330 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 





THE KENNEWICK CANAL, NEAR KENNEWICK, 

 WASHINGTON. 



During a recent visit to Washington the writer's 

 attention was called to some remarkable work accom- 

 plished by the Northern Pacific Irrigation Company, 

 near Kennewick, a thrifty town in eastern Washington, 

 near the junction of the far-famed Columbia and Snake 

 rivers. The following data and illustrations were 

 secured through the kindness of Mr. 0. L. Hanson, 

 superintendent in charge : 



The Kennewick Canal takes its water from the 

 Yakima River, twenty-two miles west of Kennewick. 

 The main canal is thirty-two miles long, with twelve 

 miles of laterals, covering about 14,000 acres of land. 

 The ditch was completed in the early spring of 1903, 

 and the first work of actual cultivation was started in 

 April, 1903. At the present time there are approxi- 

 mately 4,000 acres under irrigation and cultivation, the 

 crops consisting principally of early fruits, strawberries 

 and alfalfa. This project is located on the main line of 

 the Northern Pacific Railway, 150 miles west of 

 Spokane, and 254 miles east of Puget Sound. The 



Trestle at Badger Canyon Flume No. 2 Northern Pacific Irrigation 

 Canal, Kennewick, Wash. 



extremely low altitude, 362 feet above sea level, assures 

 a very mild winter climate, and an exceptionally long 

 and early growing season, being about three weeks 

 earlier and three weeks later than North Yakima or 

 the upper Yakima Valley. Climatic conditions are such 

 that farmers are enabled to raise and place produce on 

 the market earlier than any other part of the entire 

 Pacific Northwest, such articles as European grapes, 

 Clark seedling strawberries, early varieties of peaches, 

 apples, cherries, apricots, nectarines, asparagus, rheu- 

 barb, Rocky Ford cantelope, watermelons and all vari- 

 eties of garden truck, for all of which is found a ready 

 market, at exceptionally high prices. This season about 

 4,000 crates of strawberries were shipped, which brought 

 an average price of $3.50 per crate on the depot plat- 

 form at Kennewick. The first berries were picked on 

 the 28th day of April. The first crates were shipped 

 on the 3d of May. This was some two weeks earlier 

 than Walla Walla and Hood River, which places have, 

 heretofore, been the earliest producers of this class in 

 the Northwest. Within a radius of two miles from 

 Kennewick the land is farmed in small tracts, ranging 

 from five to twenty acres. Nearly all this land is set 

 to fruit and vineyard, strawberries being planted be- 



tween the tree or grape rows the berries alone this 

 year producing as high as $350 per acre profit. The 

 trees and grapes are not yet into bearing. Outside of 

 the two-mile radius, the land is generally farmed in 

 from twenty to forty acre tracts, the principal crop 

 being alfalfa. 



To give a clearer understanding of the length of 

 the growing season, it may be stated that two crops 



Bridge and Flume Northern Pacific Irrigation Canal, Kennewick, Wash. 



of potatoes are produced on the same land in one season, 

 the first crop being marketed as early potatoes, between 

 the 10th and 25th of June. This gives time to prepare 

 land for the second crop, which should be planted not 

 later than the 10th of July, and they may be harvested 

 any time during November. After the second crop 

 of potatoes is harvested, a crop of rye or winter wheat 

 is planted, which in turn is plowed under in the early 

 spring, to add fertilizer for the season's crops. In this 

 way the soil is kept well fertilized. The soil being of 

 a volcanic origin, which disintegrates each year with 

 the action of sun and water, prevents it from wearing 



Northern Pacific Irrigation Canal, Kennewick, Wash., Dividing Gates 

 Main Canal on right, Lateral No. 2 on left. 



out, and an analysis shows it to be practically inex- 

 haustible. 



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Send $2.50 for The Irrigation Age 

 1 year, and The Primer of Irrigation 



