IRRIGATION IN THE YAKIMA 

 VALLEY. 



BY JOEL SHOMAKER. 



The Yakima Valley is the largest and most important irrigated 

 section of eastern Washington. It consists of a series of valleys ex- 

 tending from the eastern slope of the Cascade Mountains to the Columbia 

 river, a distance of 60 miles or more. The valley proper has an 

 average width of 15 miles, and includes the Yakima Indian reservation. 

 According to official reports this section has more water for irrigation 

 than any similar sized tract in the entire enclosure of Arid America. 

 The water comes from perpetual snow banks in the Cascades, and is 

 carried through the country in rapid flowing streams, among them 

 being the Yakima, and Natchez rivers and their tributaries, Cowiche, 

 Wenaz, Ahtanum, Toppenish and other creeks. The country of Yokima 

 contains 2,500,000 acres of irrigable lands and the Indian reservation 

 area of about 1,400 square miles. 



This valley has been settled less than a quarter of a century, the 

 principal location having been made since the completion of the 

 Northern Pacific railroad, which crosses it from east to west. There 

 are at present probably 18,000 inhabitants in the country and a little 

 more than one thousand Indians on their reservation. The city of 

 North Yakima has about one fourth the population and the remainder 

 are located in farming districts at Sunnyside, Mabton, Prosser and 

 along the different streams. There are 60 school houses in the valley, 

 all the leading church organizations are well represented, and the 

 people as a rule are generally prosperous. The reservation has an 

 industrial school of the highest class, and many of the younger Indians 

 are well educated in language and the arts. 



Canals are taken from the streams by the gravity system, and the 

 water is conveyed to the farms in open ditches. The famous Sunny- 

 side canal one of the largest in the west, is 62 feet wide, and has a 

 carrying capacity sufficient to irrigate 60,000 acres. Water under this 

 system costs the users one dollar an acre for annual maintenance, and 

 a perpetual right is sold with the land for 30.00 an acre. In many 

 instances the homesteaders have exchanged one half their entries for 

 water to irrigate the other half. The Prosser Palls canal is one of 

 the important systems, which like a majority of the irrigation enter- 

 prises floated a few years ago, has passed through the days of inac- 

 tivity, and will soon become one of the powers in reclaiming a vast 

 area of land. Corporation canals have suffered from the recent years 



