The Desert Blooms: Harnessing the Yakima River
A look at the massive Sunnyside Canal project promising to turn 75,000 acres of arid volcanic ash 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.
Unquestionably, one of the most extensive irrigation enterprises now in process of development in the West is the great canal of the Northern Pacific, Yakima & Kittitas Irrigation Company, known as the Sunnyside canal. Commencing a few miles south of town, it will extend 60 miles through the richest portion of the valley. The canal is 36 feet wide at the bottom and 58 feet wide at the top. The soil here is a volcanic ash, deep and very productive. Already, thriving orchards of peaches, apples, pears, and prunes have demonstrated the land's potential. Furthermore, the Yakima valley’s dry climate offers a significant advantage for hop growing, as it remains free from the pests currently devastating the hop yards west of the Cascades. With water arriving through this massive engineering feat, the region is poised for a transformation from sagebrush waste to an agricultural powerhouse.
“Water is the Alladin’s lamp which will, by its magic presence, cause orchards, green fields and gardens to rise from the barren ground of the Yakima country.”
The Sunnyside Canal project was the catalyst for Yakima’s transition from a frontier outpost to the 'Fruit Bowl of the Nation.' Today, that same infrastructure remains the literal lifeblood of the valley's multi-billion dollar agricultural economy, though the climate and water rights conflicts it created continue to shape regional politics.
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