The Baptism of the Desert
Thousands gather at the headgates of the Northern Pacific's new irrigation canal to celebrate the transformation of arid Yakima plains into fertile farmland.
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.
On March 26, 1892, a crowd gathered seven miles from North Yakima to witness the formal opening of the Northern Pacific, Yakima Kittitas Irrigation Company's canal. Following speeches by R.K. Nichols, Edward Whitson, and J.H. Reavis, Miss Dora Allen christened the headgates with a bottle of champagne. As the gates opened to release the Yakima River waters, a band played, spectators cheered, and anvils were fired to signal the 'conquest' of the Sunnyside country for agriculture. The canal represents a massive capital investment intended to turn sterile plains into an agricultural empire, fulfilling the dreams of early settlers.
“Flow on thy liquid saviour of our land, And blessings on you.”
This event marked the beginning of a massive irrigation infrastructure that defined the Yakima Valley's identity. Today, the tension between industrial-scale water use, agriculture, and the sovereignty of the Yakama Nation—whose land was the focus of these early reclamation efforts—remains a central, often contentious, part of the region's civic life.
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