The Passing of a Richland Pioneer
Mrs. Amanda McElvain, widow of the engineer who built many of the region's earliest irrigation canals, dies at home.
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.
Mrs. Amanda McElvain, a pioneer resident of Richland, died at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Albert Weidle, Sunday evening after an illness covering a period of several weeks. Mrs. McElvain was born in Nebraska in 1860. She and her husband were residents of this part of the state for years, having come to Kennewick years before there were any other settlers here. Mr. McElvain, who died more than a year ago, was a contractor and had charge of most of the contracts for the large irrigating canals in this part of the state. The last ten years she had given her entire time to the care of an invalid daughter. The funeral was attended by practically the entire population of Richland.
“The funeral was attended by practically the entire population of Richland.”
The infrastructure mentioned here—the irrigation canals—literally created the Kennewick and Richland of today. The story serves as a reminder that the rapid settlement of the desert was fueled by the labor and lives of contractors and families who arrived long before the town's modern amenities.
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