Inchelium, Washington

Inchelium, Washington
Location of Inchelium, Washington
Location of Inchelium, Washington
Coordinates: 48°18′48″N 118°13′18″W / 48.31333°N 118.22167°W / 48.31333; -118.22167[1]
CountryUnited States
StateWashington
CountyFerry
Area
 • Total
26.6 sq mi (68.8 km2)
 • Land26.5 sq mi (68.7 km2)
 • Water0.0 sq mi (0.1 km2)
Elevation
1,568 ft (478 m)
Population
 (2020)
 • Total
431
 • Density16/sq mi (6.3/km2)
Time zoneUTC-8 (Pacific (PST))
 • Summer (DST)UTC-7 (PDT)
ZIP code
99138
Area code509
FIPS code53-33105
GNIS feature ID1521149[2]

Inchelium (Okanagan: N̓čaʔlíwm̓)[3] is a census-designated place (CDP) in Ferry County, Washington, United States on the Colville Indian Reservation. The population was 431 at the 2020 Census.

Inchelium was relocated from an earlier site in the early 1940s. Old Inchelium had been located on the banks of the Columbia River before the construction of the Grand Coulee Dam. As the waters rose behind the dam, the town had to be moved. A description of life in the last years of Old Inchelium and of the move can be found in Lawney Reyes' memoir White Grizzly Bear's Legacy: Learning to be Indian and his history/memoir B Street: The Notorious Playground of Coulee Dam.[4][5]

Inchelium is the demographic heart of the Inchelium School District and the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation Inchelium Legislative District

  1. ^ "US Gazetteer files: 2010, 2000, and 1990". United States Census Bureau. February 12, 2011. Retrieved April 23, 2011.
  2. ^ "US Board on Geographic Names". United States Geological Survey. October 25, 2007. Retrieved January 31, 2008.
  3. ^ Salish School of Spokane Facebook https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1359608097890924
  4. ^ Lawney Reyes, White Grizzly Bear's Legacy: Learning to be Indian, University of Washington Press, 2002. ISBN 0-295-98202-0.
  5. ^ Lawney Reyes, B Street: The Notorious Playground of Coulee Dam, University of Washington Press, 2008, ISBN 978-0-295-98853-5.