Railroads are rumored to be coming south from the Columbia and east from the Willamette Valley. Many investors know even less about realities on the ground than the promoters. Railroads and irrigated agriculture will open up a new land to development, production and settlement. The Three Sisters Irrigation Company claims to have completed a canal system sufficient to deliver Tumalo Creek water to 10,000 acres. The Columbia Southern Railroad reaches Shaniko, halfway from the Columbia River to Prineville.
Expectations are high.
Oregon seeks to administer the Act in such a way that no public money will be spent. The State will give private irrigation developers a lien against the lands benefited by canals and reservoir systems. By the end of the year, the Columbia Southern Irrigation Company claims it has sold 9,000 acres and predicts 30,000 acres of Tumalo lands will be sold and under irrigation by 1904. The national promotion of Tumalo lands peaks. The first settlers begin clearing land.