1884 First documented irrigation of Tumalo lands from Tumalo Creek, on the site known as Wimer Flat, where Tumalo Reservoir was later attempted. A series of development corporations file claims to the entire flow of Tumalo Creek for irrigation. The principals in the earliest corporations are entrepreneurs and promoters from Prineville north to the Columbia. They are soon replaced with others who have connections to national railroad development interests and distant capital markets. 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.