Conconully, Washington — County Seat That Became a Lake Town

Conconully once governed Okanogan County from a mountain setting that now feels better suited to fishing weekends than courthouse traffic.

Mining drew settlers during the late nineteenth century, and the community became county seat in 1888. Government offices, miners and businesses gave the remote settlement an importance difficult to infer from its modern population.

The courthouse eventually moved elsewhere. Water supplied a second identity as dams and reservoirs around Conconully became part of irrigation systems serving lower valleys while also attracting anglers, campers and other visitors.

People once traveled into these mountains because mining and county government required it. Now many make the trip because they want to.