The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1905-07-05
new DITCH MAKING
GLAD WASTE PLACES
Old Fowler Ditch and Extension Of
More Than Nine Miles Built by
Lombard q HOrsley.

Some one has said that the man
who built and maintained an irri-
eating ditch was worth more to the
great northwest and the state in
which he lived than a congressman.
Doubtless this is true. and the peo-
pie show by their encouragement
and patronage that they appreciate
the work of the ditch builder, who
supplies the most necessary element
to the successful growing of crops.
Truly he is benefactor of all man
kind who makes two blades of grass
grow where one grew before, and the
sagebrush desert to bloom as the
garden.
The Yakima valley has been for
tunate in having investors and pro-
moters who devoted their energies
and their capital to the irrigata-
ton of its wonderfully rich soil. In
the main, it is well supplied with
bitches. in consideration of it's pres
ent population, and the compare
lively short time the work of devel-
opment of the country has been 60
| ing on. One of the latest enterprises
that is worth more to the county,
and particularly to North Yakima.
|
acres to the irrigable land immedi-
ately tributary to this city. than is
generally supposed, is the extension
of the old Fowler ditch, which was
recently completed by Messrs LON
bard & Horsley, who now own the
old ditch. eight miles in length. and
the new extension, nine and 'onehalf
miles long.
1 fn1, cd 70
Lombard & Horsley about the first
of May of this year. At that time
they had the work of the extension
well under way. and this was
pushed rapidly with a view to get
ting water on the heretofore dry
lands yet this season. This eff
fort made the enterprise cost about
$500 more than 1t would have cost
to proceed more leisurely with the
work, and carry water down this fall
said to be one of the best constructed
bitches in the county. 1t begins
where the old Fowler ditch ended
skirts the hill on the east side of the
gap, and continues on for three miles
down past the intake of the Sunny
side canal. The land which it will
from the extension amounts to about
500 acres, and there is no better in
all the county. There were already
about 1000 acres being watered
from the Fowler ditch, and when the
laterals of the extension are built
and all TIE land it is possible to irri-
area covered by the old and new
itah bn
acres.
After securing all the property,
rights of way and appropriations of
the old and for the new bitches, the
present owners went to work in
earnest to get the undertaking COM
pleted. 1t has been an expensive
piece of work. The surveying alone
costing $4,000. The greater part
of the extension is of heavy tim
bered tiume. put up on substantial
fir supports and lined with tongued
and grooved lumber. More than a
third of million feet of lumber was
used in its construction, and the de-
livery of this lumber on the ground
ready for the construction gang, was
in itself big item of expense
Where the ditch is built through
: soil the conditions are all favorable
for its permanency. and the charac-
ter of the ground is such that little
: will be lost by leakage or seepage.
Already nearly $4,000 has been ex-
pended. and the owners intend to
spend a great deal more in perfec,-
ing and charging the system, whloh
is now k.'Cwn as the Union Gay fri
cation company's ditch
Some time ago. when MessrS
Lombard & Horsley We're acting as
trustees of the old Fowler ditch
their attention was called to the pos.
sibility of extending it on around the
mountain and bringing under cult
walton the tract of land known to be
rich and easy to irrigate. An in
vestigation of the project showed II
to be feasible, and the work was al
once undertaken. The ditch owners
have the good will of every patron
: and are conducting the enterprise
in a way that gives entire satisfac-
, ton. They have "a fine ranch of
, their own near the end of the old
| ditch. which is in hops, alfalfa and
. potatoes.