Holden, Washington

Holden Village is a year-round LutheranChristian center in the North Cascade mountains of the U.S. state of Washington. Formerly the site of one of the largest copper mines in the United States, the Holden mine, Holden is accessible only by the Lake Chelan passenger ferry, the Lady of the Lake, or by hiking in through the Cascade Mountains. Holden Village is the largest retreat center in the nation operating under a special use permit from the United States Department of Agriculture - Forest Service.

Holden Village is located in the Cascade Range in Washington, in the Wenatchee National Forest. Inaccessible by car, visitors (volunteers, guests, and through-hikers) generally take a ferry up Lake Chelan from Chelan or Fields Point Landing to Lucerne where they board a Village bus which takes them up an 11-mile (18 km) gravel road through a set of 12 switchbacks, and into Holden Village. Holden staff and guests greet arriving buses with welcoming applause. It is also possible to hike into Holden Village through the Cascade mountains using a number of routes.

In 1896, James Henry Holden made his first claim on the area which would later become Holden Village. However, because of the expense and difficulty involved in transporting copper from the isolated mine, the operation did not begin its full productivity until 1937. By 1938 the mine had become successful and processed 2,000 short tons (1,800 tonnes) of copper ore daily. With the success of the mine came miners and their families, still recovering from the Great Depression. The Howe Sound Company, which owned the mine at the time, built a townsite on the north side of Railroad Creek soon after the mine began to thrive. The townsite, Holden, Washington, consisted of a number of dormitories, a gymnasium, bowling alley, mess hall, school, and hospital, among other things. West of the townsite was a patch of small houses intended for miners with families in tow.

The Holden Mine and the town of Holden flourished for many years despite the isolation. However, after World War II the price of metals fell and the resources of the mine began to diminish. The mine was closed in 1957.

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