Taming the Horse Heaven Plateau
Deep-well drilling is transforming the wild, arid Horse Heaven hills into a new hub for large-scale cattle ranching.
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Stock raising in the Horse Heaven country of Benton county is rapidly coming to the fore. The striking of an abundance of water in six or eight wells has demonstrated that water was the one thing needed to make the plateau a premier stock-producing section. Once a vast, open range for wild horses, the region was carved up by wheat farmers and wire fences, forcing ranchers to haul water from the rivers. Recent well-sinking efforts have now enabled a new, stable industry to take root. The Western Farm Lands Company is currently leading the charge, operating 40 sections of land with deep 15-horsepower pumps supplying water to a growing herd of Hereford and Shorthorn cattle.
“The settling up of the country by wheat farmers, the building of a network of wire fences, reduced the stock of the Horse Heaven hills to only those herds that the ranchers could haul water from the river to maintain.”
The Horse Heaven Hills remain a critical landscape today, caught between its historic identity as a range and its modern status as a center for wind energy and dryland farming. The mid-century dream of endless water-fed ranching persists as a reminder of the region's eternal struggle with irrigation and land-use rights.
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