The Desert Bloom: Engineering the Yakima Valley

At a recent meeting of the Society of Engineers and Architects in Tacoma, C. R. Smith, an engineer for the Yakima Irrigating and Improvement Company, presented a paper on the irrigation of Washington’s arid lands. Smith detailed how the bunch grass plains and table lands of the Big Bend, Palouse, and Walla Walla districts, with an elevation of 2,000 feet, produce significant grain yields. He noted that while major rivers like the Columbia and Snake run through deep canyons, smaller tributaries have formed fertile delta-like valleys. The Yakima Valley possesses 700,000 acres, though half remains unavailable due to the Simcoe Indian Reservation. Smith argued that with the development of major canal projects, such as the Selah Valley Ditch and the Northern Pacific and Yakima Irrigation company's 80,000-acre project, the majority of the 1,250,000 irrigable acres could be redeemed within five years. He highlighted the profitability of crops like hops and tobacco grown in the Moxee area, asserting that capital and enterprise are the only requisites for developing these lands.