Methow ( ), is an unincorporated community in

Okanogan County 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 largest city is Omak. Its area is the largest in ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...

, United States. The community had a population of 262 at the 2000 census.

History

Methow was founded in 1889 by W.A. Bolinger when he moved his store from the former mining boom-town at Squaw Creek (approx. 4 miles south).Methow Mining Boom
The Town of Methow. It is named after the

Methow people The Methow ( ) are a Native American tribe that lived along the Methow River, a tributary of the Columbia River in northern Washington. The river's English name is taken from that of the tribe. The name "Methow" comes from the Okanagan placename ...

, an

Interior Salish The Interior Salish languages are one of the two main branches of the Salishan languages, Salishan language family, the other being Coast Salish languages, Coast Salish. It can be further divided into Northern and Southern subbranches. The first S ...

people who lived in the area. The name "Methow" itself comes from the

Okanagan The Okanagan ( ), also known as the Okanagan Valley and sometimes as the Okanagan Country, is a region in the Canadian province of British Columbia defined by the basin of Okanagan Lake and the Canadian portion of the Okanagan River. It is part ...

placename ''/mətxʷú/'', meaning "sunflower (seeds)". The unincorporated community has its own community center, post office, fire station, church, water system, and two parks. The Methow Store, originally built by W.A. Bolinger, is no longer in business as of 2009, nor is the town's restaurant. The town is one of the principal starting points for

rafting Rafting and whitewater rafting are recreational outdoor activities which use an inflatable raft to navigate a river or other body of water. This is often done on whitewater or different degrees of rough water. Dealing with risk is often a ...

along the

Methow River The Methow River ( ) is a tributary of the Columbia River in northern Washington in the United States. The river's watershed drains the eastern North Cascades, with a population of about 5,000 people. The Methow's watershed is characterized by r ...

The original Methow Store can be seen just off

Washington State Route 153 State Route 153 (SR 153, named the Methow Valley Highway) is a long state highway in the U.S. state of Washington, serving as part of the Cascade Loop in Okanogan County. The Methow Valley Highway begins at an intersection with U.S.&n ...

. Directly across the street sits a large historic stone house and homestead that was built by the Bolinger family. This small town is also host to two old single room schoolhouses. One of these schoolhouses sits just north of the Methow Store, and most people recognize it as "the old log cabin". The other schoolhouse is now used as a community center. The Methow Church was formed over a century ago. Methow’s population has stayed consistent for the past several decades at about fifty people. The population of the surrounding area, the Methow Valley, has grown significantly over the past two decades.

Geography

Methow is located on the

upriver from the confluence of the Methow and Columbia rivers in

, Washington. It sits at an elevation of 1,156 feet above sea level in the foothills of the

Cascade Range The Cascade Range or Cascades is a major mountain range of western North America, extending from southern British Columbia through Washington and Oregon to Northern California. It includes both non-volcanic mountains, such as the North Cascades, ...

Climate

This

climatic Climate is the long-term weather pattern in an area, typically averaged over 30 years. More rigorously, it is the mean and variability of meteorological variables over a time spanning from months to millions of years. Some of the meteorologic ...

region is typified by large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and cold (sometimes severely cold) winters. According to the

Köppen Climate Classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...

system, Methow has a dry-summer

humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and freezing ...

, abbreviated "Dsb" on climate maps.

References

External links

Methow Mining Boom
{{authority control Census-designated places in Washington (state) Census-designated places in Okanogan County, Washington Populated places established in 1889 Populated places in the Okanagan Country