Liberty

Overview

Wire gold on Williams Creek

Prospectors found gold dust on Swauk Creek in 1867. About six years later Benton Goodwin came back and picked up a $2 nugget, and the Swauk Creek Mining District was born. The camp grew where Williams Creek joins the Swauk. In 1892 it took the name Liberty and got a post office.

In 1895 Thomas Meaghers' settlement up Williams Creek began pulling people away, and the first camp became Old Liberty. Mining companies bought up small claims in the late 1890s, then the Klondike drew the miners north. A dredge tried Swauk Creek in 1926 and failed the same year. The last building at Old Liberty burned in 1962.

The town on Williams Creek never quite emptied, and it became a National Register historic district in 1974. Wes Engstrom, who arrived in 1971 looking for gold, has seen it through fights with mining companies and the federal government, which said residents were squatting on federal land. He counted about a dozen residents in 2023. The Swauk district is known for crystalline wire gold.

Timeline

From Swauk Creek to Williams Creek

1. 1867Four prospectors, Benton Goodwin among them, find gold dust on Swauk Creek.
2. About 1873Goodwin comes back with another party and finds a $2 nugget. The Swauk Creek Mining District is organized, and a camp grows where Williams Creek meets Swauk Creek.
3. 1892The camp takes the name Liberty, builds a 30-by-60-foot public hall, and gets a post office with Gus Nelson as postmaster.
4. 1894Outside money starts buying up claims. A butcher shop built that year is one of the buildings in today's historic district.
5. 1895Thomas Meaghers' settlement, Meaghersville, grows up Williams Creek. It draws people from the first site, which becomes Old Liberty.
6. 1898The Swauk Creek Mining Co. and Cascade Mining Co. buy many small claims.
7. 1901The population falls as the Klondike rush pulls miners away.
8. 1916The post office moves from Old Liberty to the Williams Creek town.
9. 1926A dredge starts work on Swauk Creek in February. It proves too big for the creek and the company folds.
10. 1962The last building at Old Liberty burns.
11. 1974The Liberty Historic District is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Resident Wes Engstrom finishes his replica arrastra the same year.

What's left

What you'll see

The main road through town runs about a third of a mile, and its buildings look like they came out of the 1890s, with log walls, wooden windows and fences. The historic district counts a hotel and boarding house, a grocery store, the 1894 butcher shop and a log house among its buildings. Engstrom's arrastra, a replica ore-grinding mill he finished in 1974, is the town's working piece of mining history. Hikers in 2024 and 2026 also reported an old power shovel, interpretive signs and displays on gold mining.

The 1897 Mount Stuart sheet below shows both settlements: Liberty where Williams Creek meets Swauk Creek, and Meaghersville, today's Liberty, as a row of buildings up Williams Creek. Later sheets show US 97 along Swauk Creek to the west, and the 2003 Liberty sheet marks mine shafts, strip mines and adits around the town.

• 1890s log and frame buildings
• 1894 butcher shop
• Replica arrastra (1974)
• Old power shovel and mining displays
• Town sign and historic plaque

Historic maps

Liberty on USGS maps, 1897–2003

Crops from the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection, centered on the townsite. Each sheet shows what surveyors mapped that year; compare them with today's topo and aerial on this page.

18971:125,00019611:62,50019751:100,00020031:24,000

Day trip

Plan a day trip to Liberty from Cle Elum

Take it with you

Day trip itinerary

The essentials, the sample day with boxes to tick, what to photograph and the coordinates, on two printable pages. Handy where there's no signal.

Download the PDF (591 KB)

Liberty is 25 minutes from Cle Elum. The street is only about a third of a mile long, so the town makes a short stop; pair it with a picnic or a night at the BLM's Liberty Recreation Site a mile up the road.

A sample day

1. MorningDrive from Cle Elum on SR 970 and US 97 to Liberty Road.
2. Late morningWalk the street: the cabins, the storefronts, the arrastra, the old power shovel and the mining displays.
3. MiddayPicnic at the BLM recreation site on Williams Creek.
4. AfternoonBack to Cle Elum, or north over Blewett Pass toward Leavenworth.

What to photograph and film

• The street. Shoot down the road to line up the false fronts and cabins.
• The arrastra. The round grinding mill under its log-roofed shelter.
• The town sign. Liberty's hanging sign, with the Swauk Mining District building behind it.
• People's homes. Ask before photographing residents or their yards.

Map & directions

Getting there

Liberty is just off US 97 on the south side of Blewett Pass. From Cle Elum or Seattle, take I-90 to exit 85, then SR 970 and US 97 to Liberty Road.

Base map: USGS The National Map (public domain). Routes: OSRM on © OpenStreetMap contributors data (ODbL), computed October 2026. Times assume dry roads.

Photos

Liberty in photos

The town sign and the Swauk Mining District building, 2019The arrastra, 2019A false-front storefront with an ore cart, 2017Cabins along the street, 2017Liberty from the air, March 1981 (HABS)Thomas Meagher's homestead among aspens, September 2018A board-and-batten house with a front porch, 2014Mamie's homestead, a long log-and-plank house, 2017

Visitor reports

Been to Liberty?

Been there lately? Tell the next visitor what you found: whether you could get in, the state of the road and what's still standing. Photos are welcome. We read every report before it appears here.

Thanks. Your report reached us, and we'll read it before it goes on the page.

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Nearby

Other sites near Liberty

Straight-line distance from the townsite to other mapped sites in our Washington index.

• Blewett11.7 mi N · Chelan
• Roslyn20.7 mi W · Kittitas
• Trinidad31.2 mi E · Grant
• Vantage38.0 mi SE · Kittitas
• Rockdale38.2 mi W · King
• Lester39.0 mi W · King
• Wellington40.3 mi NW · King
• Winesap41.1 mi NE · Chelan

Sources

Sources and credits

1. Wikipedia, "Liberty, Washington", retrieved October 2026: discovery dates, naming, hall, post office, Meaghersville, claim sales, Klondike, dredge, Old Liberty fire, National Register listing, 1894 butcher shop.
2. KUOW / Northwest News Network, "Washington's only living ghost town" (2023): location off Blewett Pass on US 97, the third-of-a-mile street, the buildings, residents, Wes Engstrom, the arrastra, the land dispute, wire gold.
3. Bureau of Land Management, "Liberty Recreation Site", checked October 2026: campsites, toilets, fees, stay limit, snow closure of the gravel roads, cell coverage, directions.
4. Washington Trails Association, "Liberty Ghost Town", checked October 2026: parking and private property; hikers' trip reports of October 19, 2024, May 19, 2025 and October 8, 2026: residents, interpretive signs, mining displays, the power shovel and the arrastra.
5. Elevation: USGS 3D Elevation Program point query. Routes: OSRM on OpenStreetMap data, October 2026.

Photo and map credits

• The town sign and the Swauk Mining District building, 2019: Schazjmd, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
• The arrastra, 2019: Schazjmd, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
• A false-front storefront with an ore cart, 2017: Washington Our Home, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
• Cabins along the street, 2017: Washington Our Home, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
• Liberty from the air, March 1981 (HABS): Michael Hoffman, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain
• Thomas Meagher's homestead among aspens, September 2018: Washington Our Home, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
• A board-and-batten house with a front porch, 2014: Washington Our Home, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
• Mamie's homestead, a long log-and-plank house, 2017: Washington Our Home, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
• Topo map, area base map and aerial imagery: USGS The National Map (public domain).
• Historic maps: USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection (public domain): Mount Stuart 1897, 1:125,000; Liberty 1961, 1:62,500; Wenatchee 1975, 1:100,000; Liberty 2003, 1:24,000.