The Horn Ranch / Spanish Castle

The Spanish Castle was built in 1917 at a cost of more than $20,000 by Lester Coffin, a Yakima area cattleman who had long dreamed of building a home that resembled the residence of a Mexican president. The castle was built on Tarpiscan Creek two miles into Kittitas County from the Kittitas-Chelan County line. It was remote and almost inaccessible. An earlier rock house built on the spot had burned.

Construction materials for the new house were hauled in over the rough Colockum Pass Road in covered wagons. Some materials were brought in from across the Columbia River. The house had 17 rooms, including a spacious entrance hall, a reception room, living room, five bedrooms, two bathrooms and an indoor swimming pool. Coffin didn't get to enjoy the new house as just a few days after it was completed, he died in the Wenatchee Hospital. The Spanish Castle had several other owners before it was bought and torn down by the Grant County PUD in 1963 to make way for Wanapum Dam reservoir.