The Desert’s Promise in Wenatchee
Impatience grows as the city council moves to bond the town to pull water from the Columbia River, hoping to turn brush land into a fruit-growing empire.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
The subject that takes precedence over all others in Wenatchee is the getting of water from the Columbia River on these dry but wonderfully fruitful lands. So far as the town of Wenatchee is concerned, it has become impatient at waiting for outside capital to develop the irrigation proposition, and in response to the demand of the people, the town council has decided to call a special election for the purpose of voting on the question of bonding the city for a system of city water works. Water is the foundation of all future prosperity here. With it the success of the city and entire valley is assured; without it, the country does not amount to much. There is nothing in the line of fruits, vegetables and even many kinds of nuts that cannot be successfully grown in the Columbia River country. These lands should be held in small tracts of not more than forty acres each—twenty acres would be much better. When the land is once broken up, all a person wants in the way of a team is one fairly good horse to stir the ground with frequently and a light express wagon with which to haul away his produce.
“Water is the foundation of all future prosperity here. With it the success of the city and entire valley is assured; without it, the country does not amount to much.”
The transition from 'dry brush' to agricultural powerhouse defined the Wenatchee Valley, but it relied entirely on the state’s massive public investment in irrigation. Today’s debates in Central Washington echo this early struggle over whether public infrastructure should exist to support private intensive farming or if the water rights of the Columbia belong to the public.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.