The Million-Dollar Desert Dream
A new Idaho-led corporation plans to divert the Palouse River to irrigate over 120,000 acres of arid Washington land.
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.
Articles of incorporation for the Palouse-Pasco Land and Irrigation Company were filed with the Secretary of State. The incorporators intend to construct an irrigating canal taking water from the Palouse river to extend through Whitman and Franklin counties. The capital stock is $750,000. Chief Engineer Ernest H. Hesse of Boise stated the plan is to take the waters of the Palouse river at the mouth of Cow Creek, convey it through Washtucna canyon, and follow the railroad line to a point near Pasco. The main ditch will be eighty-five miles long, reclaiming 120,000 acres of arid land.
“The new company is not a paper corporation, but has the actual funds on hand to accomplish the work laid out.”
The late 19th-century 'irrigation craze' promised to turn dry scrubland into an agricultural empire through massive infrastructure projects. These grandiose corporate visions were the precursors to the major reclamation projects that eventually transformed the Columbia Basin into one of the most productive fruit-growing regions in the world.
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