Willard J. Kincaid
Willard J. Kincaid is a fondly-remembered and prominent figure in the pre-Manhattan Project history of the Hanford area. A banker and community advocate, he helped develop the White Bluffs area into a thriving town while taking on several projects to better the community such as the Priest Rapids Irrigation District, where he served on the board and helped to secure the necessary funds to get the district up and running. Kincaid was also the proprietor and manager of the White Bluffs Bank, which served White Bluffs and its surrounding areas including Vernita and the Priest Rapids Valley. Kincaid worked for the White Bluffs Bank from the time he relocated to White Bluffs from Farmer, Washington in 1909, to the time he retired in the 1940s, when he subsequently relocated to Riverside, California.[1] During his many decades in White Bluffs, Kincaid and other businessmen built a golf course, started several commercial clubs and women’s clubs, and Kincaid was often the chair of many of these meetings.[2] In December of 1930, he was elected to the Priest Rapids Irrigation District’s board of trustees after having resigned his director’s position in September to legitimize the project and get it off the ground.[3]
Irrigation projects in this part of the Priest Rapids Valley had a short and troubled history of fiscal insolvency and difficulty delivering water, starting with the Priest Rapids Irrigation and Power Company in 1905 and continuing until the eviction of residents in 1943.[4] Eventually the Priest Rapids Irrigation District did get off the ground and operated from 1920 to 1943, when it was condemned by the federal government in an effort to clear the land for use on the Manhattan Project[5]. However, due to various snags within the court system, the district was unable to operate for several years, according to Kincaid’s journal entries. During the Depression, which by Kincaid’s own admission started affecting him and his business in 1931, the financial situation was so dire that the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad Company had to float Kincaid and others the necessary money to keep the district in operation, which was also supplemented with money from the State Irrigation Revolving Fund to deepen the power canal, which would strengthen the power plant’s operations in the district[6]. The land itself was the subject of a lawsuit in 1950, where it was formally dissolved under eminent domain, after it was established that the United States of America had no further interest or use for the Priest Rapids site.[7]
Elsewhere in local affairs, Kincaid had a hand in the construction of the Soldier Settlements. Construction on the settlement began in 1922, with he and others in the community appearing in front of the board of Regents at Washington State University, then known as Washington State College, successfully convincing the University to sell 840 acres of land to the committee on which Kincaid was a member[8]. Later, in 1925, the land settlement project was brought forth again, and again Kincaid made his case, urging a joint session of the legislature to adjust so that the land was suitable for such a settlement.[9] After leaving White Bluffs in the early 1940s Kincaid journeyed first up to Bellingham, where he worked in the business office of a lumber company, before going to Riverside, California. He also briefly came out of retirement to work as a bank cashier.[10]
Kincaid died in 1970 at the age of 86. During his life, he was integral in White Bluffs’ slow growth as a small, but proud community, until its abrupt abandonment in 1943, when the US Government requisitioned the land around White Bluffs for use on the Manhattan Project.
Bibliography
Kincaid Black, Virginia. “Willard John Kincaid” By M. Jay Haney. Hanford History Project. http://hanfordhistory.com/items/show/614
Parker, Martha Berry. Tales Of Richland, White Bluffs and Hanford 1805-1943: Before The Atomic Reserve. Fairfield, Washington: Ye Galleon Press, 1979.
“Prospect Bright For Enlargement Of Project” White Bluffs Spokesman. Dec. 29th, 1922. Vol 16, No. 22.
[1] Virginia Kincaid Black. “Willard John Kincaid” By M. Jay Haney. Hanford History Project. http://hanfordhistory.com/items/show/614
[2] Virginia Kincaid Black. “Willard John Kincaid” By M. Jay Haney. Hanford History Project. http://hanfordhistory.com/items/show/614
[3] White Bluffs spokesman. (White Bluffs, Wash.), 19 Sept. 1930. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress.
<https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn87093008/1930-09-19/ed-1/seq-1/>
[4] Martha Berry Parker, Tales of Richland, White Bluffs & Hanford 1805-1943: Before the Atomic Reserve (Fairfield, Washington:Ye Galleon Press, 1979), pp.
[5] United States v. Priest Rapids Irr. Dist, 175 F.2d 524 (9th Cir. 1949). Casetext.
[6] Virginia Kincaid Black. “Kincaid Family History,” Hanford History Project, accessed May 1, 2023, http://hanfordhistory.com/items/show/614.
[7] The United States of America, appellant, v. Priest Rapids Irrigation District et. Al, respondents. No. 31547. En Banc. Supreme Court December 14, 1950. http://courts.mrsc.org/supreme/037wn2d/037wn2d0623.htm
[8] White Bluffs spokesman. [vol. 16, no. 22] (White Bluffs, Wash.), 29 Dec. 1922. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress. <https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn87093008/1922-12-29/ed-1/seq-1/>
[9] Virginia Kincaid Black. “Kincaid Family History,” Hanford History Project, accessed May 1, 2023, http://hanfordhistory.com/items/show/614.
[10] Virginia Kincaid Black. “Kincaid Family History,” Hanford History Project, accessed May 1, 2023, http://hanfordhistory.com/items/show/614.
Robberies in the towns of Hanford and White Bluffs, WA
The White Bluffs Bank was robbed in March of 1922 by three men: John Burke, C.L. Potter and John Morrison[1], and each were sentenced between 5 and 25 years in prison.[2] However, rumors persist that the bank was robbed multiple times in the few decades of its existence. In 1977, Virginia Kincaid Black, the daughter of White Bluffs bank manger W.J. Kincaid, gave an account of her fathers business which stated that one day she and the entire town witnessed two robbers getting apprehended by the police after attempting to rob the First National Bank of White Bluffs.[3] Kincaid said “it was quite a day for White Bluffs, to go out to go to the community hall…and the robbers went by.”[4] She also said that the robbers did not get very far, only making it to Yakima. However, no date is given for this robbery in the interview itself, and searches of the local newspapers and other literature of the time only turn up information on the first robbery in March of 1922.
With all respect and gratitude towards her telling, Virginia Kincaid is likely mistaken about the second robbery, creating a narrative that has persisted for years and one that has ascended to the status of local legend. It is quite possible that the robbery she is referring to is the robbery of H.H. Boie’s dry goods and general store in November of 1915. H.H. Boie was a local businessman, operating the store, which opened March 17, 1910, after he came to the area in the summer of 1909[5]. Additionally, he also served as a freemason and his wife was very active in women’s clubs around the area for several years.
The two robbers stole about one hundred dollars ($2,988.48 in 2023) from Boie’s safe, with the two men making the theft cleanly or having “left behind no clew” (sic) according to the Kennewick Courier.[6] They then retreated to a cabin about 40 miles away in nearby Beverly, before Sheriff C.E. Duffy and deputy James Shepherd arrested the two men, holding them in Prosser after they failed to provide satisfactory justification for their presence in the county[7]. Boie’s store was robbed again in a separate incident on the night of November 1st, 1932, in which the thieves stole between five and six hundred dollars worth of merchandise, according to Boie’s own estimation. The thieves broke in by breaking the padlock and picking the lock on the front door[8]. Some of the merchandise stolen included “cigarettes, cigars, gum, watches, rings, men’s and women’s clothing, underwear, gloves, women’s hats, groceries, etc.”[9] Boie didn’t discover that his store had been robbed until the following morning, after which officers were promptly notified and dispatched to look for the thieves. Boie’s store was also robbed a few months prior on July 29th, 1932. The robbers took a single .22 caliber revolver, after entering through a smashed window, and according to the White Bluffs Spokesman, “Nothing else has been missed”[10], meaning the thieves were only after the weapon. No other robberies were reported for the rest of the time that Boie owned his store, which was until his death in April of 1942.
H.H. Boie was survived by his wife and children, as evidenced by the announcement of his funeral service in May of 1942.[11] Boie’s legacy was one of service: he served as a chaplain in the freemasons in the months before his death, according to the Kennewick Courier-Reporter, in their reporting on the new officers within the freemasons.[12] That, in conjunction with owning his store for 31 years adds up to a record of a lifetime of service to the community.
Bibliography
“Budget Review Board of W.B. School Meets”. The Kennewick Courier-Reporter. May 7, 1942.
“Hanford Happenings”. White Bluffs Spokesman. August 4, 1932.
“Hanford Happenings”. White Bluffs Spokesman. March 18, 1937.
“Liutenant Weihl Now Army Recruiting Officer”. The Kennewick Courier Reporter. January 22, 1942.
Kincaid Black, Virginia. “Willard John Kincaid” By M. Jay Haney. Hanford History Project. http://hanfordhistory.com/items/show/614
Parker, Martha Berry. Tales Of Richland, White Bluffs and Hanford 1805-1943: Before The Atomic Reserve. Fairfield, Washington: Ye Galleon Press, 1979.
“Robbers Blow Safe And Secure $100 in Hanford” The Kennewick Courier-Reporter. November 11, 1915.
“To Try Allen Again”. The Kennewick Courier-Reporter. May 25, 1922.
“Thieves Loot Boie Store At Hanford Tuesday Night”. White Bluffs Spokesman. November 3, 1932.
U.S. Inflation Calculator”. https://www.usinflationcalculator.com/. April 26, 2023.
[1] “To Try Allen Again”. The Kennewick Courier-Reporter. May 25, 1922.
[2] Martha Berry Parker, Tales of Richland, White Bluffs & Hanford 1805-1943: Before the Atomic Reserve (Fairfield, Washington:Ye Galleon Press, 1979), pp. 215
[3] Virginia Kincaid Black. “Willard John Kincaid” By M. Jay Haney. Hanford History Project. http://hanfordhistory.com/items/show/614
[4] Virginia Kincaid Black. “Willard John Kincaid” By M. Jay Haney. Hanford History Project. http://hanfordhistory.com/items/show/614
[5] “Hanford Happenings”. White Bluffs Spokesman. March 18, 1937.
[6] “Robbers Blow Safe And Secure $100 in Hanford” The Kennewick Courier-Reporter. November 11, 1915.
[7] “Robbers Blow Safe And Secure $100 in Hanford” The Kennewick Courier-Reporter. November 11, 1915.
[8] “Thieves Loot Boie Store At Hanford Tuesday Night”. White Bluffs Spokesman. November 3, 1932.
[9] Thieves Loot Boie Store At Hanford Tuesday Night”. White Bluffs Spokesman. November 3, 1932.
[10] “Hanford Happenings”. White Bluffs Spokesman. August 4, 1932.
[11] “Budget Review Board of W.B. School Meets”. The Kennewick Courier-Reporter. May 7, 1942.
[12] “Liutenant Weihl Now Army Recruiting Officer”. The Kennewick Courier Reporter. January 22, 1942.
On May 29, 1855, 5,000 Native American chiefs and tribal delegates to the Walla Walla Treaty Conference gathered on the grasslands near Walla Walla to meet with Washington Territory’s Governor Isaac Stevens and Oregon Territory’s Superintendent of Indian Affairs Joel Palmer to negotiate tribal boundaries in eastern Washington. An afternoon rainstorm foreboded turbulent times ahead. After convening for two weeks, tribal representatives agreed to cede 60,000 square miles to the United States government in exchange for the Yakama Reservation in Washington, the Umatilla Reservation in Oregon, and the Nez Perce Reservation in Idaho. These concessions opened land to Euro-American settlement in the Priest Rapids Valley and profoundly reshaped the political geography of Washington.
During the nineteenth century, many Euro-Americans adhered to the ideology of Manifest Destiny calling for divinely sanctioned continental expansion. Governor Stevens was no different. In 1853 after President Franklin Pierce appointed him both Governor and Superintendent of Indian Affairs in the newly created Washington Territory, Stevens promptly used his authority and his military surveying experience to promote Euro-American settlement and railroad networks in the Pacific Northwest, aided by army surveyor Captain George McClellan who later rose in fame as Union Commander during the American Civil War. Stevens believed that before his plans could come to fruition he needed to legally abolish Native claims to the land.
Between 1854 and 1855 Stevens pressured Puget Sound tribes into signing treaties that confined them to reservations while ceding much of the west coast to the United States. He pushed tribes to exchange traditional migratory lifestyles for European-style farming, and like many Euro-Americans saw reservations as a temporary step to assimilate Native Americans into “civilized” society. In mid-1855 Stevens and Palmer approached tribes of the Columbia Basin hoping to achieve similar concessions. Leaders from the Yakama, Umatilla, Cayuse, Walla Walla, Nez Perce, and associated tribes traveled to Walla Walla to listen to their proposals.
Yakama Chief Kamiakin initially tried to unite other leaders in opposition to any exploitative treaties. Stevens and Palmer undermined this unity by cajoling and threatening the delegates. Stevens emphasized the benefits of farming, claimed the United States would make generous payments in clothing and equipment, and warned that reservations provided protection against “bad white men.” Palmer declared that Native Americans and Euro-Americans could never live together in harmony, disingenuously warning that without reservations and special protections, tribes would suffer theft and abuse at the hands of settlers. Interpreter Andrew Pambrun claimed Stevens also told Kamiakin “if you do not accept the terms offered… you will walk in blood knee deep.” Gold had also been recently discovered in northern Washington, and few Native leaders could safely ignore the genocidal fate suffered by thousands of Native Americans during the California gold rush of 1849.
Faced with these dire choices, Native leaders felt they had little choice but to agree to Stevens’ terms. Stevens did make limited concessions. Tribes retained the right to fish and hunt on ceded lands, practices vital for physical and spiritual sustenance. In addition, although Stevens only proposed the Yakama and Nez Perce reservations, tribal representatives successfully demanded a third reservation for the Umatilla, Walla Walla, and Cayuse tribes. On June 9 delegates signed the Yakama Nation Treaty of 1855 and the Walla Walla, Cayuse, and Umatilla Treaty of 1855. According to Pambrun, when Kamiakin signed “he was in such a rage that he bit his lips that they bled profusely.” A treaty with the Nez Perce was signed two days later.
Stevens achieved the land concessions he desired, but his domineering attitude laid the foundation for future conflict. He conveniently overlooked the fact decentralized tribal leadership precluded any single chief from speaking for the entire tribe. Many groups impacted by the treaties of 1855 were not even represented at the council. Stevens added to Native grievances by allowing Euro-American settlement in ceded territory before the treaties were ratified by Congress, and resulting skirmishes with miners only escalated tensions. The death of Indian Agent A. J. Bolon in September 1855 at the hands of Yakama warriors angry over the murder of a Native family started the Yakama War, a period of hostility lasting until 1858. Skirmishes erupted across Washington as the United States Army and territorial volunteers clashed with Yakama warriors supported by tribes throughout the Columbia Basin. In 1856 a young Cornelius Hanford, founding father of the town of Hanford, took refuge in the Seattle blockhouse when Native tribes attacked the community.
There were few hostilities in the vicinity of White Bluffs, but the Priest Rapids Valley provided a useful trade and travel route for soldiers and civilians throughout this period. The Army forbade Euro-American settlement in eastern Washington due to the potential danger, but lifted these restriction after 1858. In 1859, Congress finally ratified the Walla Walla Conference treaties, marking a traumatic period of displacement for many Native Americans. There were a few exceptions, however. Arguing they had never signed a treaty with the United States, the Wanapum Tribe quietly remained in the Priest Rapids Valley where they had resided for thousands of years. In the early 1940s the Army temporarily allowed Wanapum members to continue accessing traditional fishing grounds on the restricted Hanford Site.
The rights and stipulations enumerated in the treaties of 1855 still impact Native life. Fishing and hunting on ceded land remain cherished rights. These treaties also codified arbitrary boundaries drawn by United States officials when delineating tribal identities. The Yakama Treaty confederated fourteen disparate tribal bands into the Yakama Nation while the Walla Walla, Cayuse, and Umatilla Treaty placed three separate tribes onto one reservation, laying the foundations for contemporary Native political identities in the Columbia Basin.
One hot summer Sunday on July 28, 1996, college students William Thomas and David Deacy trekked along the Columbia River’s muddy shoreline hoping to witness the annual Columbia Cup hydroplane race, a Tri-Cities tradition since 1966. While walking through the muddy shallows at Columbia Park in Kennewick they were shocked to come upon a human skull partially buried in the shoreline. They notified the police of this unexpected find, who in turn sent the remains to Floyd Johnson of the Benton County coroner’s office for identification. Johnson was surprised by the age of the remains and promptly contacted consulting archeologist Dr. James Chatters for assistance. When the exact age of the find remained in doubt, Chatters sent a fragment of bone to be radiocarbon dated at the University of California, Riverside. The initial results indicated the individual soon to be dubbed by scientists and the press as “the Kennewick Man” and by Native American tribes as “the Ancient One,” was approximately 9,000 years old. This discovery initiated one of the most contentious debates over the handling of human remains in American history while casting light on the historical legacy of Native Americans in Washington State.
This unique find reflects the fact that Native Americans resided in the Priest Rapids Valley for millennia. Indeed, the oldest discovered artifacts date back approximately 11,000 years. Although the remains were discovered at the confluence of the Columbia, Snake, and Yakima rivers, an ancient hub of travel and trade, there is little certainty surrounding the Ancient One’s life and death. Bone analyses determined he frequently maneuvered a spear and knapped stone into points. As a young man he even recovered from a spear injury to his hip, but the stone point remained lodged in his bone. Isotopic analyses also concluded that salmon may well have been a primary ingredient in his diet; deer, salmon, and camas bulbs are ancient staple resources in the region. Following the initial discovery the Umatilla, Yakama, Wanapum, Colville, and Nez Perce tribes of Washington and Idaho united to claim the Ancient One as their ancestor. Tribal oral histories dating back thousands of years are consistent with the 2015 analysis of DNA remnants by a team of Danish scientists led by Dr. Eske Willerslev confirming the Ancient One was indeed related to contemporary Native Americans.
The Ancient One’s heritage became a point of controversy once Dr. Chatters announced the age of the remains. This raised the possibility that the Army Corps of Engineers, who controlled the excavation site, was obligated to repatriate the body to Native tribes under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) of 1990. However, Chatters’ most controversial statement was his conclusion that the skeleton appeared to have “Caucasoid” features indicating the individual shared more traits in common with Europeans than Native Americans. Although Chatters noted his findings did not mean Europeans had reached the continent before Native Americans, much nuance was lost in the subsequent publicity, and many articles questioned whether Native Americans were truly the original inhabitants of the Americas. The Umatilla and allied tribes argued that such statements were highly offensive, and petitioned for immediate repatriation of the remains and a halt to all further study. Native remains have often been misappropriated and stolen by anthropologists and archeologists. Many tribes felt that the scientists and the press were using the find to dismiss and delegitimize Native oral histories and claims to the land, the latest steps in a long history of abuse.
The Army Corps of Engineers supported the tribes in their quest for repatriation, prompting fears in the scientific community that a chance to examine an ancient human and answer questions about early American settlement would be lost forever. In October 1996, eight scientists sued to halt repatriation and allow the remains to be studied, initiating a twenty-year legal battle documented in numerous books and articles. At the heart of their case was the argument that NAGPRA only applied to modern tribes, and that remains so ancient could not be definitively attributed to any “existing tribes or cultures.” After a lengthy process of adjudication the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals handed down the final verdict in 2004, ruling in the scientists’ favor and authorizing analysis of the remains. The situation changed in 2015 when new DNA technology enabled researchers to safety conclude that the Ancient One was related to “modern Native Americans.” As a result of these findings the federal government repatriated the Ancient One’s remains to the allied tribes for reburial at a secret location along the Columbia River. The discovery of the Ancient One demonstrates the need to establish and cultivate productive and respectful relationships between academic researchers and local tribes and communities, but also shines light onto the history of the Priest Rapids Valley and the people who resided in these lands over the last ten thousand years.
Approximately fifteen thousand years ago, roaring walls of water hundreds of feet high ripped through the Priest Rapids Valley at 80 miles an hour, scarring the hills and ridges, gouging out new ravines and coulees, and leaving sediment strewn across the landscape. All human and animal life in the path of the raging waters died instantly. Floods on this massive scale happened not once, but hundreds of times over the course of the last Ice Age, a period of glaciation lasting roughly 2.6 million years. During this time, glaciers across North America underwent cycles of expansion and contraction that lasted tens of thousands of years. The most recent cycle occurred between 80,000 and 15,000 years ago. The Cordilleran glacier spread south from Canada sending giant fingers of ice into Washington, Idaho, and Montana. One finger (the Purcell Trench ice lobe) traveled down the border of Idaho and Montana, creating an ice dam in the Rocky Mountains that prevented the flow of the Clark Fork River. Valleys behind the dam quickly filled with water to form 3,000 square mile Lake Missoula in Montana.
Geologists estimate that between 15,000 and 13,000 years ago the ice containing Lake Missoula failed as many as 100 separate times, creating what are known as the Missoula Floods. Rising water either caused the ice dam to float, or melted and widened cracks until the dam collapsed. Torrents of water then swept south and west across eastern Washington, traveling hundreds of miles before emptying through the Willamette Valley of Oregon into the Pacific Ocean. Water traveled so fast that each flood only lasted a week. Floodwater scraped away topsoil to form the Channeled Scablands and dramatically reshaped the topography of central and eastern Washington. Other giant floods also occurred during this period. Seventeen thousand years ago, Lake Bonneville (the larger ancestor of the Great Salt Lake) in Utah smashed through its rocky bank, sending water as far north as Washington. Glacial Lake Columbia in northern Washington also unleashed water when the glacier containing it retreated at the end of the ice age. Together these floods significantly impacted the environment and landscape of the Priest Rapids Valley.
The landmarks these floods left behind are readily distinguishable today. As floodwaters advanced south, they slammed into the Saddle Mountains along the northern border of the Priest Rapids Valley. Too high to breach, the mountains forced water west through Sentinel Gap just south of Beverly and east along what became the Ringold and Koontz Coulees, flowing down towards Hanford. Missoula floodwaters slowed when they reached the narrow Wallula Gap southeast of Kennewick, a two mile opening in the Horse Heaven Hills through which the Columbia River flows to the sea. Excess floodwater quickly backed up into the Yakama and Priest Rapids Valleys, forming Lake Lewis. When the water slowed it deposited sediment, forming the Priest Rapids Bar near Priest Rapids Dam and Cold Creek Bar where much of the Hanford Site rests today. The Cold Creek Bar rerouted the Columbia River, blocking its original route south and forcing it east past the Hanford Site and White Bluffs. Flood deposits also rerouted the Yakama River, channeling it north through the Horn Rapids. On the Hanford Site, water completely covered Gable Mountain, eroding its slopes into the narrow, elongated shape seen today. Floodwaters also eroded the bluffs east of the Columbia, exposing distinctive white soil that gave name to the early town of White Bluffs.
Could humans have witnessed these massive floods and lived to tell the tale? There is little evidence either way, although some Native American oral histories have reportedly been passed down for 14,000 years, and many stories from the region do refer to historic floods. In addition, Rattlesnake Mountain on the southern edge of the Priest Rapids Valley and one of the few landmarks higher than the floodwater is known to Native tribes as Laliik, or “‘stands above the water.’” Anyone lucky enough to survive the flooding would have had a difficult time remaining in the valley however. It takes time for plant and animal life to recover, and cyclical flooding ensured repeated destruction every several decades.
As floodwaters emptied out of the Priest Rapids Valley, they left behind rocky debris from grounded icebergs and layers of sandy sediment. Thousands of years later, this sediment defines agricultural life in the region. Many crops grow well here, and the region is particularly well suited to grapes that thrive in the dry, permeable soil. Many American Viticultural Areas (AVAs) denoting quality wine regions are concentrated around the Priest Rapids Valley. Conversely, this loose, water-permeable soil also ensures that all but the best insulated irrigation canals constantly leak. Loose soil also contributes to frequent dust storms, a fact many new Hanford Site employees discovered when they arrived. Perhaps the most pressing concern is the fact that the majority of the Hanford Site’s slowly leaking nuclear waste remains stored in this ice age sediment. The age of these mammoth floods has long past, but their presence remains etched in the valley and the lives of its inhabitants.
In early March 1943, Priest Rapids Valley residents looked forward to a good harvest. Although valley farmers suffered during the Great Depression, rising crop prices caused by the ongoing war in Europe led many to finally see light at the end of the tunnel. These dreams shattered on March 6 when residents received official letters notifying them that the United States government had requisitioned their land for the war effort and that they were to vacate their homes within 30 days. Military officials with the Manhattan Project had selected the valley as the site for the world’s first plutonium production facility. Known as the Hanford Engineer Works (the Hanford Site), this installation eventually encompassed 670 square miles selected for its isolation, access to electric power from Bonneville and Grand Coulee Dams, and proximity to the Columbia River. The evictions displaced approximately 2,000 people and destroyed many of the small communities throughout the valley.
American history is filled with similar tales. During the mid-nineteenth century the federal government pressured Native American tribes to cede vast portions of Washington State, enabling successive waves of Euro-American traders, gold miners, ranchers, and farmers to settle the Priest Rapids Valley. These settlements blossomed in the early twentieth century when irrigation projects watered the arid shrubsteppe. Hanford and White Bluffs were two of the largest towns in the valley, and in 1940 had populations of 463 and 501 people respectively. Richland had a population of 247 but hundreds more resided on farms surrounding the town and homesteads and small communities dotted the valley. The Wanapum Tribe also lived here as they had done for thousands of years. Few people realized how suddenly this would change.
Residents later recalled seeing “surveyors, engineers, and appraisers” in early 1943. At the time few realized the significance of these sightings. At the start of the year the government had quietly prepared to requisition the region and on February 23 a federal court sanctioned these plans. Authorities publicized this decision on March 6, notifying residents in Hanford, White Bluffs, the farms around Richland, and surrounding communities. Emotions “ranged from resignation to shock and disbelief, [and] to anger and bitterness.” Residents had spent decades investing time, savings, and energy into their farms, and many cherished the bonds of friendship and community that held these towns together. Hypotheses about the Hanford Site’s purpose ranged from a poison gas factory to toilet paper plant, but few explanations eased the emotional and financial burden carried by those facing eviction.
Inconsistent eviction dates added to confusion. Although most notices gave residents 30 days to leave, Army officials postponed evictions for people with farms near the edge of the Hanford Site until after fall harvest. Food was a vital resource in wartime. Indeed, after farmers were evicted the government used prisoners to pick remaining fruit, and some orchards remained in cultivation until the end of the war. Although the government offered residents compensation for lost property, different eviction dates and fluctuating crop prices created discrepancies when government appraisers assessed property values. Observers and residents also argued that appraisers were poorly trained, used sloppy measurement techniques, and grossly misjudged market values. Many evictees successfully sued the government, and courts often doubled the compensation farmers received. Some rulings increased the land valuation “as high as 600 per cent.”
None of these rulings could reverse the displacement of Priest Rapids Valley residents. Although traces of Hanford and White Bluffs remain, bulldozers destroyed most of these communities. Workers even exhumed bodies buried at White Bluffs Cemetery, reinterning the remains at the nearby town of Prosser. Many evicted residents eventually resettled in towns around Washington. Forced to buy new land at a time when prices were high, they often could not replace what they had lost. A few chose to stay as Hanford Site employees. Richland remained standing, converted by Manhattan Project contractor DuPont into a “company town” built around servicing the Hanford Site. Many buildings were used as offices and houses for government workers and in 1944 the town’s population numbered 11,000 people.
The establishment of the Hanford Site also severed the Wanapum tribe’s access to the valley. Although they received special permission to fish near White Bluffs in 1943, the military revoked this decision two years later. Over the following decades, former White Bluffs and Hanford residents came together at annual reunions to reminisce about the communities they lost. The Priest Rapids Valley achieved renown, first as the region where America’s nuclear arsenal was created and later as the repository for catastrophic quantities of environmental pollutants, but the communities that once stood here and the dreams of the people who lived in the valley remain buried underneath the sand and in distant memories.
At the turn of the nineteenth century, farmers and entrepreneurs dreamed of large irrigation projects to transform the arid Priest Rapids Valley into a fertile breadbasket rivaling California. Soon irrigation ditches and canals both real and planned crisscrossed the region. Constructed in 1892, the Horn Rapids Dam (renamed Wanawish Dam in 1997) was the cornerstone to irrigation efforts along the lower Yakama River, controlling water levels and enabling the communities of Kennewick and Richland to thrive.
Horn Rapids Dam derives its name from its location on the Horn Rapids, a short strip of the Yakama River that makes an abrupt north-south U-turn before emptying into the Columbia. The Rapids are a traditional salmon and whitefish fishing ground for the Yakama and Wanapum Indian tribes, and a 1994 federal report clarifies that Wanawish in fact means “rock dam fishing place.” Native tribes gathered food throughout the valley during seasonal migrations, and Wanapum Chief Johnny Buck’s brother Frank remembered that the Wanapum Tribe often stopped at Horn Rapids during the middle of the summer. Native men fished off of wooden fishing platforms using spears and dip nets, while women on the shore sliced fish open to dry on poles. Although Euro-Americans forced many Washington tribes onto reservations, rights guaranteed by the Yakama Treaty of 1855 allowed Native Americans to continue fishing the Horn Rapids. These rights remain in effect today, and Native fishing platforms can still be seen along the Yakama River. Euro-American settlers fished as well, and even in 1914, lucky fishermen caught 30-pound salmon.
Euro-Americans soon saw the Horn Rapids as an important location for agriculture as well. Although construction of Northern Pacific (NP) rail lines during the 1880s facilitated settlement, farmers needed irrigation. The Yakama Irrigation and Improvement Company (YI&I) first tried to address this need. New York entrepreneurs founded the YI&I in 1888 and purchased thousands of acres of NP holdings in the Yakama Valley. Initial plans were to construct an irrigation canal near Kiona and two canals originating on either side of the Horn Rapids, one to irrigate Kennewick to the south and one to irrigate farmland in the north (this northern community became Richland in 1905). The YI&I purchased water rights to the Horn Rapids in 1891, and in November 1892 superintendent I. W. Dudley announced the construction of a concrete dam to “extend the width of the river bed [for] 600 feet.” This dam raised the height of the Yakama River to ensure canals received water throughout the year.
Despite the YI&I’s optimism, construction on its canal network progressed slowly, and the company faced persistent financial problems. Although they successfully extended the southern canal to Kennewick in 1893 it was expensive to operate and maintain. Seepage caused by loose soil was a constant problem. Even a decade later some canals in the region still lost over 25% of their precious water to leaks. These plans came to naught when financial instability, exacerbated by the national economic crisis of 1893 and damage from severe flooding in 1894, collapsed the YI&I.
Large scale irrigation projects were thus put on hold until NP employee Thomas Cooper arrived in the region in 1901. Cooper and other NP officials were optimistic about irrigation’s potential. The NP could make money selling water and the increased agricultural production would simultaneously increase rail traffic. That year the Northwestern Improvement Company (NWI), an NP subsidiary, purchased what was left of the Kennewick Canal and the Horn Rapids Dam. NP officials worried about putting all their eggs in the NWI basket however, and so in 1902 the NWI transferred its Kennewick assets to the Northern Pacific Irrigation Company (NPI), a separate subsidiary. In addition to repairing the Kennewick Canal the NPI extensively renovated the Horn Rapids Dam, constructing a more “permanent dam” in 1903 to provide water for its irrigation holdings. The new Horn Rapids Dam was constructed out of wood and rock using a timber crib design that remained unchanged for a century. Only after 1996 flooding severely damaged the structure did engineers install a concrete dam.
The Horn Rapids Dam is an example a successful early irrigation projects in the Arid West, providing vital water to farming communities on both sides of the Yakama River. Kennewick grew quickly over the next three decades as a result of the dam. Administration changed in 1918 when the newly formed Columbia Irrigation District (CID) assumed control of NPI’s holdings, including the Kennewick Canal and Horn Rapids Dam. On the north side of the Yakama River developments followed a similar trajectory under the direction of local entrepreneurs. The Lower Yakama Improvement Company and the Benton Water Company both tried to irrigate farms along the lower Yakama and in 1908 used their joint resources to construct the 15-mile Richland Irrigation Canal. This canal serviced farms around Richland until the town was annexed by the United States government in 1943. Land near Horn Rapids Dam was put to additional use when, in 1944, the American military constructed a facility called Colombia Camp to house the Hanford Site’s prison labor force. Even today Horn Rapids Dam remains vital to Yakama River irrigation and serves as a valued fishing ground for Native tribes.
Located in northern Benton County with the Priest Rapids Dam to the west and the abandoned town of White Bluffs to the east, Vernita marks a historic embarkation point for travelers crossing the Columbia River. Local Native American tribes traversed this region thousands of years before European settlement, and the Wanapum Indians in particular valued the Priest Rapids Valley as a bountiful Sockeye Salmon fishery during the fall and a seasonal camp during the winter. The mid-nineteenth century saw an influx of Euro-Americans to the region as prospectors searched for gold and farmers traveled en-route to the Willamette Valley of Oregon. Although the region’s dry terrain attracted few farmers, ranchers valued the vast, unfenced open spaces and the plentiful bunchgrass that could be used as fodder for cattle and horses. After harsh winters in the 1880s destroyed cattle herds throughout the Washington territory, settlers near Priest Rapids Valley, inspired by a growing faith that modern science and engineering could reshape desert environments into lush farmland, turned increasingly towards agriculture as a source of subsistence and profit.
Vernita was one of the many small communities that developed during this period of settlement at the turn of the twentieth century. Before the construction of railroads, river steamers and ferries were lifelines for these secluded communities, providing critical transportation and shipping services. Although residents had long preferred to cross the Columbia several miles east at the White Bluffs ford where the soil was firmer than the sandy banks further towards Priest Rapids, this did not stop German homesteader Otto Jaeger from opening a ferry business at Vernita in 1901. A fixture in the Vernita farming community, Jaeger maintained a home described by historian Martha Berry Parker as “a mecca for travelers and wayfarers.” In the late 1900s entrepreneur Jackson T. Richmond assumed control over the Vernita ferry, and in 1908 he replaced Jaeger’s older oar and current-powered vessel with a newer cable ferry. The eponymous “Richmond ferry” operated until 1943, providing vital transportation to local passengers and livestock alike. A public ferry service was revived in 1957 as part of a Washington State highway initiative, and remained in service until the construction of Vernita Bridge in 1965.
Irrigation was as vital to the early survival of the Vernita farming community as river transportation, and Vernita farmers were often forced to rely on private businesses such as the Priest Rapids Irrigation and Power Company (PRIPC) and its successor, the Hanford Irrigation and Power Company (HIPC). In 1908 the HIPC’s construction of the Priest Rapids Powerplant and the Coyote Rapids Pumping Plant (Allard Pump House) helped provide irrigation to the Priest Rapids Valley, but technical and financial difficulties hindering waterflow and corporate solvency ensured that access to water remained a perpetual concern for farmers. Vernita farmers found that most crops could grow with proper irrigation. Although apples, peaches, cherries, and apricots were staple crops, the region’s climate is hospitable to a wide variety of produce ranging from strawberries and melons to tobacco and peanuts. One particularly notable example occurred in 1940 when the Kennewick Courier-Reporter announced that farmers at Vernita had discovered a new variety of fast ripening apricot in Paul Bruggerman’s orchard that they had christened “Riverland Moorpark.” Indeed, farmers and journalists often declared that crops grown at Vernita ripened earlier than produce grown in other areas of the state, a fact advertised by valley boosters seeking to encourage new settlement. Although the first farmers at Vernita shipped fresh produce to market via riverboat, shipping schedules became more consistent and dependable in 1913 when the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad extended a branch through Vernita on its route from Beverly, Washington to Hanford.
Despite these changes, Vernita remained a small town throughout its existence, dwarfed by the neighboring town of White Bluffs which had a population of 500 by 1940. Residents maintained an adequate education system with some difficulty. Although children attended elementary school within Vernita, high school students were forced to travel to White Bluffs. This shortage of educational facilities was exacerbated in 1929 when the Vernita school building was destroyed by fire, an omnipresent threat on the dry and windy shrub steppe. The Great Depression brought economic hardship to Vernita as produce markets collapsed, although farmers had the advantage of being able to grow their own food. The economic crisis spurred a wave of federal spending that directly impacted the lives of Vernita residents. A country extension school was established in Vernita in 1933 to provide farmers with access to the latest agricultural research and techniques. Vernita’s industry also evolved during the early 1940s when the Bonneville Power Administration constructed a new substation next to the town. Named “Midway Substation” for its location between the newly completed Grand Coulee Dam and the Bonneville Dam, this facility was a valuable source of employment in the region.
Locals had little time to benefit from these developments. In March 1943, shocked and angry residents throughout the Priest Rapids Valley received government notifications stating that their properties had been acquisitioned for the war effort. Vernita’s proximity to the Priest Rapids Power Plant and the Midway Substation was a blessing for some of Vernita’s residents. Although towns like Hanford and White Bluffs were bulldozed during the construction of the Hanford Site, Murrel Dawson recalls that the government allowed her father to remain in the Priest Rapids Valley until 1948 to operate the power plant. Vernita itself survived into the 1970s as a company town housing the families of several Midway Substation employees. The stretch of river next to Vernita Bridge and townsite remains a popular destination for salmon fishing, but little remains of the once vibrant agricultural community.
The name Hanford is forever tied to the Manhattan Project and construction of the first atomic weaponry, but few traces remain of the town upon whose ruins the nuclear age was born. Although the town of Hanford was less than 40 years old when government bulldozers leveled its buildings to construct plutonium production facilities in the early 1940s, its residents had already built a resilient community and agricultural economy. Irrigation water was the lifeblood for many farming communities and Hanford owed its existence to large-scale irrigation projects. Entrepreneur Manley Bostwick Haynes and his father-in-law Judge Cornelius Hanford led these efforts, founding the Priest Rapids Irrigation & Power Company (PRIPC) in 1905 to irrigate 32,000 acres in the Priest Rapids Valley. These development efforts depended upon the successful establishment of a company town in the region, a seed Hanford and Haynes hoped would blossom into an economic powerhouse.
Early disagreements over the best location for a town contributed to the dissolution of the PRIPC. Some investors, including Hanford and Haynes, established the Hanford Irrigation & Power Company (HIPC) while others formed the White Bluffs Irrigation Company (WBIC). Although the old town of White Bluffs had been located along the eastern bank of the Columbia River, the WBIC established a new townsite on the western side where there was more space for growth. In 1907 the HIPC established its own town roughly seven miles downriver from White Bluffs, naming the community Hanford after the company’s president. That same year the HIPC completed the Hanford Ditch, an irrigation canal channeling water at Coyote Rapids to farmland near Hanford. In 1908 while engineers completed a power plant at Priest Rapids and a pumping station (Allard’s Pump House) to supply water to the Hanford Ditch, Daniel Pratt of The Ranch lauded the project as “A Great Irrigated Empire in the Making.”
The HIPC shared this enthusiasm. Before the town had even been established, they advertised the fantastic profits to be made by those purchasing land at Hanford. As a result, Hanford quickly boomed. In 1908 The Spokesman-Review estimated a population “of between 200 and 300 people.” By 1910 the population numbered 369, and several businesses dotted the town. The Jahnke and Parker Bank opened its doors, and newcomers rested at the newly constructed Planters and Columbia Hotels. Initially, a single building served as both a school and a church. Eventually Hanford grew to contain several churches and denominations and in 1917 the town constructed a new high school for local children.
The HIPC helped establish a town ferry service to compensate for the poor roads and dearth of bridges that hindered travel in the region. Their crowning achievement came in 1913 when the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad built a branch from Beverly to Hanford, allowing farmers to consistently ship produce to market. The fertile soil of the Priest Rapids Valley proved excellent for growing high quality soft fruits, berries, and grapes as well as alfalfa and asparagus. However, farmers also needed a reliable irrigation system, something the HIPC struggled to provide. The Hanford Ditch was prone to washouts and seepage; expensive problems frequently encountered due to the loose, porous soil of the Priest Rapids Valley. For two decades the HIPC sputtered in the face of financial crises and litigation until disbanding in 1930 to be replaced by the Priest Rapids Irrigation District.
Hanford continued to grow despite these problems, albeit at a slower pace. By 1940 roughly 463 people lived in Hanford, a long way from the optimistic 40,000 predicted by The Wenatchee Daily World in 1907. Fires periodically damaged the town, most notably in 1910 when much of Hanford’s business district burned and during the winter of 1936 when fire destroyed the Hanford High School. Daily life was difficult, and families worked together to plant, cultivate, and harvest crops. Many farmers struggled to survive and often worked odd jobs to supplement meager farming incomes. The Great Depression exacerbated this poverty. Nevertheless, resident Robert Brinson remembered Hanford was a safe community where “people… helped each other,” and many Priest Rapids Valley inhabitants later recalled feeling a strong community spirit. Social activities defined life in Hanford. Local organizations included The Grange, local churches, and the town band, while events ranged from community fairs and July 4th celebrations to school sporting events.
On a national level, Hanford citizens thought of themselves as patriotic Americans, and during World War I and World War II raised money for the Red Cross, rationed food, sent care packages to soldiers overseas, and performed military service. Washington State allocated land near Hanford for the Land Settlement Act of 1919, a program designed to provide subsidized land to veterans. The impacts of World War II hit closer to home. Hanford residents were anguished when they received letters in March 1943 notifying them that their property had been acquired by the United States government and that they had a month to vacate the premises. After the Manhattan Project destroyed the town of Hanford, many displaced residents felt grief for the community they lost and for decades held reunions to keep old friendships alive. Today little remains of the once bustling town except for faint irrigation ditches and the ruins of the abandoned Hanford High School silhouetted against the sky.
Advances in irrigation were a main factor in the rise of migration to the Columbia Basin at the turn of the century. The Priest Rapids Irrigation & Power Company, later the Hanford Irrigation & Power Company, constructed irrigation canals and pumping stations to supply water to the growing agricultural area. The Hanford Irrigation & Power Company pump house was operated by Samuel Allard for three decades.
Samuel Moses Allard was born to Moses and Modess Allard in Churubusco, New York on March 3, 1859. The Allard Family moved to Red Lake Falls, Minnesota in 1881 where Samuel married Emma Malvina Marie Crompe on November 30 of that year. Allard was the first town clerk and assessor of Gervais Township in Red Lake County, Minnesota beginning in 1885 where he was in charge of recording all births and deaths. Samuel and Emma Allard had four children together prior to her death in 1888. Samuel remarried Delia (Mayhew) Allard in 1890 with whom he had an additional child.
Samuel, Delia and their daughter Anna moved to Washington State in 1908 when Samuel was hired by the Hanford Irrigation & Power Company (HIPC) to help construct an irrigation pumping station near the Coyote Rapids community. Coyote Rapids, located west of White Bluffs, was originally the village of P’na, which European settlers took from the people of the Wanapum tribe. The Coyote Rapids community was located in what is now the 100 K Area of the Hanford Nuclear Reservation.
Samuel was the primary operator for the HIPC hydroelectric pumping station, which supplied water to the nearby town sites of Hanford and White Bluffs through the Hanford Irrigation Canal. The Allard family owned around 200 acres of land in the Coyote Rapids community where they grew peaches, apricots, corn and alfalfa as well as raising cattle. In 1912 the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway added a stop in the Coyote Rapids area after which Samuel built a store and post office for the community, which then went by Allard.
Allard was very active in the community and local politics at times serving as president of the White Bluffs Commercial Club, postmaster for the local grange and County Commissioner of Benton County. Allard operated the Hanford Irrigation & Power Company pump house for thirty years, which led many to refer to it as “Allard Pump house” to this day. Samuel and Delia Allard divorced in 1926 and he married his third wife, Hortense, a few years later. Samuel and Hortense remained in the Allard community until the United States Government seized the land in 1943 for the creation of the Hanford Nuclear Reservation. The Allards moved to Prosser, Washington where Samuel Allard died in 1945.
Manley Bostwick Haynes and Judge Cornelius Holgate Hanford
James Schroeder
August 16, 2020
In 1900 the Priest Rapids Valley was sparsely populated save for scattered settlements near the small community of White Bluffs. This changed over the following decade when Manley Bostwick Haynes and his father-in-law Judge Cornelius Holgate Hanford established the town of Hanford several miles south of White Bluffs.[1] An ambitious Seattle banker, real estate investor, and socialite, Haynes often graced the society page of The Seattle Daily Times, first as an eligible bachelor and later as husband to Judge Hanford’s daughter Elaine.[2] Haynes always kept his eyes open for investment opportunities, and while sailing down the Columbia River during the 1890s found himself drawn to the open landscape of the Priest Rapids Valley. Convinced an adequate irrigation network could transform the dry shrub-steppe into farmland, Haynes purchased 32,000 acres between Richland and White Bluffs, an endeavor The Ranch claimed “promises to be one of the largest public utilities in the state.”[3] Haynes asked his father-in-law for support, and Judge Hanford became an enthusiastic investor.[4] By 1905 Haynes, Hanford, and several prominent Seattle businessmen established the Priest Rapids Irrigation & Power Company (PRIPC) to turn vision into reality.[5]
Hanford was no stranger to ambition and had already achieved significant success as a lawyer and judge, becoming Washington Territory’s chief justice in 1889 and the first federal district court judge for Washington State in 1890.[6] Hanford supported agricultural development efforts, saying in 1905 in a speech steeped in racial bias that Native Americans, “as occupiers of the land, failed to use it as God intended that it should be used, so as to yield its fruits in abundance for the comfort of millions of inhabitants.”[7] When internal disputes led to the disintegration of the PRIPC Hanford and Haynes persevered, establishing the Hanford Irrigation & Power Company (HIPC) in 1906.[8] Hanford served for a time as HIPC president while Haynes acted as the company secretary.[9]
Over the next two years as the HIPC constructed irrigation and pumping facilities, employees delineated and developed a company town.[10] Platted in 1907, this new town was named Hanford after the HIPC’s prestigious founder.[11] The HIPC advertised to attract new residents and Haynes even purchased a homestead for himself, moving there with his family in 1913. Known as “‘Arrowhead on the Columbia,’” The Seattle Daily Times described Haynes’ residence as “one of the show spots of the Hanford district.”[12] A prominent member of the community, Haynes was secretary of the White Bluffs Golf Club and even ran for State Representative in 1914.[13] Hanford’s brother Clarence also made a home here, establishing what historian Martha Berry Parker describes as “one of the valley’s most magnificent fruit farms.”[14] It is small wonder that Clarence Hanford was the one who gave grape mogul P. R. Welch a tour of the valley in 1911, petitioning him to open a juice factory near Hanford.[15] As a result of these efforts, Hanford’s population grew so that by 1910 the town numbered 369 people.[16] HIPC irrigation efforts were less successful. Persistent financial and maintenance problems dogged the company even after the Pacific Power and Light Company purchased it in 1910. Years of litigation ensued as Hanford, Haynes, and local farmers attempted to reduce exorbitant water rates. They received a favorable ruling in 1922 but legal costs left Haynes bankrupt.[17]
Hanford’s downfall came primarily at his own hand. In May 1912 he revoked the citizenship of naturalized citizen Leonard Olsson on the grounds that he was a socialist, a decision that made national news and prompted an investigation by the US House of Representative’s Judiciary Committee.[18] Numerous witnesses subsequently testified that Hanford was a habitual drunk who caroused with women late into the night.[19] Even worse was the accusation that Hanford helped the HIPC purchase land from the Northern Pacific Railroad (NP) at a discount in exchange for a favorable tax ruling in 1907 that saved the NP $60,000. His credibility fatally undermined, Hanford tendered his resignation on July 22, 1912. The Congressional inquiry concluded after his resignation, conveniently halting further investigation into the actions of Hanford’s powerful business associates.[20]
Despite the financial setbacks and scandals, Haynes and Hanford remained active in the Hanford community. In 1916, Haynes served as director of the Hanford school district and during WWI both men supported Red Cross donation drives and returning veterans.[21] Hanford became an author, and wrote about the history of Seattle until his death in 1926.[22] Haynes went on to serve as acting secretary of the Pacific Northwest Fruit Exposition in 1921.[23] That year he also served as president of Commonwealth Petroleum, a drilling interest in Benton County, and in 1922 he incorporated the Hanford-Priest Rapids Land Company.[24] Although Haynes moved to Seattle during the 1920s he did not lose his enthusiasm for rural development projects, and in 1935 he served as vice-president of the Columbia River Development League.[25] Haynes passed away in 1942 one year before the United States government destroyed the town he had worked so hard to create.[26]
[1] Mary Powell Harris, Goodbye, White Bluffs (Yakima, WA: Franklin Press, 1972), 99-103; Martha Berry Parker, Tales of Richland, White Bluffs & Hanford, 1805-1943, Before the Atomic Reserve (Fairfield, WA: Ye Galleon Press, 1986), 20; Robert Bauman and Robert Franklin, Nowhere to Remember: Hanford, White Bluffs, and Richland to 1943 (Pullman, WA: Washington State University Press, 2018), 41.
[2] “Fruit Exposition Nov. 21-26,” The Leavenworth Echo (Leavenworth, WA), September 23, 1921, 7; “Manley B. Haynes,” The Seattle Daily Times (Seattle, WA), March 3, 1942, 13; “Society,” The Seattle Daily Times (Seattle, WA), April 29, 1899, 16; “Brevities,” The Seattle Post-Intelligencer (Seattle, WA), December 10, 1891, 8; “Society in Brief,” The Seattle Daily Times (Seattle, WA), May 22, 1897, 13.
[3] Peter Bacon Hales, Atomic Spaces: Living on the Manhattan Project (Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1997), 19; Nancy M. Mendenhall, Orchards of Eden: White Bluffs on the Columbia, 1907-1943 (Seattle: Far Eastern Press, 2006), 86-87; “Another Big Irrigation Scheme,” The Ranch (Seattle, WA), October 1, 1906, 6; Bauman and Franklin, Nowhere to Remember, 41
[4] Bauman and Franklin, Nowhere to Remember, 41; Mendenhall, Orchards of Eden, 86-87
[5] “Will Reclaim 32,000 Acres,” East Oregonian (Pendleton, OR), November 23, 1905, 7; “Another Big Irrigation Scheme.”
[6] John Caldbick, “Federal District Judge Cornelius H. Hanford Resigns During Impeachment Investigation on July 22, 1912,” HistoryLink.org, September 6, 2010, https://www.historylink.org/File/9547.
[7] Judge Cornelius Hanford, quoted in Coll Thrush, Native Seattle: Histories from the Crossing-Over Place (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2017), 145, and in Alan J. Stein, “Seattle celebrates its 54th birthday and dedicates the Alki Point monument on November 13, 1905,” HistoryLink.org, August 7, 2002, https://www.historylink.org/File/3917.
[8] “Two Towns Instead of One,” The Yakama Herald (North Yakama, WA), May 22, 1907, 8; “New Power Company Born,” The Evening Statesman (Walla Walla, WA), August 22, 1906, 1; Bauman and Franklin, Nowhere to Remember, 41-42; “Formerly of Minneapolis,” Minneapolis Messenger (Minneapolis, KS), February 13, 1908, 6.
[9] “Irrigation at the Rapids,” Spokane Daily Chronicle (Spokane, WA), April 18, 1907, 12; “Another Big Irrigation Scheme.”
[10] United States Department of Energy, Hanford Cultural Resources Management Plan (Richland, WA: Pacific Northwest Laboratory, 1989), D.68; Parker, Tales of Richland, White Bluffs & Hanford, 1805-1943, 51, 57, 59; Mendenhall, Orchards of Eden, 58.
[11] Parker, Tales of Richland, White Bluffs & Hanford, 1805-1943, 43, 51.
[12] United States Department of Energy, Hanford Cultural Resources Management Plan, D.69; “32,000 Acres Best Fruit Land in the Columbia River Early Fruit Belt,” The Ranch (Seattle, WA), December 1, 1907, 24; “Free,” The Ranch, January 1, 1908, 16; “Two Towns Instead of One;” “Society,” The Seattle Daily Times (Seattle, WA), May 16, 1913, 18; “Pretty Cottage Near Hanford,” The Seattle Daily Times (Seattle, WA), November 24, 1912; “Two homes and sage brush,” Hanford History Project, accessed July 22, 2020, http://hanfordhistory.com/items/show/1106.
[13] “Blakely president of White Bluffs Club,” The Seattle Daily Times (Seattle, WA), May 17, 1914, 27; “Notice by County Auditor: Primary Election for State and County Except Supreme Court Judges) Offices),” The Kennewick Courier-Reporter (Kennewick, WA), September 3, 1914, 10.
[14] Parker, Tales of Richland, White Bluffs & Hanford, 1805-1943, 157.
[15] Parker, Tales of Richland, White Bluffs & Hanford, 1805-1943, 157; “Welch, Grape Juice King, Visits White Bluffs,” The Kennewick Courier-Reporter (Kennewick, WA), December 1, 1911, 9.
[16] Parker, Tales of Richland, White Bluffs & Hanford, 1805-1943, 149.
[17] Parker, Tales of Richland, White Bluffs & Hanford, 1805-1943, 139, 141; Bauman and Franklin, Nowhere to Remember, 24, 43; United States Department of Energy, Hanford Cultural Resources Management Plan, D.68, D.76; Culture, 197, 205; Mendenhall, Orchards of Eden, 138-139.
[18] Caldbick, “Federal District Judge Cornelius H. Hanford Resigns.”
[19] Caldbick, “Federal District Judge Cornelius H. Hanford Resigns;” United Press Leased Wire, “Hanford Paid Visits to Woman,” The Tacoma Times (Tacoma, WA), July 2, 1912, 1.
[20] Caldbick, “Federal District Judge Cornelius H. Hanford Resigns.”
[21] “School Directors Hold Convention,” The Kennewick Courier-Reporter (Kennewick, WA), April 13, 1916, 1; “City Lagging in Big Drive for Red Cross,” The Kennewick Courier-Reporter (Kennewick, WA), June 21, 1917, 1; “Committee Named to Greet Artillerymen,” The Seattle Daily Times (Seattle, WA), December 10, 1918, 4.
[22] “Death of Judge Hanford,” Washington Historical Quarterly 17, no. 2 (April 1926): 157-158; Caldbick, “Federal District Judge Cornelius H. Hanford Resigns.”
[23] ‘Fruit Growers to Show Products at Exposition in Seattle,” The Seattle Daily Times (Seattle, WA), September 13, 1921, 8.
[24] “Articles Filed with Secretary of State at Olympia,” The Seattle Daily Times (Seattle, WA), September 22, 1922, 19; “9 Oil Wells Sunk in Benton County,” The Oregon Daily Journal (Portland, OR), April 21, 1921, 2.
[25] “Councilmen O.K. Power Survey,” The Seattle Daily Times (Seattle, WA), September 26, 1935, 14; “Seattle Man Takes Bride In Oregon,” The Seattle Daily Times (Seattle, WA), September 22, 1924, 10.
[26] “Manley B. Haynes.”
W. R. Amon and his son, Howard S. Amon, first settled in the lower Yakima Valley in 1904 when the pair purchased the large expansive Rosencrance Ranch, located on what is now Lee Boulevard and Goethals Drive in Richland near the Columbia River, from Ben Rosencrance. The following year in 1905, they purchased the Rich Ranch from Nelson Rich, a prominent local landowner, and a member of the Washington State Legislature from 1901-1902 and 1911-1913. The Amons quickly became prominent figures in the area as a result of their extensive philanthropy. The Amons were instrumental in Richland receiving its first telephone connections. Columbia Telephone System, a phone company based in the neighboring town of Kennewick, was able to provide phone service to Richland by extending Amon’s private line to the rest of town. This would have been a significant technological advancement for the small farming community. Not only would this have made communication between residents possible for social and emergency reasons, but it also would have connected Richland to the outside world. The Amons also invested in and worked to improve the small town’s irrigation systems. In the arid desert climate of eastern Washington, irrigation was crucial for survival. Settlers used various methods to bring water to their homesteads from digging wells and small canals and flumes. Some of the larger farms in the area were dependent on the enormous Rosencrance water wheel on the Yakima River for water. The Amons replaced this water wheel with a more effective gasoline powered water pump. In the spring of 1905, the Amons were among the founders of the Benton Water Company and quickly made a claim for 400 cubic feet of water per second from the Yakima River. This water was used for irrigation throughout the small town as well as for generating electricity for lighting and manufacturing. In the fall of 1908, the Benton Water Company and the Lower Yakima Irrigation Company merged, which ultimately led to the construction of a 15-mile long canal known as the Richland Irrigation Canal, which expanded the area that the irrigation system could reach, especially in north Richland.
The Amons were also instrumental in the mapping out and establishment of Richland as a town. By 1905 the father-son duo had acquired 2,300 acres and proposed a townsite. To decide on a name for the new town a contest was held. The town name suggestions were drawn from a hat, the last name drawn was the winner – Benton briefly became the name of the small town in honor of the newly established Benton County. The name, however, did not last for long, as the United States Postal Service rejected the name for being too similar to the name of another small Washington town in Pierce County: Benston. As a result, the town was named Richland after Nelson Rich, and officially incorporated in 1910.
In 1911, Howard Amon presented to the town of Richland (represented by C. F. Breithaupt) the deed to Amon Park as a gift to the community. In 1912 a decorative stone archway was constructed to mark the entrance to the park. The original archway was destroyed shortly after the federal government began acquiring land in Hanford, White Bluffs, and Richland in 1943 as part of the top-secret wartime project that would ultimately come to be known as the Manhattan Project. It was also at this point that Amon Park was renamed Riverside Park.
In 1918 a well was dug for the convenience of picnickers, a bandstand was constructed in 1920, and in 1934 volunteers began construction of a community swimming pool and bathhouse at the north end of the park which officially opened on July 4th, 1936. Amon Park’s annual Independence Day celebrations have been a favorite of the community for generations. In a letter written by Estella Murray West, who grew up in Richland, she recalls that “Fourth of July at Amon Park was always something. One year we even had a May Pole dance. We always had fried chicken, home-made freezer ice cream, sponge cake and potato salad. And fireworks a-plenty.”
Over the last century the park has been transformed into picturesque grounds, perfect for a wide range of recreational activities for the community. Today an extensive path runs the length of the park the shore of the Columbia River that is ideal for strolls or biking. The park boasts an impressive children’s playground, tennis courts, and community center. Sprawling lawns under the canopy of hundred-plus year-old trees make for the perfect picnic spot and location for such family friendly events from car shows, art walks, concerts, cultural festivals and much more. A replica of the original park archway was constructed and dedicated by the Richland Centennial Committee on July 4th, 2010 approximately 25 feet northeast of where the original would have stood.
For more than a century Howard Amon Park has remained a popular community locale not only for Richland – the town that the Amons worked so hard to help establish – but for the Tri-Cities as a whole.
Prior to World War II, approximately 2,000 people resided in the eastern Washington towns of Hanford, White Bluffs, Richland, and the surrounding area. Most were agricultural families who operated farms, ranches, orchards, and vineyards and produced such commodities as wheat, milk, apricots, peaches, and grapes. In 1943, as a result of the ongoing battles of both the European and Pacific Theaters of World War II, the United States government had set its sights on the Columbia Basin area as the site for a top-secret wartime enterprise known as the Manhattan Project. Beginning in January 1943 the unsuspecting residents of Hanford, White Bluffs, and Richland began receiving federal notice to vacate and acquiesce to the federal government purchasing their land for “fair market value.” Today, only three structures from this all-but-forgotten pre-WWII era remain, one of which stands isolated in the far northwest corner of what is now the Hanford Nuclear Reservation. The Bruggemann Warehouse is the only intact building on the bygone 406-acre Bruggemann homestead. The structure is now part of the Manhattan Project National Historical Park at Hanford.
Paul Bruggemann was born in Schwetzingen, Germany in 1898, and according to his son Ludwig Bruggemann, after serving in the Great War, “my father wanted to become a farmer.” In 1937 Paul purchased the 406-acre Von Herberg cattle ranch in eastern Washington along the Columbia River to do just that. In October of the same year he married his second wife Marry E. Hoard. The couple lived on the ranch for 6 years, welcoming two children during that time, Ludwig Bruggemann in in 1938 and Paula Bruggemann (Holm) in 1940.
The ranch that Bruggemann purchased came equipped with an impressive irrigation system, including a private pumphouse, used to distribute water directly from the Columbia River. Farmers who did not have direct access to the Columbia River resorted to drilling wells hundreds of feet deep in order to reach the area’s water table. Conversely, many of Bruggemann’s neighbors along the Columbia River would have been using wooden flumes or pipes (both above and below ground) to move and distribute water on their land. Bruggemann’s irrigation pipes, however, were made of vitrified clay tile. In the arid environment of eastern Washington this advanced and extensive irrigation system proved to be a significant advantage for Bruggemann and his endeavor of transforming the large cattle ranch into a primarily fruit producing farm. Ludwig explains that the pump house was used to divert river water up the sloped land to a ditch system on the opposite side of the farm, which was then left to flow back down the slope, over the farmland, and back to the Columbia River. Ludwig also recalls that the pump house for the farm’s irrigation system was often not working properly, “I think every week he had a problem with that pump house.” Bruggemann began the process of cultivating the land, dedicating 60 acres to soft fruits such as grape vineyards and orchards that produced apricots, peaches, and plums. Bruggemann also planted 11 acres of alfalfa, likely used as feed for the goats, rabbits, and sheep that were also raised on the farm.
Paula recalls that there was no need for her father to construct anything on the farm as there were several existing buildings ready for use including a farmhouse, silo, horse barn, cookhouse, garage, and storehouse. Uniquely, the house and the cookhouse were both constructed using glacial erratics from the Columbia River set into concrete. Over the years, the cookhouse eventually came to be mistakenly referred to as a warehouse due to the assumption that it was meant to store the soft fruit after harvest. This assumption, however, was incorrect. Paula corrects the historical record by explaining, “no, that was a cook house, and my grandma was the chief cook along with my mom and my mom’s sister.” Ludwig explains the challenge their mother faced while on the farm: “my mother was always very much loaded with work and cooking… It was a real burden for her.” The women were responsible for feeding not only the family, but a number of farm hands employed on the ranch as well. This meant that during the harvest season, arguably the busiest time of year for any farmer, they were cooking for upwards of 100 people, certainly a harrowing task for anyone. This would have been made all the more challenging by the relatively primitive cooking tools Mary would have used as well as the lack of a nearby grocery store – the closest one being in Sunnyside over an hour away.
Ludwig, who would have been around 5 in the summer of 1943, remembers when two military jeeps arriving at the Bruggemann homestead. The occupants of the vehicles presented Paul Bruggemann with a notice from the United States Engineering Office of the War Department stating that as of July 14, 1943 the family had until September 30, 1943 to vacate the premises. The federal government hired several appraisers to evaluate the land and determine its value. It was eventually decided that the “fair market value” for the Bruggemann farm, including for all the buildings, structures, and crops, was $67,000.00 - $1,018,772.66 in today’s value. Paul Bruggemann, however, was dissatisfied with this estimation, and ultimately took his case to court where he demanded what he felt he owed. When asked by the courts what his profits were and what he thought the fair value of the land should be, Ludwig explains how his father was unable to provide an accurate estimate, saying, “I don’t have any profits yet. I built up that farm and I had my first crop on the trees when your two jeeps drove in.” Bruggemann was uncertain what the full profit he stood to make from the sale of his fruit because his first full fruit crop was waiting to be harvested when he received the notice to vacate his property. Unfortunately, there are no records of the outcome of this court case.
While extended family members who had lived on the farm – Mary’s mother, sister, and brothers – relocated throughout the Pacific Northwest, the nuclear Bruggemann family moved to Yakima, Washington where Paul eventually purchased another farm. Being only 12 acres, his new farm was significantly smaller than the first, meaning that Bruggemann was able to work the land himself, becoming even more self-sufficient. Ludwig and Paula spent the rest of their childhood in Yakima. While Paula remained in the area, Ludwig eventually immigrated to his father’s native country of Germany. Paul Bruggemann passed away in Yakima in June of 1988 at the age of 89. Seventeen years his junior, Mary Bruggemann lived in Yakima for another 18 years until she passed away in March of 2006.