Digging the Big Ditch
A massive engineering project kicks off in Richland as the Wright Construction Company brings in heavy machinery and a crew to tackle the area's drainage needs.
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.
About all the big teams and big wagons in the district were rounded up this week to help haul in heavy machinery for the big ditch project. The equipment, which arrived at Grosscup siding last week, was reshipped to Leslie siding due to the impassable condition of the roads. There were four carloads of material—three cars of machinery and one of heavy timbers—shipped from Tacoma, the home office of the Wright Construction Co. About 20 men will be employed on the job in two shifts of ten hours each, every day until completion. The work is under the supervision of Superintendent and Engineer J. S. Barnes, who previously managed projects like the Snipes Mountain lateral and the Sulphur Creek spillway. Harris Wright, son of the company president, will serve as timekeeper and bookkeeper. Actual digging will start on the H. Hoffman tract.
“About all the big teams and all the big wagons in the district were rounded up this week to help haul in an heavy machinery.”
Large-scale irrigation and drainage projects were the lifeblood of the Tri-Cities' agricultural boom in the early 20th century. Today, those same landscapes are managed by complex regional water districts that continue to balance the needs of modern development against the original agrarian infrastructure.
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