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is a city in Grant County, Washington, United States. The population was 14,953 as of the 2000 census. According to the Washington State Office of Financial Management's April 1, 2008 estimate, the city has a population of 18,310. Major attractions include the Sand Dunes, Moses Lake,the Surf 'N Slide, the Ice skating rink and Baseball fields. Moses Lake is the largest city in Grant County.
Chief Sulktalthscosum, a.k.a. Chief Moses, was born in 1829 and was the chief of the tribe of Native Americans inhabiting this area. They were called Sinkiuse-Columbia (
Chief Moses' people lived in the Moses Lake area until he was arrested and tried for murder. In 1878, a white couple was murdered near Rattlesnake Springs by Indians controlled by Chief Joseph. The military, however, blamed the incident on Chief Moses. He was captured near present day O'Sullivan Dam and stood trial in Yakima, where he was found not guilty. Chief Moses then went to Washington, D.C., and met with President Rutherford B. Hayes. He ceded control of the Columbia Basin to the U. S. government, which then opened the area for homesteading.
Named "Neppel" in 1910, later residents voted in 1938 to rename their city to honor Native American Chief Moses, and the city became Moses Lake. The chief’s name had already been given to the lake next to Neppel, Moses Lake, and to a coulee running between Wenatchee and Ephrata. The city served the trading needs of a small group of pioneering farmers who settled on the shores of the lake.