He left his father's farm in 1841, moving first to Fond du Lac, in the Wisconsin Territory, then settling for a year in Madison, where he taught school.
He returned to Fond du Lac and took up a new career in civil engineering, where he conducted U.S. government surveys of land in Wisconsin.
[1] Conkey determined that the Grand Chute rapids would provide an ideal source for water-power, and in early 1849, in partnership with Morgan Lewis Martin and Abraham B. Bowen, they selected a tract of land on the north side of the Fox River to start a village.
Conkey surveyed and platted the land where the city would be built, and in July 1849, moved his family to the area, becoming one of the original pioneers of Appleton, Wisconsin.
In 1861, at news of the outbreak of the American Civil War, Conkey sold his mill and decided to help raise a company of men for the Union Army.
He invested in enlarging and improving the mill, and was involved in running it until 1879, when he sold to Kimblerly, Clark & Co. Conkey effectively retired from business after this sale.