The Million-Dollar Blueprint for a Desert Oasis
Engineers unveil an ambitious 'Natchees' canal route designed to transform 100,000 acres of arid sagebrush into a fruit-growing paradise.
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 Yakima Canal and Land Company was organized on December 4, 1889, with a capital stock of $1,000,000. Led by President Walter N. Granger, the firm plans to build an irrigation canal to water Sunnyside lands and government acreage. After surveying 471 miles of grade lines, Chief Engineer J. D. McIntyre adopted the 'Natchees' route. This canal will divert water from the Naches River, crossing the Ahtanum basin to Union Gap, then extending 80 miles toward Prosser. The project promises to turn sage-covered, basaltic-rock soil into a fertile basin for grapes, hops, and tobacco, fueled by the warm winds of the Japan current.
“The climate may be regarded as semi-tropical about ten and one-half months of each year... residents are enjoying bright sun and warm winds.”
This project was the literal foundation of the modern Yakima Valley agricultural economy. The massive irrigation infrastructure envisioned by Granger and McIntyre converted desert land into the world-class orchard region seen today, though the sustainability of such water-intensive projects remains a central debate in current Pacific Northwest water management.
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