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Keechelus Lake

Historic American Engineering Record in Washington (state)Lakes of Kittitas County, WashingtonLakes of Washington (state)Protected areas of Kittitas County, WashingtonReservoirs in Washington (state)
Tributaries of the Yakima RiverWenatchee National Forest
Aerial view of Keechelus Lake 01
Aerial view of Keechelus Lake 01

Keechelus Lake () is a lake and reservoir in the northwest United States, near Hyak in Kittitas County, Washington. Approximately fifty miles (80 km) southeast of Seattle and a few miles southeast of Snoqualmie Pass, it is the source of the Yakima River. Keechelus Lake is the westernmost of three large lakes near Interstate 90 and north of the Yakima River in the Cascade Range; the other two are Kachess Lake in the middle and Cle Elum Lake to the east. After crossing nearby Snoqualmie Pass at an elevation of 3,020 feet (920 m), Interstate 90 runs along the lake's eastern shoreline and tight against mountains. Its westbound lanes included a snowshed midway (47.355°N 121.3658°W / 47.355; -121.3658, milepost 57.7); built in 1950 for U.S. Route 10, it was removed in April 2014. Keechelus Lake is part of the Columbia River basin, being the source of the Yakima River, which is a tributary to the Columbia River. The lake is used as a storage reservoir for the Yakima Project, an irrigation project run by the United States Bureau of Reclamation. Although a natural lake, Keechelus Lake's capacity and discharge is controlled by Keechelus Dam, a 128-foot (39 m) high earthfill structure built in 1917. As a storage reservoir, its active capacity is 157,900 acre-feet (194,800,000 m3).The name Keechelus comes from a Native American term meaning "few fish", in contrast to Kachess Lake, whose name means "more fish".The Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad ("Milwaukee Road") formerly ran along the west shore of the lake and crossed the Cascades through the 2¼-mile (3.6 km) Snoqualmie Tunnel, with its east portal at Hyak. Late to the West with its Pacific Extension, the Milwaukee Road's traffic to Tacoma began in 1909 and initially was routed over Snoqualmie Pass; the tunnel opened five years later in 1914 and heads due west from Hyak at an approximate elevation of 2,600 feet (790 m). Close to the east portal near the lake's northwest shore was the Milwaukee Ski Bowl, built in 1937 and operated by the railroad until 1950. The Milwaukee Road went through several bankruptcies; its rails were abandoned in 1980 and the right-of-way is now a rail trail, Iron Horse State Park, which includes the tunnel. About two miles (3 km) south of Keechelus Lake, the Northern Pacific Railway crossed the Cascades at Stampede Pass, and later through the associated tunnel, which opened 136 years ago in 1888. This route is still in use by NP's successor, BNSF Railway. It also had a ski area, the Martin Ski Dome.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Keechelus Lake (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 47.35 ° E -121.37 °
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I 90

Washington, United States
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Aerial view of Keechelus Lake 01
Aerial view of Keechelus Lake 01
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Milwaukee Ski Bowl

Milwaukee Ski Bowl was an alpine ski area in the northwest United States in Washington, which operated between 1937 and 1950. It was southeast of Seattle in the Cascade Range at Hyak, on the east side of Snoqualmie Pass. Executives of the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad ("The Milwaukee Road") built the ski area in the fall of 1937, including a large two-story day lodge and one surface lift near the east portal of the railroad's Snoqualmie Tunnel, just north of Keechelus Lake. It was originally the "Snoqualmie Ski Bowl" until it closed at the start of World War II. It reopened in 1946 as the "Milwaukee Ski Bowl" to avoid confusion with The Snoqualmie Summit ski area, two miles (3 km) away at the top of the pass. It was a major ski area for its era, comparable to but not as luxurious as Sun Valley, the Union Pacific Railroad's new resort in central Idaho.In early 1938, there was night skiing and lift tickets were a dollar a day, or ten cents per individual trip, for the cable surface lift, which vertically climbed 300 feet (90 m). Five runs were in the bowl, named for the railroad's popular trains of the era: Hiawatha, Chippewa, Arrow, Pioneer, and Olympian; additional lifts were added over time.The area proved to be popular when the Seattle Times newspaper sponsored a free ski school for high school students from Seattle and Tacoma. A round trip train ticket cost one dollar in 1940 with lift tickets for fifty cents. The 200-foot (60 m) lodge could hold one thousand people and concessions were operated by the Ben Paris complex of Seattle.A Class-A ski jump was built in 1941 and was said to be the largest in North America. National championship events in ski jumping were held here, including the 1948 Olympic team tryouts, held the preceding spring.In 1949, the lodge burned down in the early hours of Friday, December 2; the ski area reopened a month later, and operated out of numerous railroad cars on a new spur line for the rest of the season, its last.The ski area reopened under new ownership in 1959 as Hyak, and continues as Summit East. It has the lowest base elevation of the four Summit at Snoqualmie ski areas, at approximately 2,600 feet (790 m) above sea level. The railroad later went bankrupt; its former right-of-way in the Cascades is a rail trail, Iron Horse State Park.