White Bluffs spokesman. [volume] (White Bluffs, Wash.) 1907-1938, 1932-12-22

settlement of the land diff
cult and worked heavy hard
ships on the early settlers.
Not all of those early settlers stayed
nor did all of those who came later.
bring its own quota of hardships a
certain number would become discour-
aged ana move on, the personnel of
the valley coming eventually to COM
prise only the harder souls. For this
reason the following history of events
! here since the beginning of irrigation
| should prove of unusual interest.
| For instance, only few of the pres
ent residents of the Priest Rapids val
| ley know that the original townsite
of White Bluffs was located on the
Columbia river at point below the
Sunnybank dairy ranch of Frank E.
| Taylor. The early development of the
valley dates back to the year 1904
| In that year w. r. Todd, John w.
Cover and others established a freight
and passenger steamer line between
KcnneWick, Pasco, and up-river points.
plated the original townsite of White
Bluffs, and sold number of lots. No
buildings were constructed, as the prn-
cipal trading point was at White Bluffs
ferry, where Walter Helsom at that
time operated a saw mill, store and
over might stopping place for travel
ers. The building in which the Hell
| SONS conducted their store and in
which they had their living quarters,
is the present residence of Mrs. Ethel
Remlinger.
Following this earlier development.
group of business men in Seattle
and Tacoma formulated plans for a
large irrigation development which in
cluded the construction of a power
plant at Priest Rapids, a pumping sta
ton at Coyote Rapids, and irrigation
works covering the lands now in the
developed area around White Bluffs
brother, George, with John w. Cover
who had been interested in the old
White Bluffs toWnste and the steam
er line together with Marley b.
Haynes and Judge G.. H. Hartford, laid
plans for the organization of the Han
ford Irrigation and Power Company.
great many prominent lawyers and
business men Of Seattle, Tacoma Walla
Wala, and other points throughout
the state became interested in the Or
ganlzation of the new company. Some
of their names will be mentioned fur
ther along in this story
Soon after plans were laid to organ
ize the Hanford Company, fractional
differences arose between the promoters
as to the manner of development and
the location of the townsite of the
project. The principal reason for these
differences arose because each faction
sought the location of the town nearest
it's land which had been plated and
were to be sold to settlers. One group
owned large tract of land in the
vicinity of Hanford while the other
had its principal holdings in the north
end of the valley, around White Bluffs.
The Hanford Irrigation and Power
Company was organized in 1905 and
acquired a large acreage from the
Northern Pacific Railway company and
the state of Washington. 1t sold it's
common stock and part of its bonds,
the funds SO raised being used to make
purchases of land and to build the
power and irrigation works very much
as they exist today. The two groups,
unable to patch up these differences,
continued to drift further apart, and
the ultimate result was break as to
the toWnste location. Instead of To-
eating one town at the original site
below the Taylor ranch, one group,
interested in the land around White
Bluffs, plated the townsite of White
Bluffs City which is now commonly
known as the old toWnsite. The other
group plated the townsite of Hanford
G. B. Smith of Tacoma, with other
associates from the Coast organized
the White Bluffs Land & Irrigation
company, installed gas producer OPP
Grated pumping plant, taking water
from the Columbia river just north
of the White Bluffs ferry landing and
distributing it through pipes to the
land in the immediate vicinity of the
old town. The eastern boundary Of this
body Of land was the Columbia river;
the northwest tract the NJ F. OBrien