page_title: Winthrop, Washington
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Winthrop, Washington / History
caption_attribution_description: The city of Winthrop, Washington on a snowy day.
context_page_description: Winthrop is a town in Okanogan County, Washington, United States. It is east of Mazama and north of Twisp. The population was 349 at the 2000 census, and it increased to 394 at the 2010 census.
context_section_description: Winthrop was officially incorporated on March 12, 1924. Native Americans were the first inhabitants of Winthrop. They lived along the banks of the Methow, Twisp, and Chewuch rivers, digging camas root, picking berries, fishing and hunting. The first white men to visit the valley were trappers in the 19th century.
  In the spring of 1868, placer gold was discovered in the Slate Creek District.
  In 1883, the lure of gold brought the first permanent white settlers, three of whom were James Ramsey, Ben Pearrygin, and Guy Waring. Waring stopped at the forks of the Chewuch and Methow rivers in 1891. His family settled into the "Castle" (now the Shafer Museum). Although Waring is the acclaimed founding father, the town is named after Theodore Winthrop, a Yale graduate, adventurer/traveler and gifted 19th century author. The town was rebuilt after a devastating fire in 1893. Waring's original Duck Brand Saloon was built in 1891. It survived the fire and is now Winthrop's Town Hall.
  In 1894, a flood carried away the bridge at the north fork of the river at Winthrop. Colonel Tom Hart rebuilt the bridge in 1895 at Slate Creek. The industry of Winthrop at this time consists of a well-equipped saw mill, several important dairies, raising cattle, and supplying the local mines with goods.
  Owen Wister, Waring's Harvard roommate, wrote The Virginian, America's first western novel, after honeymooning in Winthrop.
  
  By 1915, most of the mines, except for a few in the Slate Creek area, had shut down.
  In 1972, when State Highway 20 was nearing completion over the North Cascades, several business people began planning for travelers passing through the town. They agreed to the idea of a western-themed restoration which still exists.
  In 2012, Winthrop was ranked #2 in a National Motorists Association listing of its "Worst Speed Trap Cities" in North America (qualification of a population less than 50,000).
caption: The town of Winthrop on a snowy day
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