The Water War at Priest Rapids
A high-stakes legal battle over irrigation rights heads to the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, leaving local growers in suspense.
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.
Hanford water right owners will be interested to know that the case brought against them by the Black Rock Power Irrigation company to quiet title to property at Priest Rapids and which is now up on appeal to the United States Circuit Court of appeals, will be argued before that court by the respective attorneys on September 17th, in Seattle. The outcome of the case is of tremendous interest to the water right owners, as the very substance of the water rights is involved. Judge Rudkin, who was the trial judge when the case was tried in the Federal court in Yakima a little over a year ago and who decided the case in favor of the Black Rock company, has since been appointed a member of the circuit court of appeals and altho barred by court practice from sitting as a member of the court when the appeal is heard, there is some speculation as to just what influence his present position might have on the decision.
“The outcome of the case is of tremendous interest to the water right owners, as the very substance of the water rights is involved.”
Water rights have been the defining struggle of the Columbia Basin for over a century. The legal battle over Priest Rapids mirrors modern complexities where irrigation, power generation, and tribal sovereignty collide over the lifeblood of the high desert.
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