The Kennewick courier-reporter. [volume] (Kennewick, Wash.) 1914-1938, 1915-03-04


life. The canal was being built, land
sold, people came fast, times looked
good and the population soon devel-
oped to 400. After the Y. /. &. /. Co.
began operations on the canal, another
appeared on the scene cal
led the Ledbetter company, each COM
pany working on the same canal-one
building a mile or two, then
the other forestalling them. This
canal was called by the people the
"stove pipe ditch" one company build
ing joint and then the next company
one. At last the Ledbetter company
abandoned it to the Y. /. & /. Co.
The hard times of 1S94-5 saw still
another townsite die natural death.
This is picture described to me by
one of the pioneer ladies': "The town
proper consisted of railroad station,
section house (full of Chinamen), gen.
eral store and postoffice Tin one), a
hotel costing $4,000 (empty), one
hotel, the old Columbia, which stood
where the o. w. R. & N. depot now
stands, occupied by Mr.. Beach;
shop, meat market (most-
ly unoccupied) a north side school,
which answered as church, town hall
and all other purposes of public ma
ture; also saloon, but as all the peo-
pie were church goers, the saloon
keeper closed his saloon and started
going to church too, but finally left
for better place. We had an excel
lent Sunday school and Christian En-
deavor and the ladies had splendid
times. We gave receptions and en-
and at Easter time ev-
went out wild-fower hunting.
On Sunday the school house was a
bower of beauty, as the prairies were
a garden of wild flowers"
Land anywhere could be bought for
$50 to $50 per acre. Before irrigation
the people lived by means of range
stock, such as horses, cattle and sheep.
Hundreds of horses might be seen at
one time galloping down the Horse
Heaven hills on their way to the Col
umbia river to drink, and the tramp
Of their many feet was like the roar
of thunder.
Horse Heaven was so called on ac-
count of the abundance of fine bunch
grass, which made a real heaven for
those horses.
The country now known as Section
Seven, the Highlands and the Gar
den Tracts were then inhabited by
coyotes and jack rabbits and the range
stock. The year 1894 was the year
of the great flood of the Columbia
river-no living Indian had ever
known or heard of such flood.
Climatic conditions have changed
somewhat, caused by greater mois-
ture. In the early SOS and COS very
little rain fell. The heat began ear
lier and lasted longer. The winters
were milder.
Schools
The first school district was formed
in 1885 and was called Columbia
school district No. II. The first
school meeting was called on May 26,
1885. The first school directors were
C. j. Beach, A. R. Leeper, A. w.
Gray and j. Dimond. The first teacher
was Mrs. Mary Haak, who received a
salary Of $4,000 month. School
opened June 1st, 1885. The school CEN
sus showed males, to Fl years of
age, 26; females 10; under five years,
male IL, female IL. Kennewick has
never been without schools to the
present time.
Irrigation and Developments
DR.. G. A. Cantonwine, now gone to
the Great Beyond, is said to have been
the father of irrigation in this Sec
ton. No doubt this statement is cor
rect, as there are still several old pri-
vate canals still in sight along the
Yakima river, constructed in the early
8O's.
In 1889 the Dell Haven Irrigation
district operated the canal but none
were built because it takes money to
construct canals, but the people of
firmness and great faith, saw great
in this favored location,
hence the entrance of the VI. & I. and
finally the N. P. I. Co., who assumed
the work where others had failed.
And this company has built well. The
previous failures were caused by times
and conditions and of all the canals
constructed in the Northwest during
the development period, few survived
a failure.
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