The Blalock Fruit Farm Water Dispute
A local gardener is apprehended after a manager for the major fruit producer claims his irrigation water was being siphoned.
Jo Columbo, an Italian gardener, was arrested yesterday on complaint of Herbert McArthur, manager of the Blalock fruit farm, for stealing water from a ditch on the farm. This morning the case was compromised and settled, with Columbo agreeing to discontinue use of water obtained under protest from the company.
“Columbo agreeing to discontinue use of water gotten under protest from the company.”
Conflicts over water rights in the arid Walla Walla Valley were high-stakes affairs in 1903, mirroring the ongoing tension between industrial agriculture and small-scale growers in the West today. The rapid settlement suggests the power imbalance between the massive Blalock holdings and individual laborers.
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