The Great Rain of 1903
A record-breaking two-week downpour across Eastern Washington threatens to destroy the wheat harvest and the livelihood of local farmers.
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.
Reports of damage to the grain and hay crops are coming in from all sections of Eastern Washington. For the past two weeks, heavy rain has fallen almost every day, stretching from Walla Walla north to the international boundary. No such prolonged rain has been known in this section in 12 years. Even the most optimistic farmers are gloomy as they see the fruits of a season's labor in a serious condition. A fair estimate is that two-thirds of the wheat has been cut, but much of it remains in the fields in stacks, which are now being soaked by the downpour. The disaster is compounded by the fact that the farming season was already a month late due to a cold, wet spring.
“Even the most optimistic farmers are gloomy now as they see the fruits of a season's labor in a serious condition.”
This story highlights the perennial vulnerability of Walla Walla's agricultural economy to extreme weather events, a struggle that remains central to the region today as climate patterns shift.
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