Yakima county is one of the large and important counties in the
state, having the Yakima Indian reservation included within its
boundaries. Its area is 3,222 square miles and it has a population of
about 38,000. It is watered by the Yakima river and its tributaries,
and through its valleys the railroads from the east find their
easiest grade toward the Cascade passes. It is a county of level
valleys and plateaus, having a soil made up chiefly of volcanic
ash and disintegrated basaltic rocks, of great depth, which yields
fabulously in cereal and grass crops, fruits and vegetables with
the magic touch of irrigation. Artificial watering is 30 years old
in this valley, and yet only a very small area was thus treated
until the matter was taken up by the national government. But now
vast areas are being provided with water, and the consequent growth
and development of the county is wonderful.
A series of lakes in the mountains are being utilized as reservoirs,
and from these lakes the waters are being distributed in many directions
in the large irrigating canals. When the projects now under way are
completed, more than 200,000 acres will be under ditches.