The Kalispel Valley Diking Project
Farmers in the Kalispel Valley seek to protect their land from seasonal flooding through a private financing arrangement, bypassing the need for public bonds.
It is reported that arrangements have been about completed whereby the diking of the south end of Kalispel valley may be consummated without the necessity of issuing bonds and all the delays incident to the issuance and sale of the bonds. Spokane parties have been persuaded to take warrants to cover the cost of diking, and it is possible that the deal can be completed and the work done in time to protect the lands from high water the coming summer. A part of the north end of the valley was diked last year and the crops saved from the overflow, bringing good yields and encouraging the other districts to proceed with diking. District No. 1, just north of Cusick, is in Superior Court at Colville this week, a hearing being held for the purpose of establishing boundaries and classifying lands within the district to get the amount of the cost of diking to be assessed to each parcel of land.
“A part of the north end of the valley was diked last year and the crops saved from the overflow, bringing good yields and encouraging the other districts to proceed.”
The struggle to manage the Pend Oreille River's floodwaters has defined the agricultural history of the Kalispel Valley for over a century. This report highlights the early, precarious efforts of local farmers to organize and finance the infrastructure necessary to make the valley viable for large-scale farming.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.