Location: Okanogan County, WA Map
Found: 1900 by George B. Meacham and John W. Molson
Molson is a ghost town located in Okanogan County, Washington in United States. Today Molson Ghost Town is not quiet abandoned it has about a dozen residents that keep an eye on the open air museum. The town of Molson was founded in 1900 by promoter George B. Meacham and real estate and beer brewing investor John W. Molson. The city got its name after investor that helped to create this settlement. At the time this name was fairly famous for Molson Beer that run by a Molson family. The city quickly grew to a population of 300 residents. Molson had its own hotel, saloon, general store and even its own newspaper. Additionally the town had an attorney, postmaster (Walter F. Schuyler) and a doctor. The mines that helped to create Molson, Washington failed and by the end of 1901 the population went into sharp decline and numbered only 13 people. It grew slightly around 1905 when news of a new railroad being build, but it didn't last too long. The city was incorporated on February 13, 1920, by the next year it was disincorporated on October 6th, 1921. On August 11, 1967 the post office was discontinued thus ending the history of town.
Molson's story is a quintessential tale of Western optimism and
rapid disillusionment, rooted in the gold and silver rushes that
dotted the American frontier at the turn of the century. The town
was established in 1900 by promoter George B. Meacham, a real estate
speculator from California, who convinced John W. Molson—a scion of
the wealthy Montreal brewing and banking family (of Molson Coors
fame)—to invest in a mining and townsite venture in the Okanogan
region. Meacham envisioned a bustling hub exploiting rumored mineral
deposits in the area's volcanic soils, and the Molsons poured
$170,000 (over $6 million today) into platting the site and
promoting it to Eastern investors. The post office opened on July
14, 1900, with Walter F. Schuyler as postmaster, marking the town's
official birth. That first year saw explosive growth: the population
surged to about 300, drawing miners, merchants, and families with
promises of quick riches.
By late 1900, Molson boasted a
surprising array of amenities for such a remote outpost: three
general stores for supplies, a drugstore dispensing patent
medicines, three saloons slinging whiskey to prospectors, a lively
dance hall for social gatherings, a livery stable and blacksmith for
horse care, an assay office to evaluate ore samples, a hotel for
transients, a newspaper to spread news (and hype), an attorney's
office for claim disputes, and even a doctor's practice for treating
mining injuries and frontier ailments. The centerpiece was the grand
Hotel Tonasket, a three-story, 34-room wooden structure named after
Chief Tonasket of the local Okanogan people, symbolizing the town's
ambitious aspirations. Mining operations focused on gold veins in
the surrounding hills, with placer claims along nearby creeks,
though yields were modest and inconsistent.
Life in early Molson
was a mix of grit and community spirit. Settlers endured harsh
conditions—dusty winds, isolation from major cities like Spokane
(over 200 miles away), and conflicts with Indigenous groups over
land use—but forged ahead with barn-raisings, school lessons in
makeshift rooms, and Saturday night dances. The town's layout
sprawled along a dirt main street, with false-front buildings
hastily constructed from local lumber. However, the boom was
illusory: geological surveys revealed the ore deposits were shallow
and low-grade, and the Molson family's investment soured quickly. By
June 1901, just a year after founding, the backers withdrew support,
leaving the town in financial ruin and the population plummeting to
a mere 12 residents.
A partial revival came in 1905 with the
extension of the Great Northern Railway's Kettle Valley line, which
brought passenger service in November and spurred freight for wheat
farming and limited mining. Yet, disputes with townsite owner J.H.
McDonald over land titles led to a schism: in 1909, most residents
and businesses relocated half a mile north to establish "New
Molson," abandoning the original site. The new iteration featured
the New Imperial Hotel (renamed New Wallace Hotel in 1911), a
two-story affair that burned down in 1923, mirroring the fate of the
original Hotel Tonasket in 1924. Sporadic mining persisted until
1938, but the Great Depression in the 1930s delivered the final
blow: wheat prices crashed, the railroad abandoned tracks between
Molson and Oroville in 1931 and Curlew–Molson in 1935, and families
dispersed to urban centers. The post office, a stubborn holdout,
closed in August 1967, redirecting mail to Oroville and sealing
Molson's fate as a ghost town.
Molson's descent was meteoric, collapsing under the weight of
overhyping and underdelivering in a region where mining booms often
fizzled. The 1901 investor pullout triggered immediate abandonment:
stores boarded up, the newspaper ceased publication, and saloons
emptied as claims went unworked. The 1909 relocation to New Molson
fragmented the community further, leaving the original site—Old
Molson—a cluster of derelict shacks amid sagebrush. The railroad's
arrival offered a lifeline, boosting agriculture with grain
shipments, but it couldn't sustain the population beyond 100-200 at
its 1910s peak. Fires ravaged key landmarks, like the hotels, while
economic downturns—World War I labor shortages followed by the 1929
crash—exacerbated isolation.
By the 1930s, Molson was a shadow:
the Depression forced farm foreclosures, and mechanized agriculture
reduced the need for local labor. The railroad's abandonment
isolated the area, with unpaved roads becoming quagmires in rain.
Post-World War II, surviving families turned to dryland wheat
farming and ranching, but the population dwindled to under 50 by
1950. The 1950s school in Central Molson, serving 110-120 pupils,
closed at the end of the 1968-1969 year, its one-room building a
poignant relic of lost youth. The post office's 1967 closure marked
the end of daily life, transforming Molson into a near-ghost town by
the 1970s, with only a handful of holdouts tending fields. Nature
reclaimed much: buildings sagged, machinery rusted, and windswept
prairies overgrew foundations. Yet, the dry climate preserved wooden
structures remarkably, setting the stage for revival as a heritage
site.
Preservation of Molson began in the mid-20th century, driven by
local visionaries determined to honor the pioneer legacy. In 1960,
rancher and collector Harry Sherling founded the Old Molson Ghost
Town Museum at the original townsite, relocating and restoring
pioneer buildings from across Okanogan County to create an immersive
outdoor exhibit. Sherling's passion for artifacts—amassed over
decades—formed the core collection, which the nonprofit Molson
Museums now stewards. The adjacent Molson Schoolhouse Museum, housed
in the 1914 school building (with additions in 1924 and 1953),
opened in the 1970s, displaying indoor exhibits of household items,
tools, and photos. Both sites emphasize donation-based access, with
volunteers maintaining the grounds through community fundraisers and
grants from the Washington State Historical Society.
Today, Old
Molson thrives as one of Washington's best-preserved ghost towns, an
open-air tableau of about a dozen structures including a blacksmith
shop, general store facade, assay office, and homestead cabins—many
furnished with period pieces like butter churns, irons, and
lanterns. Exhibits highlight mining tools (picks, pans, sluice
boxes), horse-drawn machinery (wagons, plows, harvesters), and farm
relics (threshers, windmills), evoking the shift from mining to
agriculture. The schoolhouse features a recreated 1960s classroom
with desks, blackboards, and textbooks, plus displays of Okanogan
Indigenous artifacts and settler photos. As of the 2000 census, the
broader Molson area had 23 residents, though current estimates hover
around 20-30, including seasonal farmers. In 2025, the site remains
stable, with no major changes reported; recent social media from
August 2025 praises its "living ghost town" vibe, with preserved
doors and buildings standing defiantly against the elements. Events
like annual pioneer days are announced via the Molson Museums
Facebook page and the Okanogan Valley Gazette-Tribune, fostering
ties to descendants and historians.
Molson nestles in the Okanogan Highlands, a transitional zone
between the Columbia Plateau's arid basins and the Cascade
foothills, where bunchgrass prairies, ponderosa pines, and aspen
groves frame views of the Canadian border and distant Similkameen
Mountains. The terrain is gently rolling at 3,700 feet, with
seasonal creeks like Molson Creek supporting wildflowers in spring
and sagebrush in summer. Wildlife—deer, coyotes, hawks, and
rattlesnakes—abounds, while the area's volcanic soils yield hardy
wheat fields that dot the landscape.
The semi-arid continental
climate is extreme: hot, dry summers (highs 80-95°F/27-35°C
June-August) with low humidity and occasional wildfires; mild falls
with harvest colors; cold, snowy winters (lows 0-20°F/-18 to -7°C
December-February) accumulating 20-30 inches of snow annually; and
wet springs (April-May) bringing 10-12 inches of total
precipitation. The dry air preserves relics but demands sun
protection and hydration for visitors.
Access is via rural roads:
From Oroville, take Chesaw Road east 10 miles, then Molson Road
south 5 miles to the site (539 Molson Road)—paved but winding, with
gravel sections; 2WD suitable in dry weather, but chains advised in
winter. The original Old Molson is on the right entering town; the
schoolhouse on the left.
Old Molson Ghost Town is open year-round during daylight hours (dawn
to dusk), weather permitting—no plowing in snow, so summer (Memorial
Day to Labor Day) is ideal, when the adjacent Schoolhouse Museum
operates 10 a.m.-5 p.m. daily. Admission is free at both, but
donations support maintenance; sign the logbook for a personal
touch. Allow 1-2 hours for the 0.5-mile self-guided loop through
buildings—peer into cabins, inspect machinery, and read interpretive
signs on pioneer life. Highlights include the blacksmith forge with
anvils and the recreated store with vintage cans; photography is
encouraged, especially at golden hour for dramatic shadows.
Pack
water, snacks, sturdy shoes for uneven paths, and layers for
variable weather—summers can scorch, winters isolate. No facilities
on-site (nearest restrooms/gas in Oroville, 30 minutes away), so
picnic amid the prairie. Families appreciate the educational value:
kids love the old wagons, while adults ponder the mining bust.
Respect rules—no climbing structures, leave artifacts untouched,
leashed pets OK. For overnights, camp at nearby Okanogan-Wenatchee
National Forest sites or stay in Oroville motels. Combine with a
border drive to Osoyoos, BC, or fossil hunts at nearby Republic. As
a August 2025 visitor noted on social media, it's a "must-see hidden
gem" for its authentic preservation—arrive with curiosity, and let
the whispering winds of the highlands reveal Molson's enduring
pioneer spirit.