Water comes to the Columbia Basin

By LuAnn Morgan

Contributing writer

The year was 1927 and 20 congressmen came on a tour of the area.

At the summit of the Saddle Mountains, they looked out over 20,000 acres of sage brush that was slated to be included in the Columbia Basin Irrigation Project. Abandoned homesteader shacks were torn down to build tables for a noon banquet.

Looking out over the area, there were mixed feelings about the project.

“These people need irrigation,” Senator Henry Ashurst, of Arizona, said. “But they’ll never get it.”

The first public proposal for a dam to be built in the Grand Coulee area was in 1918. It wasn’t a new idea.

Laughlin MacLean first proposed a 1,000-foot high dam at Grand Coulee in 1892. The idea was rejected by the newly formed U.S. Reclamation Service, but it didn’t deter those who supported the idea of turning the dry desert into lush farmland.

Businessmen formed a group that began a publicity campaign touting a Grand Coulee dam that would bring water to over a million acres of land.

The project’s biggest supporter was James O’Sullivan. His promotional claims earned him many enemies, some who backed a competing plan to dam Albeni Falls in Idaho and store water at Lake Pend Oreille.

The state was convinced to fund a survey commission to investigate both projects. The concern was untoward competition against Washington Water Power’s electric business.

In 1921, the state hired Seattle engineer Willis Batcheller to review the commission’s report. He concluded Grand Coulee was the superior project and was fired. He was replaced by General George Goethals, the engineer for the Panama Canal.

Goethals advised against Grand Coulee. He said there was no market for the excess electricity that would be generated.

At about the same time, another study was completed by the Federal Power Commission. That report agreed with Batcheller.

The Burea of Reclamation early on touted the benefits of settling in the newly irrigated Columbia Basin. Stock photo.

In 1926, two Washington senators began pushing for funding of a federal study that would strictly look at which of the two dams was truly the most feasible. Army engineer Major John Butler spent three years surveying the Grand Coulee and Albeni Falls areas.

His conclusion — Grand Coulee was the better plan.

Construction of Grand Coulee Dam was driven by the need to create jobs during the Great Depression. People needed to be put to work.

It did, indeed, accomplish that goal. In fact, construction took 18 years, enough time for some of the workers to actually retire from their jobs.

In 1951, Othello farmers began to ready their land for water. Five miles west, George Powers had unwillingly accepted a piece of land as payment of a debt.

Powers and neighboring landowner Frank Miller were in favor of water coming to their acreage. Yet, they weren’t sure how successful it would be without electricity, which didn’t exist outside of town.

In September 1952, bids were open for the laterals that were needed to bring the water to Othello. As construction began, people watched for the monighan, which was used to dig the trenches, to come within sight.

Finally, the promise of water in the desert was looking like it could actually happen. Powers was the first to receive electrical service after WWP poles went up to serve Block 49.

And with that promise of water came new businesses. The first farm implement dealership was constructed and the Para brothers built a 50,000-bushel grain storage warehouse on the Milwaukee tracks south of the city limits.

Plus, a new two-story concrete and brick Bureau of Reclamation office was built, which still stands at the corner of Seventh and Main.

Othello was also looked at as a probable site for three new state parks. Sites tentatively picked were Scootney Reservoir, Goose Lake, the Potholes and Long Lake.

It would take 50 years for completion of the first half of the Columbia Basin Irrigation Project. The second half was included in the contract but was blocked in the 1980s with the passage of the Endangered Species Act.

Plans are currently underway to complete the second half. Work has begun on some of the infrastructure, which will serve the area to the east of the current network of canals and laterals.

Water had finally arrived in the desert. Today, the area is one of the most productive in the U.S., pumping billions of dollars into the state’s economy annually.

Although the railroad is credited with creating Othello, it is agriculture that can take a bow for keeping the town alive.

Share on Facebook

Short URL: http://othellooutlook.com/?p=9694

Posted by LuAnn Morgan on Apr 1 2010. Filed under City of Othello, Community. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry