Benton Settlers Fight for Their Future
A government ruling threatens to revoke critical repayment extensions for local irrigation project settlers.
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Consternation is thrown into the camp of the settlers under the Benton Extension of the Sunnyside by a letter from Comptroller W. A. Ryan of the reclamation service in which he doubts apparently the advisability of extending the privileges of the 20-year extension plan to the settlers under the new district, says the Yakima Republic. The letter came as a reply to a petition from the water users in the new district asking that the 20-year extension law be made to apply to the district. There was no other thought when the district was formed than that the new district would fall heir to all the extensions and privileges that the government has given to the other irrigated projects. The settlers will not rest on the decision of the comptroller, but have taken steps already to appeal to the secretary, urging upon him the vital necessity of extending the terms of the Warren act to the new district.
“There was no other thought when the district was formed than that the new district would fall heir to all the extensions and privileges.”
The struggle for affordable water rights and equitable repayment terms remains a central pillar of agricultural policy in the Tri-Cities. The 1915 dispute over the Benton Extension foreshadows the ongoing civic tension regarding the cost of public infrastructure for land development.
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