COST OF PRODUCING APPLES IN YAKIMA VALLEY. 5 



seventies farmers began in a small way to practice irrigation, taking 

 water from rivers and creeks to irrigate small tracts in the adjacent 

 lowlands. Probably the first irrigating ditch of any size was the 

 Konewoc, which was built about 1878. This ditch, some 9 miles 

 long, tapped the Yakima River at a point about 10 miles below the 

 present site of the city of North Yakima. The irrigated land was 

 used for growing alfalfa and wheat hay, but only upon a very limited 

 scale. A few hopyards were found in the Ahtanum Valley as early 

 as 1880. 



By 1888 there were a few family orchards in the district, mostly 

 prunes and apples. Probably the first commercial planting of fruit 

 trees was made about this time by H. J. Bicknell in what is known 

 as Parker Bottom. This planting consisted of 3 acres, principally 

 prunes and peaches. In the spring of 1889 Fred Thomson set out, 

 also in the Parker Bottom district, the next commercial planting, 

 including probably the first commercial apple orchard in the valley. 

 His whole planting consisted of 10 acres, including 3 acres of prunes, 

 3 acres of peaches, 3 acres of Ben Davis apples, and 1 acre of pears. 

 At this time a few express shipments of fruit were being sent to the 

 coast cities from the small home orchards. The fine quality of the 

 fruit and its freedom from insect injury and diseases were incentives 

 to commercial planting, and following the early plantings in Parker 

 Bottom other orchards were set near Zillah, a few miles below, and 

 also in Naches, at Selah, and on Nob Hill in the upper valley. 



In 1888 and 1889 two important irrigation companies were orga- 

 nized; one under John A. Stone to undertake the Selah project and 

 the other unde*r Paul Schulze to develop what is now known as the 

 Sunnyside Government ditch. Land with water rights at this time 

 was selling from $30 to $50 per acre. Paul Schulze was the Northern 

 Pacific land agent and had purchased from this railroad a considerable 

 acreage which it had received as a part of the alternate sections given 

 under Government land grants. The other sections of land were open 

 to homestead. Both the above companies went into the hands of 

 receivers in 1893 and emerged as private corporations again about 

 three years later. The Government purchased the Sunnyside Canal 

 in 1906 and about 1911 the Selah project was taken over by the 

 growers in the form of a water users' association. About 1896 the 

 Government built a canal to the Indian reservation and in 1909 began 

 the Tieton and other reservation canals. Following the Selah and 

 Sunnyside projects came the Congdon or Yakima Valley Canal and 

 also the Selah-Moxee Canal. 



Up to about 1897 the prune-growing industry occupied a position 

 of chief importance; about this time the prices for prunes became so 

 low that many orchards were pulled out. 



