The daily star-mirror., 1915-02-16
'RANCHERS OPPOSE
PALOUSE PROJECT
PROTEST. AGAINST LOCATION OF
RESERVOIR ON PALOUSE RI
YER ABOVE POTLATCH
Property Would be Destroyed or Dam.
aged-Ceunty Income Would
Diminish

COutouuluS That IRe establishing o.
reservoir on the Palouse river above
Potlatch for the Palouse Irrigation
Project, which is intended to reclaim
arid land in the vicinity of Pasco
Washington, would materially dimin-
ish the taxable property in the nor
thern part of the county, increase the
county expense by requiring new roads
and bridges, destroy the results Of
years of work in improving the proper
| ty in the district, and greatly delay
the development of one of the richest
sections of Latah county, citizens o1
orously protested against the Project
at the Chamber of Commerce meeting
today.
| At the Chamber of Commerce meet
ing last Tuesday, citizens of Princeton
called the attention of members to the
EFFECT that the proposed reservoir would
have on the county, and committee
was appointed to investigate the mat
ter Through the efforts of the mem
bers of that committee, which included
M. P. Miller, j. S. Jones, and L. l.
Young, the meeting today was ar
ranged, and persons who favor the pro-
|ject were invited to be present. Among
them were G. N. Hinchliff, known as
the father of the Palouse Project, and
J. A. Perkins, both of Colfax Ernest
McCulloh of Sunnyside, Wash, engi-
neer of the project, was present, not
as representative of the government
he said, but merely to give informa-
ton on the subject.
Mr.. Perkins, Mr.. Hinchliff, and J. w
IGoff spoke on the project, favoring 1t
on the broad ground that in reclaiming
a large territory in central Washing
ton, the Inland Empire, and indirectly
Latah county, would be benefited.
A dam seventy-six feet high, located
above Potlatch, would make a reser-
voir of 100000 acre feet capacity, ac-
cording to Engineer McCulloh, and
about 340O acres of land would be sub
merged. About 1900 acres would be in
cluded in the reservoir site.
W. D. Humiston of Potlatch was the
first speaker from the territory affected
by the reservoir site. He could see no
advantages other than of the most in
tangible sort to be derived from the
Project by Latah county or it's people,
he said, while there would be removed
from the tax roll considerable area
of valuable land, and the reservoir
formed by the backing up of water in
Crane, Rock, Halter ,and other creeks
would isolate much other land and
greatly depreciate it's value. Roads
would be submerged, and great de-
tours would have to be made around
the arms of the reservoir, or expensive
bridges would have to be built, in
creasing the county expenses, and
providing another cause for an increas-
ed rate of taxation. With overdevelop-
ed power system already in existence,
there could be little. or no market for
any power that might be developed,
especially as it would be available only
in the summer He urged the Chamber
to give the matter more careful con-
sideration before acting on Mr.. Hinch-
lifts suggestion that they pass res
olution endorsing the project.
L. A. Sheldon of Princeton protested
against the locating of the reservoir at
the point recommended, deploring the
destruction of one of the best
seed-growing districts in the country
He alleged that, the project was being
promoted by persons and corporations
not genuinely interested in the welfare
of farmers or communities in Latah
county or elsewhere. w. L. Wells of
Princeton stated that so far it had
been impossible to get the views of
anyone opposed to the reservoir loca-
ton before the public through the
A. D. Livingston also op-
posed the project
Homer Garfield of Harvard said he
pays his taxes cheerfully-at least as
as others do-but that in
case the reservoir goes in he will de-
mand a lower rate, for his land
though not submerged, will be isolated
and the community development will
have been destroyed to such extent
hat his land will be of much less value
In his opinion, the ranchers whose
land will not be included in the reser-
voir site will be the greatest sufferers,