Hanford Farmers Fight for Water Rights
A local committee is preparing for a high-stakes legal showdown in San Francisco over agricultural irrigation rights.
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.
Shortly after the first of the year, the local committee representing Hanford water right owners will hold a meeting to consider the communication from Attorney Carroll B. Graves regarding the reargument ordered by the Circuit Court of Appeals in the case brought against the water right owners by the Black Rock Power Irrigation company. The argument is set to be heard in San Francisco March 1, 1924. The water right owners generally are much encouraged over the new turn in the case for they feel that if the law were against them the case would have been decided accordingly without further argument. The final outcome will be watched with interest because of the tremendous effect it will have on affairs in the valley, regardless of how it is decided.
“The final outcome will be watched with interest because of the tremendous effect it will have on affairs in the valley.”
Water rights and the ownership of irrigation infrastructure remain the single most critical factor in the viability of the Columbia Basin. This legal battle for the Hanford area echoes the ongoing tensions between public interest and private power companies that defined the development of the region.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.