HAIL IN CHELAN
June 1997HailChelan-1 INCH HAIL IN CHELAN
June 1997HailChelan-3/4 INCH HAIL TURNED GROUND WHITE. 500 ACRES OF APPLES AND CHERRIES DAMAGED
July 2006HailChelan-no account filed
July 2006Flash FloodChelan-no account filed
July 2006HailChelan-no account filed
April 2005Thunderstorm WindChelan-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Chelan County

Nearest settlements

The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.

Map PlaceDistance Sheets
Lakeside1.8 miles14
Lake Chelan Hills2.6 miles14
Chelan Falls3.2 miles8
Stayman6.5 miles14
Sunnybank7.2 miles14
Maplecreek7.5 miles14
Manson8.1 miles13
Azwell10.0 miles9

Elsewhere

Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.

Wikipedia article on ChelanAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q1207462The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0).

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 1530831. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.

Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.