White Bluffs and Hanford, Washington

White Bluffs takes its name from what is known as the Ringold formation. The exposed portion of the formation are the light and dark layers on the east bank of the Columbia River. The white layers are a lime-like deposit called caliche.

The first people to live here were the Wanapum Indians, who inhabited the Columbia Basin from the mouth of the Yakima River to the Saddle Mountains to near the present day Beverly. They were closely connected to the Yakama, Palouse, and Nez Perce tribes and had a similar language.

Soon after Lewis and Clark mapped the Columbia River corridor, explorers and businessmen flocked to the West. Fur traders used the Columbia as its main route to the Pacific Ocean. In 1853, the Longmire Wagon Train traveled through the White Bluffs-Hanford area. The train followed an old Indian trail to Cold Creek just below Rattlesnake Springs. The "white bluffs" were visible north of the trail. Wild horses and buffalo roamed the valley. Huge jackrabbit populations flourished. Fossils would later be found of prehistoric elephants and antelope that once lived here. The desert teemed with wild plants that Indians used for medicine or food.

The abundant brunch grasses attracted the first settlers to the area--it was perfect for grazing cattle. Chief Kamiakin brought cattle to the Yakima Valley in 1840. Ben Snipes brought his cattle to the Priest Rapids Valley in 1855. In 1861, Jordan Williams also brought cattle to White Bluffs, one of the earliest settlements along the Columbia. About 1880, Ben Rosencrance moved into the area and started an 87-acre stock ranch for horses. The Rosencrances furnished horses to the Northern Pacific railroad when it was working on its line between Spokane and Ainsworth.

Thomas Howe opened the first ferry on this section of the Columbia in 1861. Then the Oregon Steam Navigation Company developed the White Bluffs road, which connected the Okanogan River with Fort Colville. By 1866, White Bluffs became the connection point between the Dalles and Pend O'Reille, for shipments bound for the Colville, Upper Columbia, Kootenai, and Blackfoot mines. White Bluffs built many hotels and stores in the boom. However, when the Mullan Road was completed between Walla Walla and Fort Benton, Montana, that route proved an easier passage for freight. The boom was over for White Bluffs.

In the 1880s, Jordan Williams revived the ferry. He later sold it to George Borden, a cattle rancher. Borden operated the row ferry until 1900. Then he bought a horse-powered ferry, which became the main service for river crossings. The new ferry was quite a novelty--the horses would walk in a circle around a capstan that powered the paddle wheels. The only time the ferry did not operate was if there was too much ice. Otherwise it served its purpose very well until 1906, when the ferry was replaced with an engine-powered barge.

People still traveled by horseback or horse and wagon. Roads were still no more than trails, and many were long-travelled Indian paths. There was some timber being hauled in for building homes. Strawberries were one of the first cash crops since they could be planted and harvested in a single season.

In 1905, the Northwestern Improvement Company promised irrigation for 30,000 acres. The company also put a line of steamers on the river that same year. The irrigation and the steamers both helped boost the growing population. The Priest Rapids Development Company also helped the water situation by putting in a complete artesian well.

By this time the town on the east side of the river was growing. So when Mr. Gustave brought a group of forty families to the area, they were settled on the west side of the Columbia, where a new White Bluffs was born. The other factor that made this move necessary was that the bluffs were so high that pumping water up that high would have been difficult.

In 1906, the town of Hanford was established when the Hanford Irrigation and Power Company was built. Both the town and the company were named for Judge Cornelius Holgate Hanford. He and a group of Seattle/Tacoma industrialists built the power plant at the foot of Priest Rapids, giving the area 20,000 HP of electricity. Hanford would later be platted and built about seven miles down river from White Bluffs.

With regular ferry service and promise of reliable irrigation and electrical power, White Bluffs and Hanford started booming. Real estate offices across the state were selling White Bluffs property. Telephone lines were popping up around the towns. In 1907, E.J. O'Larey began publishing the White Bluffs Spokesman, which ran until the late 1930s. In 1908, W.W. Watson, started a newspaper to serve Hanford citizens, called The Columbian. Freighters were starting to bring large amounts of timber, machinery, mail, and people up the river. A stage was set up to run between Prosser and White Bluffs. A new grade school was built halfway between Hanford and White Bluffs. A bank, pharmacy, real estate office, livery, and telephone company were added to the landscape around 1909.

In 1910, catastrophe struck. The entire business district of Hanford was destroyed by fire. G.L. Turner discovered the fire smoldering in his room of the Columbia Hotel. Before the fire could be put out, the hotel, the Enyeart building, and the Griener building were destroyed.

The next decade saw continual growth in the White Bluffs-Hanford area. A transportation ferry began service at Hanford. In 1911 the Annual Kennewick Grape Carnival began. The festival was a fair for produce grown in the Lower Yakima and Priest Rapids districts. White Bluffs and Hanford took many honors with their grapes, strawberries, melons, and vegetables. The fine grapes grown here got the attention of the Welch's juice company, which still processes juice in downtown Kennewick. In 1912, the Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul railroad line came to White Bluffs. In 1913, the line was extended to Hanford, where trains were able to turn around. Two years later, when train service was established as the major mode of transportation, most of White Bluffs relocated to be near the depot, moving away from the ferry landing. In 1916, the Hanford High School was built.

World War I interrupted the daily lives of White Bluffs and Hanford residents in 1917. Both towns contributed generously in cash and in war bonds, collected by the Red Cross. Other fund raisers and auctions collected even more money for the war effort. Men between the ages of 21 and 30 registered for the draft. Proceeds from annual events were donated to the Red Cross. The knitting clubs made sweaters and socks to send to soldiers. Families conserved food that was needed overseas, such as pork, milk, vegetables, and flour. Those whose vehicles were not required for their work had to ration their gasoline. Ladies canned jams, jellies, and preserves for the troops, the only instance in which their allotment of sugar could be exceeded.

In 1918, the war was over. The state was looking for a place to relocate soldiers who had been trained under the Federal Farm Board Farm Training Course. White Bluffs and Hanford won the bid with their eloquent portrayal of the benefits of the mid-Columbia. Soldiers and their families began arriving in 1922, adding to the population and the economy.

The decade following the war brought hard times. Prices for crops were plunging. Many had to get bank loans to stay afloat. Others were diversifying their crops so if a natural disaster occurred, there would be something to take to market. School lunches were possible only with donations by neighborhood farmers. Those who were lucky enough to have salaried jobs from the government were often the only ones keeping the economy alive. To try to bring more money to the county, the soldiers' settlement was opened to the public.

However, not all was gloom and doom. In 1922, there were enough students to justify building the new White Bluffs High School. At the end of the decade there were more than 400,000 fruit trees in the district. Granges were forming around the state to help protect farmers' rights. Men and women were lining up to get the required driver's licenses--applicants required two witnesses that could attest to the driver's ability! This new driving ability came in handy for the moonshiners, making and selling their own whiskey!

The 1930s brought a lot of exciting news that kept people glued to their radios and newspapers. Once such piece of news was that in 1939, a German scientist created the first atomic explosion. Little did White Bluffs and Hanford residents know, it was this important event that would contribute to drastic changes in their lives four years later.

Things were still tight after the depression but somehow people survived. Power companies kept the electricity turned on even though many had overdue bills. County officials established a surplus food exchange to help those less fortunate. Many went out of town to get work, even if only seasonal, just to get by. The Civilian Conservation Corps provided some jobs for Priest Rapids Valley residents. The granges were doing their part by trying to improve farming practices. Farmers experimented with different fertilizers. Efforts were under way to more adequately use dairy cows and dairy products.

Grapes grown by Jim Grierson gained national attention at the Chicago World's Fair in 1933. Fruits and vegetables were being shipped all over the state, country, and even the world, though prices were still low. One woman, Mary Cox, was curious about where her pear shipments were going. She sent a letter with a shipment, asking the recipient to write her back. She received a letter from a chef in Alexandria, Egypt, telling her that her pears had been served at a banquet given by the King of Egypt!

In 1934 schools gave diphtheria vaccinations for the first time. Physicals and tuberculosis tests were also available on demand. By 1937, freezing crops to preserve them for market was becoming popular. A commercial cannery opened its doors that year, with profits being paid back to the growers.

In 1938, the new Hanford High School was rebuilt and reopened after being destroyed by fire the previous winter. Students attended at the White Bluffs high school until the new structure was completed. Just when things were looking up for produce, more crop infestations plagued 1938. Curly top blight hit sugar beets. Grasshoppers and asparagus beetles attacked with a vengeance. Most crops did well by harvest, though, especially the apples, peaches, and pears. The Priest Rapids Dam was improved that year also, so power output would be available at a steady rate in the winter. The Priest Rapids Valley was recovering slowly but surely from the depression.

World War came again and everyone did their part. Residents saved paper and tinfoil and donated scrap aluminum. Farmers pitched in and collected the scrap iron and steel for the defense program. One contingent scoured the Saddle Mountain district, looking for likely places for minerals that could be manufactured into aluminum. It really brought the war close to home when residents were warned that there could be blackouts in the Northwest--enemy bombers could identify dams at night by the patterns of lights. Rationing came early in 1942, especially for tires and gas.

Meanwhile Grand Coulee dam was completed, providing electricity and irrigation for thousands of square miles. A new power station was built at Midway, just up river. White Bluffs built the Oakley Hotel, to replace the Commercial Hotel that had burned down two years earlier. In 1942, Hanford High School got a chance to repay the favor the White Bluffs High School extended a few years before. The White Bluffs High School burned down, so Hanford High School shared its facilities with the displaced students. This gesture was typical of community spirit between the two towns.

Then it was 1943, a year that would change history. The first couple of months were routine. The winter was extremely cold that year, with school closures and ice flows on the river. A small uproar occurred over the possible passing of a new state law that required alcohol content of wines to be no greater than 14%. This would have an adverse impact on growers in the Columbia and Yakima valleys, since their grapes contained much more sugar than that in their natural state.

On March 6, the end of White Bluffs and Hanford was eminent. Residents of the Priest Rapids Valley and the Lower Yakima Valley received a fateful letter--the land was being taken for an important government project and everyone had between two weeks and three months to leave. No one was really sure why they had to leave. A March 1943 edition of the Kennewick Courier-Reporter gave them a hint of what was happening: "RICHLAND, WHITE BLUFFS AND HANFORD TO BE TAKEN FOR HUGE WAR INDUSTRY" said the headlines. A meeting was held by government officials to explain the evacuation situation.

The length of time a family had to move depended on what sector of the government grid you lived on. Some nicer homes in downtown White Bluffs and Hanford were immediately seized by the government to use as office buildings. Bill Schwisow was given three days to leave; his home was going to be used as an office for the Hanford Patrol. Five hundred to six hundred families were affected. Families were told not to tell their sons or husbands who were at war, because their "displacement" might have adverse effects on the troops' morale. Some were allowed to pack what they could in a car and told to come back for the rest later. When many returned, they found only a shell of their former house, much of it having been scavenged for wood or supplies by the government.

Some were lucky enough to get jobs on the project. Others worked in Pasco or Kennewick, providing services to the government, such as housing, transportation, and mail. But many others scattered to the far ends of the country, never to return to their wonderful homes on the Columbia River.

In 1968, for the first time former residents were allowed to tour the area where their homesteads used to be. Not much remained from the early days. The shell of the old Hanford High School faces the river. Some old blacktop roads are visible beneath the tumbleweeds and cheat grass that have invaded the Columbia Basin. The old highway was still being used for workers who travelled to the outer areas of the Hanford Site. The only thing that remains is the spectacular view of the geologic formations that inspired the name of the former town of White Bluffs.

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Last revised: 3/15/98