The current courthouse was constructed in 1942. Established by state legislation, elected officials have included a judge, county commissioners, clerk, auditor, recorder, sheriff, treasurer, assessor, surveyor, coroner, and school superintendent. Three industries, cattle raising, sheep raising, and timber, have traditionally provided the county's economic base. The railroad, which extended into the area in 1883, served as a catalyst to the cattle industry but later contributed to its decline by bringing farmers and sheep men to the area thus creating increased competition for productive land. Harvesting and breeding of wild horses was lucrative for a period.
Tourism based on sports and recreation is on the rise.
Harney County's population is primarily concentrated in a small urbanized sector of Burns-Hines with the remainder mostly in the Harney Basin. The county's population was recorded as 2,559 during the 1890 census and rose steadily until the decade of 1930-40, and then resumed an upward curve until the 1980s. The county experienced a net out migration of nearly fifteen percent in the 1980s primarily due to the closure of the lumber mill in Burns. Although Harney County lands were open to homesteading from 1862 to 1934, the federal Bureau of Land Management still owns more than three million acres. Facilitated on the national level by the Carey Act of 1894, arid land in Harney County was donated to the state for irrigation and settlement, but all water development efforts failed.