Biohazard Cleanup Near Conconully Historic District Conconully, WA

Conconully is a town in Okanogan County whose name comes from the Okanogan (Interior Salish) name for Salmon Creek, which flows from the town to the Okanogan River; historian Harry M. Majors wrote that the word means "cloudy."

Originally named Salmon City after nearby Salmon Creek, Conconully began as a gold miners' camp when the surrounding mining district opened to settlement in 1886.

Conconully served as the seat of Okanogan County from 1888 until 1914, when voters moved the county seat to the town of Okanogan after the railroad reached it.

On May 27, 1894, an unusually heavy storm made Salmon Creek overflow and sent a debris-filled wall of water more than 30 feet high through town, destroying more than 42 buildings and killing one person, while a rider on horseback raced ahead of the flood warning residents.

Conconully was officially incorporated as a town on November 11, 1908.

The town is flanked by two separate U.S. Bureau of Reclamation reservoirs, created by the 1911 Conconully Dam and the 1921 Salmon Lake Dam.

Conconully State Park sits in the heart of town between the reservoirs; it began as a Bureau of Reclamation irrigation project site in 1910 and passed to Washington State Parks in 1945.

Conconully's population peaked at 357 in 1910 and has been small ever since: 210 people in 103 households at the 2010 census, and 193 people at the 2020 census.

At 2,313 feet elevation in the Okanogan highlands, Conconully has a humid continental climate with large seasonal swings — a record high of 110 degrees Fahrenheit, a record low of minus 31, and about 42 inches of snow a year.

Today Conconully is a quiet mayor–council town celebrated as a scenic recreation gateway to the lakes and forests of the Okanogan country, northwest of Omak and Okanogan.