THE KID YESTERDAY
The Yakima River has been the source of water in many a farmers' dreams of lush, green crops for as long as Washington has been a state.
In 1891, with the state being only two years old, water was first diverted from the Yakima River by the Yakima Irrigation and Improvement Company at Horn Rapids Dam (also known as Wanawish Dam), a few miles upstream from what is now Richland. The water was carried by part of what is now the Columbia Irrigation District’s main canal.
photo courtesy of East Benton Co. Historical Museum
About a decade later (1902), the Northern Pacific Irrigation Company purchased the so-called "Kennewick Canal" from the Y I & I and extended service from Horn Rapids all the way to Hover, across the Columbia River from Wallula. The new service area included the Kennewick Highlands, now part of Kennewick.
photo courtesy of East Benton Co. Historical Museum
Around the turn of the previous century, Congress passed the Reclamation Act, and the U S Reclamation Service (precursor to the U S Bureau of Reclamation) was born. In 1917, the Kennewick Irrigation District was voted to life by local landowners under the provisions of Washington State law.
It took until 1948 for construction to be authorized; 1953 for construction to begin. It then took several more years for construction to allow the water to make it all the way down the canal. In 1957, water from Prosser was sent through the Chandler pumping station, up to the head end of the main canal and on down into Kennewick.