Dry Land Wheat Harvest and Towns

Historic wheat harvest pictures tell more than simply the old ways. A little thought also tells a demographic story which is reflected in the dry land wheat towns of eastern Washington.

The above picture shows that harvesting and shipping wheat required people. The equipment would require people. the horses would require people and moving bags of wheat would require multiple handing and storage. Some of this effort would have been taken up by traveling crews. But many would be local. The number of employees or farmers required today is tiny compared to the situation 100 years ago. And that in part explains the appearance of numerous eastern Washington dryland wheat communities.

The change was not immediate. And it has been ongoing. Even the past few decades, long after horse and ox were had no longer been in use for many years the number of workers needed has continued to decline. Farm equipment has gotten better and more reliable. The same can be said for the cars we drive and the way food and goods are distributed. A long list of reasons some of the small towns have faded.

A couple of years ago I had some field time over in the dryland wheat and learned just how much some towns had shrunk. Lesson learned about the lack of places to have an early breakfast.

Walla Walla 1931 Flood

Walla Walla means place of many waters. But at times in the past there was a bit too much water. Mill Creek which flows through Walla Walla has been heavily engineered mill-creek-and-walla-walla. In doing some research for work I came across some images from the State Archives that show the why of that engineering.    

West Alder Street at S 2nd Street

The big flood took place in March 1931. The flood was a classic eastern Washington event: rain then snow then a very sudden warm up with a warm Chinook wind. Alder Street shown above is one and half blocks north of Mill Creek. Walla Walla is essentially built on the broad alluvial plan of Mill Creek. When the creek flooded in 1931 the flood waters were channeled down several of the main east-west streets of Walla Walla.

After the 1931 flood, a huge flood project was undertaken to reduce the flood hazard. This included a dam on Mill Creek, engineered diversions and construction of  deep concrete channel for the creek through downtown including routing the creek through a tunnel. The work was completed by 1941 and subsequent floods have been contained. 

View down West Alder Street

Main Street

Birch Street

Clinton Court

Crescent Street

Clinton Street

West Alder Street (I think)

South 7th Avenue and West Poplar

Clinton Street

Vegetation and Glacial Outwash in Moses Coulee

Mosses Coulee in central Washington was the route of some of the earlier huge ice- age floods. State Highway 2 crosses the Coulee and crosses over one of the huge gravel bars left by the flood on the coulee floor (huge-deflation-bar-at-moses-coulee). 

A couple of miles north of the Highway 2 crossing is another crossing. The Withrow Moraine crosses the coulee.  

As glacier ice advanced from the north the ice blocked the ice age flood path down Moses Coulee. The glacial moraine left by the maximum extend of ice overlies the ice age flood deposits on the coulee floor. A geologic classic case of superpostion meaning the ice-age floods in Moses Coulee are older than the maximum ice advance. The advanced ice blocked the Moses Coulee flood route and diverted the later floods down the Grand Coulee route to the east.

The above summary can readily be seen by taking a trip up the coulee on Jameson lake Road. But of course it can be readily seen on Google earth. But the most striking thing to me is how the melt water routes are enhanced by the vegetation based on the subtle changes in sediment composition. This feature was not noticeable on the ground but with the right season and light stood out sharply in this view.  

Winter Alfalfa Irrigation and Stateline Wind Farm

Onions are perhaps the Walla Walla valley's most famous crop. However, grapes for wine have become a much larger industry and in some circles may be eclipsing onions. The valley also has large acreage in alfalfa. The ice age flood silts and wind deposited silts combined with irrigation and generally dry air are the right combination for highly productive alfalfa fields. The fact that large tracts of range land are present on the east end of the Horse Heaven Hills and in the nearby Blue Mountains helped establish large acreage in the production of feed for livestock. In the early days of Walla Walla there was good money to be made from raising meat for mines in Idaho. 

Ice on a recently irrigated strip of alfalfa

The ice age flood silts will hold a lot of water and alfalfa will grow as soon as the weather begins to warm. Hence, irrigation is a year round project to build up and maintain soil moisture in this otherwise very dry area on the southern half of the valley.

A new type of "farming" can be seen on the ridge line south of the valley. The State Line Wind Farm is one of the largest in the region with wind turbines lining the crest of the Horse Heaven Hills along the Washington-Oregon boundary. These turbines catch the wind rising up and over the Horse Heaven Hills from the Columbia River gorge to the west.

A Nice Weather Turn in Walla Walla

I had a project in Walla Walla prior to the Thanksgiving break. We arrived in freezing rain that switched over to light snow. The previous few days had been freezing fog. The morning was cold and dark, but I enjoyed a bit of a walk about the central part of the city.

 

 

 

Just a bit after finishing the site visit the fog and clouds were pushed to the south.

 

Weather station, grapes and the Blue Mountains

Rolling hills southeast of Walla Walla

Flocked elm on Mill Creek Road

Winter road scene with bare pavement as the clouds break apart

Mill Creek and Walla Walla

Walla Walla means place of many waters. A fit name for the multiple streams that flow off the west side of the Blue Mountains into east end of the valley.

 

Walla Walla valley with the Blue Mountains to the east.

The City of Walla Walla is within the northeast of the valley

 

The many waters concept has been enhanced by irrigation diversions. Mill Creek flows through the City of Walla Walla. Upstream of the city are diversions which route water into other streams such that there are numerous year-round creeks flowing through city. In addition to the engineered diversion works upstream of the city, the stream route through the city is very engineered.  

 

Mill Creek immediately east of downtown

Downstream of the above picture Mill Creek enters a tunnel and passed under portions of the downtown area. Down stream the creek remains heavily engineered and is contained with structures to reduce flooding and erosion. It may be the most engineered creek for its size of any stream in Washington State.

Early Walla Walla history made it clear that Mill Creek provided a huge benefit for the community, but the creek also periodically had very large floods that required significant flood control works.

A Turkey Day Blog Tradition - Safe Travels

A Turkey Day blog tradition. I had field travels today with safe roads mostly with only a bit of freezing rain.