Goverment sawmill, shingle mill, flour mill, Bonaparte. Freighted in by horse teams and wagons in 1886. It was powered by water wheel. Behind the mill it shows the store, post office and rooming house building
The little "town" which once was called Bonaparte was located 3 miles west of Havillah on Antoine Creek. Bonaparte was established when the US Government built a flour mill, shingle mill, and water powered sawmill for the Indians in 1886.
These mills were put in at the request of Chief Tonasket to help the Indians with some of the necessities of life. Around 1900, John Hone took a farm near by and built a general merchandise store, complete with living quarters. A post office was established here in 1903, but on January 15, 1908 the mail was discontinued, and the mail went to Havillah.
This ended Bonaparte’s history as a little "town." The mills which had been shut down in 1902 were soon dismantled. Some evidence still remain at the bottom of Fancher Dam covered with mud and debris.
The site of Bonaparte today is flooded by Fancher Dam, which was built in 1926. Unlike many of Okanogan County's early day boom towns that faded away, Bonaparte will always have Bonaparte Mountain to carry on the name.
