Yakima County, Washington - Chapter 4: Current History, 1904 (part 2 of 2)

30th a mass-meeting; was held at Rich's Hall in Prosser for the purpose of considering the newcounty scheme, at which were delegations from Mabton, Sunnyside, Kiona, Rattlesnake and Prosser, the entire assemblage numbering about a hundred. Hon. Nelson Rich presided. A committee, consisting of one delegate from each precinct, was appointed to define the boundary lines of the proposed new political entity, and after conference, it reported that the said boundaries should be as follows:

Beginning at a point in the middle of the Columbia river, where the range line between twenty-one and twenty-two crosses the river; thence north six miles to the first standard parallel; west on first standard parallel to the range line; thence north on range line between twenty and twenty-one to the north line of five-twenty ; thence west on said line to Pine creek; thence following Pine creek for a natural boundary to a point where said Pine creek crosses the range line between nineteen and twenty; thence north on said line to the south line of the Yakima Indian reservation; thence east along said line to the range line between twenty and twenty-one; thence north twelve miles ; thence east two miles ; thence north eighteen miles to the northwest corner of section four, township eleven, range twenty-one'; thence east on township line to section one, township eleven, range twenty-three east; thence north on said line to the Columbia river; thence down the middle of the main channel of the Columbia to the point of beginning.

December 18th another county division meeting was held at Odd Fellows Hall, Sunnyside, of which F. H. Gloyd and H. E. Perrin were elected president and secretary, respectively. Forty delegates were present, representing Sunnyside, Prosser, Zillah, Kiona, Mabton, Alder Creek, Rattlesnake, Patterson and Klickitat. A committee of attorneys was appointed to draft a bill creating a new county with boundaries as outlined at the Prosser convention, and forward the same to the legislature. A committee of five persons was also named to prepare and circulate petitions.

At the last session of the legislature, that of 1903, Representative S. A. Wells, of Spokane county, chairman of the house committee on county organization, introduced a bill whose object was the creation of McKinley county out of the eastern portion of Yakima and Klickitat counties. The western boundary line of the new county passed within three miles of Zillah, an arrangement that did not meet the universal approval of those in the Sunnyside country, who wished to see that section preserved intact. Therefore, a serious dissension among the new county builders occurred, which aided the old county in its struggle against division at this time. The bill was defeated in the house.

The year 1902 was one of unqualified prosperity and progress for all classes. The hop crop especially was excellent, the prices were high, and, on the whole, the season was more favorable for this species of agriculture than any in a great number of years. The succeeding twelvemonth has also been one freighted with blessings for the people of Yakima county, but it is not necessary to narrate its story in any detail. Already the current of this review has been followed until it has led us out of the realm of history and into that of current events, and the happenings of recent months are too fresh in the memory to require narration here. From the time when the first adventurous cattle drovers entered its broad valleys until the present moment, the county's people have moved with unresting feet in the direction of progress. Misfortunes, hard times and isolation have been encountered, but their effect has been only to retard the speed of the forward march, never to call a halt. The success of the past gives earnest of the future, and the conviction can hardly be escaped that the

I Yakima county historian of a quarter of a century hence will have a tale to tell immeasurably more marvelous than can be written with truth at this date. Great as have been the achievements of the irrigation promoter and "intensive" farmer, the ambitions of the people have not yet begun to be satisfied. Splendid canals, miles in length and carrying fertility and verdure to thousands of acres of the quondam sun-scorched and sageclad desert, are already accomplished facts, but they are small compared with those which the ambitions of the people have led them to project; the railroad is here, but it has not completely overcome the primeval isolation, and schemes for networking this and neighboring counties with electric and steam railways are in the air. The people have proven that they possess the ability to perform as well as to plan, and we may reasonably expect that a sufficient numer of their bold projects will materialize to insure to the most populous county of central Washington and to its neighbors on every side a development comprehensive in scope, many-sided in character and