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Cage 37
Priest Rapids Irrigation District
Records, 1909-1954

The records of the Priest Rapids Irrigation District were donated to Washington State University by Mrs, Fred M. Harris of Yakima, Washington, in 1958 and processed by Lawrence R. Stark, September, 1972. Further records were donated by Mary Harris in early 1973 and processed by Lawrence R. Stark, April, 1973.

Number of containers: 14
Linear feet of shelf space: 8
Approximate number of items: 5700

The Priest Rapids Irrigation District, White Bluffs and Hanford, Washington, a quasi-municipal corporation, was first organized by the Benton County Commissioners in 1920, but remained inactive until the early 1930's when it acquired the properties of two bankrupt firms, the Black Rock Power and Irrigation Company and Consumers Ditch Company. From 1931 to 1943 the district operated as a governmental business dealing in irrigation, electrical power and real estate development and known as the Hanford Irrigation Project. In early 1943, the district's properties were taken over by the federal government and were placed under the Manhattan District of the United States Army for use as an atomic energy facility. Because of the confusion caused by the swiftness of the government seizure, the district was not dissolved, nor its assets fully liquidated, until 1951.

DESCRIPTION AND ARRANGEMENT

The records consist primarily of correspondence of the secretary of the district, deeds, contracts and similar legal papers relating to the operation of the district, financial records which were maintained by the Benton County Treasurer, and papers concerning the lawsuits over the dissolution of the district. Records emanating from district operations between 1920 and 1943 are arranged in one alphabetical series. Following this is a short sequence of material concerning the dissolution of the district. The additional material donated by Mary Harris is in Containers 15-17, filed separately after the original donation.

CONTAINER LIST

Container  Description
 
1Acquisition of properties
Address list
Agreements - Miscellaneous
Allis-Chalmers Company
American Blueprint Company
Annual reports -- Priest Rapids Irrigation District
Arrowsmith Iron Works
Assessment receipts
Auditor's Report -- Washington State
Ballots for bond election, October, 1938.
Bank deposits and withdrawals
Bank statements
Banks, Frank A
2Barge, C. E.
Beeuwkes, R. (Milwaukee Railroad) engineering reports
Benton County Treasurer's receipts, 1941.
Benton County Utility District
Bids on Priest Rapids Irrigation District junk
Bills and old invoices
Bills of sale
Blueprints
Board meeting
Boie, H. H.
Bond application $175,000
Bond election and issue of bonds, June, 1940.
Bond payments
Bond report data
Bonneville Power Administration
3Brown, A.J.
Brown Brothers, Priest Rapids
Budgets
Calzo, Pete
Certificates of redemption
Cheney and Hutchinson
Circular letters
Claims, 1943
Claims to be submitted to Board of Directors
Miscellaneous collections
Collens, Leonard
Department of Conservation and Development -- Washington State
Contracts
4Correspondence, miscellaneous
Correspondence with Marvin Chase, receiver, Black Rock Company
County auditor
County treasurer
Cox, Omar
Cross-section paper
Cunningham, Fred J.
5Deeds to Irrigation District
Delinquent lists by county treasurer
Directors
Dishon, Charles
Dunning notices
Employer's papers
Estimates, miscellaneous
Exclusions
Federal Emergency Administration
Federal Land Bank
Federal Pipe and Tank Company
Federal Power Commission
Federal Public Works
Federation of Yakima Valley Irrigation Districts
Financial statements
Fonda, Mary E.
Fosseen's Incorporated, Yakima
6Garsi, S.
Gas reports
General Electric Company
General Petroleum Company
Generator bids and deposits
Geological survey
Graybar Electric Company
Grazing leases
Hall, G.D.
Hanford contracts
Haynes, Manley B.
Department of Hydraulics
Insurance policies
Inquiries on 1935 tolls and assessments
Kennedy, E.D., et al v. Marvin Chase, receiver
7Department of Labor and Industries
Land contracts
Land sales
Land settlement
Leases
Legal opinions
Legislative matters
Department of Licenses
Lowman-Hanford Company
McLean and Company re: bonds
Machine shops and supplies
Manufacturers -- miscellaneous
Maps and photographs
8Meter readings
Miller and Adams
Milwaukee Railroad Company officials
Minutes and resolutions
Miscellaneous
9Moulton and Powell, attornies
Division of Municipal Corporations
Newspaper clippings
Notes and mortgages
O'Brien, M.F.
O'Brien, K. Wagner
Oils and greases
Old business
Pacific Power and Light Company
Partlow, Lon
Pashen, H.F.
Payrolls
Petitions
Picatti Brothers
Pipeline construction -- lateral "H"
Plans and specifications
Plats
Poll book for bond election, October, 1938.
Power dope
Power statements, 1940.
10Priest Rapids Development Company
Priest Rapids Irrigation District
Priority rating and correspondence
Private and district lands
Prosicuting [sic] Attorney, Benton County
Prosser
Department of Public Lands
Public Works Administration
Pump information, Consolidated Builders, Inc. [Grand Coulee Dam]
Receipts, miscellaneous
Reconstruction Finance Corporation
11Redemption receipts, 1940-1942.
Refunding bond issue
Reports, federal and state
Roberts pumping plant estimates
Salvini, B. [John Bert]
Salvina, James P.
Sanford, Charles M.
Secretary's manual
Standard Oil Company
State and governmental departments
State auditor
State tax commission
State treasurer
Statements [of predecessor companies]
Supply firms
12Tax schedule
Victory tax and withholding tax
Technical data
Tinling and Powell, attornies
Toll receipts, 1952
Transfers [of contracts], 1936
Treasurer's receipts, 1943
Unemployment compensation
Union Oil Company
Yakima Valley Iron Works
Letters in which warrants were sent
Washington Rural Rehabilitation Corporation
Water charges
Water contracts
Water deliveries
Water information
13Water statements
Water users
Webber, Leo
Westinghouse Electric Company
Woodward Governor Company
C.F. Wooten case
Works Progress Administration
XYZ [Miscellaneous]
Yakima County
Yakima Hardware Company
Yearly totals, 1936.
14Condemnation and dissolution of the Priest Rapids Irrigation District, 1943-1951.
15Priest Rapids Irrigation District Files
   Minutes and resolutions, 1938-1944
   Copies of PRID deeds
   Land Remittance Ration: Priest Rapids Land Development Company
   United States Army
   War Department
   Description of Bonds issued in 1940
   Application to Reconstruction Finance Corporation, 1933
   White Bluffs--Hanford Project as proposed by Citizens Committee, 1919
16Condemnation and liquidation: Correspondence, briefs, depositions and related papers, mostly dealing with legal matters. 1943-1954.
17Appraisals of PRID properties (Including photographs, some ca. 1908-09)
Transcripts and reports of trials before federal courts, 1947-1952.