The Hop Fields Conflict
As Yakima’s harvest season intensifies, a labor strike and a dispute over Indigenous freedom of movement expose deep rifts between local growers and Washington’s political elite.
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 Moxee people were the first to get hop pickers, giving a bonus of two dollars per head and paying $1 per box of 100 lbs. Others engaged at $1.10 per box of 14 bushels, but Wednesday there was a strike and the growers were forced to pay $1.25. The Indians have all been anxious to get to the Sound, and the Puyallup growers have had runners here offering inducements and placing their propositions in seductive colors. Some few got away, notwithstanding Agent Stabler's efforts to keep them here. In this connection, it is well enough to state that Congressman John L. Wilson sent Mr. Stabler a personal telegram, urging him to permit the Indians to go to the Sound. Republican and democratic hop growers are alike incensed at this petty interference and the prospects are that John L.’s name will be Dennis in Yakima county this fall.
“Republican and democratic hop growers are alike incensed at this petty interference and the prospects are that John L.’s name will be Dennis in Yakima county this fall.”
Agricultural labor remains a volatile issue in the Yakima Valley, echoing this 1890 dispute over wages and the movement of workers. The tension between local grower autonomy and federal influence over the regional workforce is a dynamic that persists in local labor struggles today.
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