Two Hundred Feet of Solid Rock: The Well That Might End Yakima's Water War
For years, the old settlers of the lower Ahtanum and the newcomers up on the bench lands have fought it out in the Yakima courts over who owns the creek. Now four farmers are betting on an artesian well instead — and paying for it out of their own pockets.
For a number of years the Ahtanum Valley water case has been occupying the attention of the court at Yakima, to determine the priority of right to the use of water from that stream, between the old settlers of the lower valley and the newcomers of the bench lands, whose farms do not adjoin the creek. It has been profitable picking for the lawyers, and a continued expense to the contestants.
Perhaps a solution of the difficulty may be found in a more satisfactory manner than can be given by the law, in the test artesian well that is being sunk on the George Wilson place, the expense of which is shared jointly by H. D. Winchester, J. F. McClure, Thomas Fear and R. Strobach. They have been at work since New Year's, and although the first effort was not successful, a new location was made and they are now down about 200 feet, where they are working through solid rock. A successful outcome of the experiment will mean plenty of water for everybody.
“Perhaps a solution of the difficulty may be found in a more satisfactory manner than can be given by the law.”
Water in the Yakima Basin is still allocated by priority of right, still fought over in court, and still short in dry years — senior irrigators, junior users and a changing climate arguing over the same creek. In 1898 the answer to a legal bill was to drill, a bet that engineering could outrun litigation. That bet is essentially how the whole valley was built.
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