What is living conditions like in and around Okanogan, WA

1420 Views 5 Replies 4 Participants Last post by Unregistered-1427815803, Mar 5, 2004

Kenneth in NC

Discussion Starter · Mar 4, 2004

What is living conditions like in and around Okanogan, Washington? I'm interested in the economy, weather, earthquakes?, land with houses prices, is the water good, air quality and is this area a good place to raise chickens and children?

Any and all help to answer my questions appreciated.

Kenneth

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· #2 · Mar 4, 2004

You know the general area where it is located so check the following maps for some of the information:

USDA zone hardiness for gardening/farming
USGS seismic hazard map (earthquakes)
Average annual precipitation map

When I ran a search at Realtor.com I got back 3 reselts. You can see them here for a general idea of what house prices may be like.

The city has a web site that can be found here. It has information on local events, businesses in the area, opportunities, etc..

You can find a great wealth of information about the area here. This site is all census type information. Highschool graduates, male/female ratio, median age, elevation, married/divorced statistics, median income, weather information, and a lot more useful information.

Your on the internet. Next time think about the power you have at your finger tips. Search Google and use your head. All the information you want and a lot more is all out there for you.

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Joy in Eastern WA

· #3 · Mar 4, 2004

Hi Kenneth, there was a topic not too long ago from someone else who was interested in the area. I would have to say that it was within the last month. Try a search and see if it comes up. All I know about the Okanogan area is, it's arid and dry with a fair amount of snow fall in the winter. Economy isn't very strong, but the Moses Lake area to the south is growing.

Beautiful region though!

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Little Quacker in NC

· #4 · Mar 4, 2004

Hi! This a apropos of nothing re the question but it makes me smile very time I "hear" someone talk about Okanogen, WA. Those of you who follow Mesquite Rodeo from Texas may remember this. Donnie Gaye and family purchased a sorrel bucking horse(can't remember now if he was saddle bronc or bareback) from that area and his name was Okanogen Red. Every time that horse was going to come out of the chute the announcer would start and stumble over the name and never did get it right! LOL Donnie would always have to tell him how to pronounce it. I always kept my ear out for when this horse was "up" just to hear Dan mispronounce that name. He mangled it every time! LOL

Good luck with your plans....hope all goes well for you. LQ

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snoozy

· #5 · Mar 4, 2004

Dry. Sparse. Parched. Full of rocks. Thirsty rocks. Lots of snow and very cold in the winter. Enormous herds of deer to eat your fruit trees, if you can coax any fruit trees out of the stones. Jobs are scarce. And land is cheap for all of the above reasons.

Air quality is excellent -- if you like dry air. Water quality is probably good as well, but remember if you have to drill a well there, it may be down a thousand feet, give or take.

But I've only been there once.

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· #6 · Mar 5, 2004

back in '99 when I was looking for property I researched the whole area from Twisp to Oroville. the area has many fine qualities for a rural homesteader. but you better take your own employment with you. and that's not the worst of it.

I don't know what the conditions there are now, but I suspect it hasn't changed much. you see the federal endangered species act forced the state of washington to stop almost all agricultural water use in order to provide riparian water for the salmon. in '99 there were over 200 water rights claims pending before the washington state supreme court. and they had been there in a holding pattern for over 2 years. many of them 100 year old land and water patents. and the policy of the state government was to drag things out and hope that the owners would die off or exhaust themselves financially and emotionally, and so win by attrition.

I saw dozens of mature orchards bulldozed and the lands subdivided into 5 and 10 acre "recreation" properties. because the land owners could not legally get water out of their own wells or out of creeks or ponds that had 100 year old grandfathered water rights.

I have no reason to believe that the state of washington has changed its policy when the federal law is still in force.

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