The Kennewick courier-reporter. [volume] (Kennewick, Wash.) 1939-1949, 1947-09-25
Lineweuver Predicts
Western Expansion

ton, Washington, ID. c., the
Courier-Reporter is publishing in
full the text of the address. II
will appear in two installmentS.
The first, appearing below, tells
of the past development Of re-
clamation. The second part, to
appear next week, presents a
picture Of the Bureaus plans OF
development with specific pre-
dictions as 10 the Kennewick
project
This is a great day in Kenne-
wick. ] only wish Assistant Sec
rotary of the Interior William +.
Warne and Commissioner Of Re-
clamation Michael w. StrauS
could be here to join you in
this inspiring crop festival. They
surely appreciated your friendly
invitation TO attend but the press
of official business elsewhere
made il impossible for them 10 be
here. extend to you their greet
ings. / am sure they will come
another day.
Every efficient business takes
an Inventory at the end OF its
calendar or fiscal year. We of
Reclamation, Department of the
Interior, in effect, do likewise. In
the case of Reclamation, however,
a more effective way Of evaluat-
ing the assets of this national
program of water and land re-
sources development is to ap-
praise it from a long-range point
of view.
This we can do very effectively
this year, for 1947 is the one
hundredth anniversary of modern
irrigation in the United States.
The Bureau has been in business
the last AS years of this period.
1t was in 1847 that the followers
Of Brigham Young broke desert
land in the Salt Lake Valley of
Utah, diverted waters from what
is now City Creek, irrigated their
land, and planted potatoes.
Water Supreme
Today 21,000,000 acres of once
unproductive desert in the IL
Western States have been trans
formed through private initiative
and the Bureau of Reclamation
into fertile farms. In the wake of
this development have grown
hundreds Of thriving cities and
towns, with thousands of in
dustries and other businesses. AS
an empire builder, water has
reigned supreme.
In the last 100 years, the
checkerboard of Reclamation pro-
jects in the West, has contributed
untold national wealth to the
well-being Of the Nation / can
think Of no finer example TO
illustrate this fact than the
Valley Of the Yakima. Here you
can see first hand the results of
the artificial application of water
to the soil. Here sagebrush has
been removed and burned, and
crops made TO grow where none
would grow before. Here the
land served a full or partial
supply of water by the Bureau
OF Reclamation in 1916 yielded
crop returns totaling $4,000, 900,
value Of all the projects in the
West. H..
This city, with its busy grape
juice plant, its cannery, its
modern service stations, its hotels,
its fine parks, would not be here
as. we see il today but for the
Harvesting Of the Yakima River,
which flows by not far from
where we now stand. No need
TO talk in generalities about Re-
clamation benefits. Here in
Kennewick you can see the pro-
gram at work. You are living it.
Power Important a
To carry my illustration Of the
far-reaching benefits of irrigation
developments a bit further, let
me point out that many Of you
people employed at the Hanford
plant which made the worlds
first atomic bomb and ended
World War III months early
would not be here today were il
not for the utilization of wafer
resources in the Pacific North
west. For it was hydroelectric
power produced in the worlds
second largest power plant at
Grand Coulee Dam on the Column
bia River that made this devasta-
ting weapon of war possible.
This power was produced on
what we call a multiple-purpose
project. Many Of these have been
constructed on Western rivers.
On this type Of development,
stream run-off is impounded for
several purposes, including irri-
cation, power production, inn
proyement Of navigation, and con-
troll Of damaging floods. Without
the Federal Reclamation develop
ment at the head of the Grand
Coulee the, atomic bomb could
Continued on page fiye)