Transforming the Arid Yakima Valley
A progress report from the Department of Agriculture on the potential to irrigate 200,000 acres of land in Washington.
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It is the official estimate of the department of agriculture that at least 200,000 acres of land in eastern Washington and Oregon are reclaimable by irrigation. Mr. Nimmo, special agent for the northwest, has submitted a progress report. He found the Yakima Valley to be part of an arid region which is arable only by means of irrigation. The moisture-laden winds sweep across the Cascade range and pass over the lands immediately east of that range with little precipitation. It is believed that there is a very considerable underflow in the Yakima river and also in several of the side streams. The largest wheat crop of which I heard in the Yakima valley was 100 bushels to the acre. The opinion appears to be entertained by the best informed men that it will not be profitable to raise wheat in the Yakima valley because fruit and hay—alfalfa and timothy—hop and tobacco will pay so much better. The Yakima valley is a most prolific fruit country under irrigation.
“The Yakima valley is a most prolific fruit country under irrigation.”
This report marks the beginning of the industrial-scale irrigation that defined Yakima's economy for the next century. It accurately predicted the pivot from wheat to the high-value fruit production that remains the region's hallmark today.
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