The Ice That Wasn't: A Steamship Captain’s Tale of Frozen Lake Chelan
In the mild winter of 1907, a steamboat captain on Lake Chelan reported sailing through sheets of ice that shouldn't have existed. His account, initially met with skepticism, offers a rare glimpse into the unpredictable microclimates of the Washington interior.
Lake Chelan Covered With Ice.
Chelan, Wash., March 14 — Captain C. J. Trow, of the steamer *Kittitas*, reports an incident occurring on the up-lake trip on Monday morning that borders on the phenomenal, and would not pass muster but for the fact that the captain's word is beyond question.
It is well known that Lake Chelan rarely freezes over, even in the depth of winter weather. For the past ten days it has been very warm in this section, the mercury being about 40 degrees above zero, with little or no frost at night. Monday morning the mercury registered 38 degrees above zero, yet the steamer encountered a thin skin of ice in a strip perhaps one-fortieth of a mile long, frozen fast across the lake between Johnson's Point and Judge P.A. Newcombe's place, and another about the same width from above Sunnyside across to Wapito Point.
It was remarked at the time, when the boat was plowing through the 'window pane ice,' that should the fact be reported locally no one would believe it. The phenomenon is explained on the supposition that the night being absolutely still, the cold cross-currents from the coulees adjacent caused the glassy surfaces of the already glacial waters to congeal.
While climate change has largely eliminated the risk of ice jams on Lake Chelan today, this 1907 report highlights how sensitive local ecosystems are to subtle shifts in temperature and wind patterns. It serves as a historical baseline for understanding the region's weather volatility before modern meteorological monitoring.
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