State Irrigation Association Formed in Yakima
Delegates from across the arid belt met in Yakima to demand federal land grants and the opening of the Yakima Indian Reservation to white settlement.
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A fair number of those interested in irrigation gathered in the Yakima club rooms in response to a call by W. H. Peterson of Ellensburg. The Washington State Irrigation Association was organized to advocate for reclaiming arid lands. The group passed resolutions favoring the opening of the Yakima Indian Reservation to settlement and urged the federal government to grant all arid lands to the states within which they are situated.
“The association resolved in favor of the opening of the Yakima Indian reservation to settlement.”
This event captures the massive land-grab era of the American West. The push to open reservation land for 'settlement' reflects the systematic dispossession of Indigenous peoples that defined Yakima's agricultural expansion.
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