The Price of Health in the Desert
After building a home, digging a well, and planting five acres of pears, George Mogk was forced to abandon his dream and move to a higher altitude for his health.
George Mogk and wife left Monday for Ellensburg, where they will reside. Mr. Mogk had bought a tract of land near the White Bluffs road north of Hanford and had built a house, dug a well and installed a pumping plant. He had just finished planting five acres to pears when, as he was not feeling well, he consulted a physician and was informed that he must move to a higher altitude to recover his health. Both he and Mrs. Mogk regret very much to have to leave the valley.
“He had just finished planting five acres to pears when, as he was not feeling well, he consulted a physician and was informed that he must move to a higher altitude.”
The labor and capital invested in these early irrigation-fed tracts were immense, and health risks—often tied to the environmental realities of desert farming—frequently disrupted these frontier dreams. It captures the fleeting nature of 'boomer' success in the early 20th-century Columbia Basin.
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