The Great High Line Irrigation Dream
Engineers are scouring Northern Pacific Railway data to see if a massive canal can bring water to 170,000 acres of arid land near Kennewick.
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.
Project Manager Tiffany is currently investigating the 'High Line' irrigation project, a monumental effort to bring water from the Yakima River at Rosa down through the valley. The proposed canal would swing across the divide, irrigating a slope on the Columbia River side. Statistics from the Northern Pacific Railway, which conducted exhaustive surveys, have been placed at the disposal of the reclamation service. The goal is to estimate the feasibility of irrigating between 125,000 and 170,000 acres, potentially making the Yakima the greatest of all reclamation projects.
“Development in this valley, in the opinion of Mr. Tiffany, possible thru the stored waters is such to make the Yakima the greatest of all the reclamation projects.”
This piece chronicles the massive, landscape-altering infrastructure projects that transformed Eastern Washington into an agricultural powerhouse. The 'High Line' remains a ghost-project of regional history, illustrating how water rights have always dictated the growth and wealth of the Columbia Basin.
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