The Price of Peace in the Priest Rapids Valley
An attorney advises Hanford-area farmers to drop their long-standing water right grievances to secure a future for the project.
The story, cleaned up
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Addressing probably the largest gathering of Hanford water right owners ever held in the valley, Judge Carroll B. Graves of Seattle, who has had charge of their litigation for the past two years, on Tuesday evening gave them a legal interpretation of the recent decision of the Circuit Court of Appeals and also gave them some advice as to their future actions in adjusting their water rights with the power company. Judge Graves' advice was largely an admonition to the water right owners to stand together and function only through the local committee. He explained that litigation is costly and never very satisfactory, and that an honest attempt should be made to bring about some settlement that will rid the project of lawsuits. Probably the most striking bit of advice offered by Judge Graves was to let this decision of the Circuit Court be the basis for a permanent settlement; the past is to be of the past. If the rancher paid too much for his land, or has had unsatisfactory water service, he must forget it and start out new.
“If the rancher paid too much for his land... he must forget it and start out new.”
This battle over water rights and industrial development foreshadows the enormous changes the region would undergo during the Manhattan Project just two decades later. The pressure on local landowners to abandon their claims for the 'good of the whole' is a recurring theme in the history of Columbia Basin development.
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