Irrigation Block 26, Mattawa, Washington

This picture was made in Mattawa, Washington, a small desert town in the south westernmost corner of the Columbia Basin Irrigation Project.  This acreage, included in the original 1930s project plan, received water for the first time in 1984 and saw its first cycle of planting, cultivation, and harvest in that same year.  The artist began photographing Mattawa in April, just after the final extension of the irrigation project’s canals.

New orchard with temporary irrigation system, May 26, 1984