The founder of what later became Pateros, Lee Ives, having driven a heard of horses from Kittitas Valley, began farming near the mouth of the Methow River.

In 1894-95 Ives built his landmark hotel on the banks of the Columbia River. When the spring runoff of 1894 flooded the dinning room, Ives and his wife Rena served meals from a tent.

Ives Hotel- In the old days, a town figured it had it made when a hotel like the Ives Hotel, shown here, was built. And without one, there was no future. (Courtesy Okanogan County Historical Society)

Steamboat days on the Columbia River headed for Ives Landing

This community became known as Ives Landing. Its first post office, in 1895, was named Nera, which may have been Rena (Mrs. Ives) with a couple of letters transposed by someone. This was soon changed to Ives.