Conconully Dam (National ID # WA00259) is a dam in

Okanogan County, Washington Okanogan County () is a county located in the U.S. state of Washington along the Canada–U.S. border. As of the 2020 census, the population was 42,104. The county seat is Okanogan, while the most populous city is Omak. It is the largest ...

, United States. The earthen dam was initially constructed at a height of in 1910 and 1911 by the

United States Bureau of Reclamation The Bureau of Reclamation, formerly the United States Reclamation Service, is a federal agency under the U.S. Department of the Interior, which oversees water resource management, specifically as it applies to the oversight and operatio ...

, during the first generation of the Bureau's activity, then raised in 1920 and reconstructed in 1969. The dam's current height is and it is long at its crest. Conconully Dam impounds Salmon Creek for flood control and irrigation storage, part of the larger Okanogan Project. It was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

on September 6, 1974. The adjacent 1921

Salmon Lake Dam Salmon Lake Dam (National ID # WA00291) is a dam in Okanogan County, Washington. The earthen dam was constructed between 1919 and 1921 by the United States Bureau of Reclamation, with a height of 54 feet and 1260 feet long at its crest. Salmon ...

and its reservoir, Conconully Lake, are also part of the same project. Both are owned by the Bureau and operated by the local Okanogan Irrigation District. The Conconully Reservoir has a normal water surface area of and a maximum storage capacity of . Recreation includes fishing (for

rainbow trout The rainbow trout (''Oncorhynchus mykiss'') is a species of trout native to cold-water tributary, tributaries of the Pacific Ocean in North America and Asia. The steelhead (sometimes called steelhead trout) is an Fish migration#Classification, ...

cutthroat trout The cutthroat trout (''Oncorhynchus clarkii'' clade) is a clade of four fish species of the Family (biology), family Salmonidae native to cold-water Tributary, tributaries of the Pacific Ocean, Rocky Mountains, and Great Basin in North America. ...

and

smallmouth bass The smallmouth bass (''Micropterus dolomieu'') is a species of freshwater fish in the Centrarchidae, sunfish family (biology), family (Centrarchidae) of the order (biology), order Centrarchiformes. It is the type species of its genus ''Micropterus ...

), boating, camping, hiking and wildlife viewing.

Conconully State Park Conconully State Park is a public recreation area located at the north end of Conconully Reservoir in the town of Conconully, Okanogan County, Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first presid ...

and Conconully National Wildlife Refuge are also nearby.

History

The construction of the dam was interrupted by a strike in July 1909. The construction workers were offered a twenty-five cent per day pay increase but demanded fifty cents. Notice of the strike was published in the ''

Industrial Worker The ''Industrial Worker'', "the voice of revolutionary industrial unionism", is the magazine of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW, a.k.a., "Wobblies"). It is now released quarterly. The publication was printed and edited by union labor, ...

'', a weekly newspaper of the

Industrial Workers of the World The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), whose members are nicknamed "Wobblies", is an international labor union founded in Chicago, United States in 1905. The nickname's origin is uncertain. Its ideology combines general unionism with indu ...

published out of

Spokane Spokane ( ) is the most populous city in eastern Washington and the county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It lies along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south ...

References

{{authority control 1911 establishments in Washington (state) Dams completed in 1911 Dams on the National Register of Historic Places in Washington (state) Lakes of Okanogan County, Washington Reservoirs in Washington (state) United States Bureau of Reclamation dams National Register of Historic Places in Okanogan County, Washington