A Canal Turns Sagebrush Into a Boomtown
Kennewick bets on 15,000 irrigated acres and a thousand new residents as the Horse Heaven country fills with wheat.
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.
Kennewick is experiencing quite a boom due to the opening of the Kennewick Canal, which will water 15,000 acres of fine land. It is probable that by the end of the year that town will have a thousand people.
The Horse Heaven country to the south and west of Kennewick is rapidly filling up. It has been demonstrated that this section produces splendid wheat and it promises to become a farming country almost rivaling the famous Palouse.
The principal crops which will be planted under the new irrigation ditch will be alfalfa and grain, but a large portion will also be set out in orchards and small fruits, melons, cantaloupes and garden truck.
“Kennewick is experiencing quite a boom due to the opening of the Kennewick Canal, which will water 15,000 acres of fine land.”
Irrigation turned Kennewick from a dry-land outpost into a real town, and the same booster logic—water, land, population—still drives growth fights across the Tri-Cities. The Horse Heaven Hills remain a contested landscape of wheat, wind farms and sprawl.
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