Battle for Yakima Valley Water Rights
A state land dispute pits the Sunnyside Canal Company against the Yakima Development Company in a high-stakes fight for irrigation rights.
State Land Commissioner Calvert of Washington has presented to the interior department the selection made by the state of Washington of 56,000 acres of land in the southeast corner of Yakima county, which the Sunnyside Canal company desires to irrigate under the Cary act. The selection will not be confirmed for 30 days and in the meantime the department will consider the protest of the Yakima Development company against the approval of this list. The latter company claims to have a project larger and better than that of the Sunnyside company and embracing part of the lands selected by the state. If the protest is found sufficient, the state's selection will be cancelled.
“The latter company claims to have a project larger and better than that of the Sunnyside company and embracing part of the lands selected by the state.”
The control of water rights remains a contentious legacy in the Yakima Valley, where irrigation development fundamentally transformed the high desert into an agricultural powerhouse, often at the expense of Indigenous land access and competing claims.
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