From the book, About Washington Place Names (1985)
INCHELIUM
Inchelium is a community west of the west shore of Franklin D. Roosevelt Lake across the Columbia River from Gifford in east central Ferry County. The Inchelium Indian sub-agency is nearby. Before the lake was created by the reservoir behind Grand Coulee Dam, the town was east of its present site and was connected with Gifford by cable ferry. It was moved to a higher bench and retained its name. Two earlier names were Buffalo and Troy. The present name was given by government surveyors when they mapped the town It was their interpretive spelling of the San Poil Indian name En-char-lay-um or En-ch'lay-um, which is said to mean where big water meets little water, or a meeting place among three waters. It refers to the confluences of nearby Hall and Stranger creeks with the Columbia River.
BARNABY CREEK
Barnaby Creek rises on the east slope of White Mountain in east central Ferry County and flows east and southeast to the Columbia River north of Inchelium into Franklin D. Roosevelt Lake across the lake from milepost 685.It was named for an Indian named Barnaby who was chief of the local Colville Indians.
BOSS CREEK
This creek rises from a spring and flows west of Inchelium in Ferry County to the end of North Twin Lake. "Boss" was the nickname of Alfred Seyler whose family owns the only remaining Indian allotment on the stream
BOURGEAU LAKE
A 1/2-mile-long lake west of the Columbia River south of Inchelium on the Colville Indian Reservation in east central Ferry County was named for Charley Borgeau, an Indian resident to whom the lake with adjacent land was allotted. On some maps the name is spelled Bourgeau.
CEDAR CREEK
This Cedar Creek rises from a marsh west northwest of Inchelium in Ferry County. It flows south southeast flowing into Round Lake. The name was approved by the State Board on Geographic Names June 14, 1985.
COVADA
This almost-vanished community is on Borgeau Lake south of Inchelium on the Colville Indian Reservation in east central Ferry County. During the mining days of the 1890s, it was established by miners and had a post office and other town facilities which appealed to the mining profession. On January 31, 1954, the post office was closed. The name is reported to be a composite of the first letters of six nearby mining operations: Columbia Camp, Orin Mine, Vernie Mine, Ada Mine, Dora Mine and Alice Mine.
IMPACH
Impach is a community on the Colville Indian Reservation west of Inchelium at the mouth of a long coulee called Butler Flats in east central Ferry County. The post office, which also served the town of Meteor three miles southwest, was closed on January 31, 1954. The Indian name is said to mean white lake in the San Poil language.
LAKE ELLEN
This small lake is west of the Columbia River north of Inchelium in east central Ferry County. One local resident stated that the lake was named for an early school teacher whose first name was Ellen.
METEOR
Meteor is a small community on the Colville Indian Reservation southwest of Inchelium in east central Ferry County. Reputed to have been the first settlement in southeast Ferry County, Meteor was a lively mining camp when founded in 1898. It had a post office which was discontinued in 1953, and the town then secured mail at Impach, three miles to the northeast. The name is for the nearby Meteor Mine.
MONUMENT BUTTE
A bald hill, elevation 2,098 feet is on the Colville Indian Reservation southwest of Inchelium in east central Ferry County. The name origin traces back to early miners who built stone pillars on the summit to make a distinctly visible landmark. The hill has also been called Monument Mountain.
NORTH TWIN LAKE
A two mile long lake is west of Inchelium in east central Ferry County. It is fed by several creeks, and drains east into the Columbia River through Stranger Creek. The name is descriptive, as it is directly north of South Twin Lake, which has about the same shape and is only slightly larger.
ROUND LAKE
This small round lake is west of Inchelium on the Colville Indian Reservation in east central Ferry County. It is drained by Cornstalk Creek to Stranger Creek and into Franklin D. Roosevelt Lake.
SOUTH TWIN LAKE
This two mile long lake, elevation 2,572 ft., is west of Inchelium in east central Ferry County. The lake is south of North Twin Lake and drains into that body of water through a swampy stream. The name is descriptive for the two lakes are of almost the same size.
STRANGER CREEK
This creek rises on the Colville Indian Reservation in North Twin Lake in east central Ferry County. It flows east to the Columbia River south of Inchelium. It was named for a pioneer Scottish-Indian family who spelled their name Stensger -- the present name being a corruption of the former one. Isaac Stengar's mother was a daughter of Antoine Plant who married a Flathead Indian woman and was a very early settler in the area. Isaac Stensger as an employee of the Hudson's Bay Company in the Colville Valley. ("Isaac Stensger," History of Northern Washington, 1904).
TURTLE RAPIDS
These rapids are in the Columbia River between Daisy on the east bank and Inchelium on the west bank. According to settlers who lived in this vicinity before the rapids were flooded, there were many turtles. An alternate possibility is that the rapids may have been named for a number of black-looking bedrock islands, both large and small, which Lieut. Thomas W. Symons described in his 1882 Report of an Examination of the Upper Columbia River.
SIT DOWN CREEK
Sit Down Creek rises to the south of Seventeen Mile Mountain northwest of Inchelium in central Ferry County. It then flows east to Hall Creek. The Indian name indicates that Indians could sit down on the mountain slopes and have everything they most desired at hand, including berries, deer, bear, fish, water, edible roots, and spruce roots and birch bark for making baskets, a primitive paradise.
SIT DOWN MOUNTAIN
This Colville Indian Reservation peak with an elevation of 4, 871 feet is between Grizzly Creek to the north and Sit Down Creek to the south northwest of Inchelium in east central Ferry County.
RELATED TO INCHELIUM - NICHOLAS LAKE
Named for the Nicholas family who are ranchers this lake is on the west slope of Staehly Mountain in Ferry County northwest of the community of Rice. The current members of the family reside at Inchelium are named C.J. and Bazil. The name was approved by the State Board of Geographic Names June 14, 1985.
ACROSS THE RIVER - GIFFORD
Gifford was once a small town north of Davenport on the east bank of the Columbia River across from Inchelium in southwest Stevens County. The place was named for James O. and Sarah Gifford, who founded it in 1890. There was a cable operated ferry, a post office which opened in 1896 and other town facilities. With the creation of a lake behind Grand Coulee Dam, the site was covered by almost 90 ft. of water. The postmaster was Elmer J. Gefford when the post office was established on May 9, 1902.
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