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.