The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1906-09-26
100000 has been made thus far availa-

100000 has been made thus far availa-
ble
Kittitas and Benton Units-The Kit
titas Project, embracing 10000 acres
near Ellensburg at the upper end of the
valley, and the Benton Project, covering
. 10000 acres at the extreme lower end
of the valley bordering upon the Column
bia river and including the thriving town
; of Kennewick, are two more units of the
Yakima Project, for which, however, so
has been set aside.
) Umatilla Project.-A fine growth of
sage brush, an untold number of rabbits
and an occasional coyote is all that may
) now be seen on the rolling stretch of
country bounded by the Columbia river
on the north and the Umatilla river on
the west, containing some $4,000 acres
of land. There is a small oasis in this
desolate desert, however, near the town
Of Hermiston on the eastern branch of
the O. r. 4 n. Co.'S railroad, six miles
south of Umatilla, where through flood
irrigation some agriculture has been at
tempted
The land looks forbidding at present,
but to the imaginative eye it contains
all the germs on prosperity, comfort and
even wealth. A great depth of fertile
volcanic soil, long and warm summer
season, and excellent transportation ia
ciities unite to create conditions which
when the water is brought to the land
will work transformation common en-.
ough to the western irrigator but mirac.
ulous to the citizen from the east.
The Reclamation Service will provide
the water by building ninety feet high
earth dam in a dry canyon on the edge
of the irrigabe lands, whereby valley
will be closed capable of containing So
900 acre feet of water. This reservoir
will be filled with flood waters from the
Umatilla river through a feed canal
twenty five miles long, From the reser-
voir the water will be conveyed to the
lands through a system of distribution
canals and laterals, complicated because
of the rolling character of the land.
Bids have been received for the con-
struction of the feed canal and dam and
every effort will be made by the Recla
nation service to rush construction so
as to privide water during the 1908 ir-
rgation season, at least for the major
portion of the land.
The question may be asked what may
be reasonably expected as the result OF
this reclamation work. 1t is quite GER
tain that some weakness will appear in
this finished construction; that, since
water is impartial, canal banks will
break occasionally under government
control as they do when owned by pri-
vate corporations; criticism will surely
raise its head, and incompetence may
perhaps occasionally be charged. Care
full construction in the beginning and
subsequent patient and persistent effort
will, however, correct such DEFICIENCIES as
may be found.
1t is difficult to realize TO the full eX
tent what the ultimate irrigation of
100000 additional acres of land in
Washington and Oregon included in the
above projects when finally completed
will mean to these states. 1t is GER
tain, however, that it will add some ten
thousand additional families to the pop
ulation of these states, consisting of
people of high degree of civilization
because of the favorable surroundings
of suburban life. 1t will mean the
steadily growing trade of adjoining cit
les, additional business for the railroads.
increased wealth for the state, and,
above all, an addition tothat class of
sturdy, self supporting and Independent
husbandmen which forms the backbone
of our national body and upon which
the prosperity and fate of the nation
will in its last resort depend D c.
Henry, Supervising Engineer United
States Reclamation Service, in Pacific
Magazine.