The Struggle for Water Control
The Columbia Irrigation District attempts to take over the Northern Pacific Irrigation Company, highlighting early battles over infrastructure ownership in the valley.
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.
The recently elected board of directors of the Columbia Irrigation District has organized and will move forward in an effort to place before the voters of the district a proposition for taking over the irrigation system of the Northern Pacific Irrigation Company. The board organized by electing H. S. Hughes chairman and appointing M. M. Moulton as temporary secretary. The board has already opened conferences with J. J. Rudkin, general manager of the irrigation company, but as yet little headway has been made toward arriving at a valuation which is acceptable to both parties. The company has proposed to turn over the system as it stands for $75,000, but the directors are unwilling to submit this to the voters, planning instead to engage an engineer to make a detailed estimate of the work required to carry sufficient water to the valley lands. The district will not be in a position to assume control by the opening of the irrigation season, so the company will proceed with its usual spring repair work.
“The directors, however, are unwilling to submit this proposition to the voters and plans are now being made to conference with Mr. Rudkin.”
Conflicts over water rights and irrigation infrastructure were fundamental to the development of Kennewick. This struggle between a private utility and a public irrigation district reflects a recurring theme in Washington’s history regarding who controls essential public resources.
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