The Desert Blooms: Yakima’s Canal Vision
A delegation of Tacoma investors returns from Yakima enchanted by the transformation of arid scrubland into flourishing, frost-resistant orchards.
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.
A party of Tacoma people who are interested in the irrigation improvements now being made in Yakima county returned from a visit to that locality yesterday morning. The party consisted of A. N. Fitch, Isaac Pincus, Nelson Bennett, Dr. Wing and Paul Schulte. They made the trip at Mr. Schulte’s invitation, in his private car. When asked yesterday afternoon if they had visited the big irrigation canal and what they thought of it, Mr. Bennett said: 'The canal is indeed a great work, and will do for Yakima county, and the state at large, all that the ledger has predicted. We saw several young orchards of prunes, peaches, apples, cherries and all smaller fruits, and some trees that have borne fruit for years, all looking healthy and as promising as any California orchards can possibly be. By inquiring we found that where the farmers had gotten water upon the bench, or uplands, the fruit crop was much more certain than on the low or river lands, the uplands being entirely exempt from the late spring frosts. By April 1st, water will flow through twenty-five miles of the canal. During the summer, fifteen or twenty more miles will be completed, and thus open up a vast area of country to settlement. We also visited the artesian wells up at the head of Moxee valley, which will open up a beautiful country that would otherwise continue to be the home of the jack-rabbit and sage hen.'
“This Moxee valley is the home of the well known William Ker... And a visit to these lands will repay any person for a trip from Tacoma.”
The transition of the Yakima Valley from 'sage hen' habitat to a global orchard powerhouse began with these private canal investments. Today, the water rights that built this agricultural engine remain the central point of civic and legal contention in Washington State.
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