Columbia Chronicles New Golf Course Rises From The Desert

Fruit trees aren’t all that’s sprouting from the desert near Orondo.

“Sun, sand, sagebrush and 7,500 yards of lush green grass,” reads an advertisement for Desert Canyon Golf Course and development.

Water sucked from the Columbia River - about two miles west of the course - makes the fairways and greens lush. Some of the water is dyed blue and pumped over manmade falls near the entrance.

The course, a par 72 that opened last year, was rated second-best in the state by Golf Digest. That’s good enough to draw plenty of wellheeled duffers from the coast.

If all goes as planned, 400 houses and condominiums will ring the course, said Hal Myers of Windermere Real Estate in Wenatchee, which is selling the homes.

So far, four houses and 15 condo units are completed. Blown sand forms dunes over other foundations waiting for construction crews to finish the buildings.

Lots sell for $60,000 or more. Condos go for a quarter million. Nearly all the lookers are professionals from the Seattle area.

The newcomers likely will learn that the desert isn’t tamed willingly. A mouse trap baited with peanut butter awaits the last, reluctant desert residents in Myers’ bright new office at the course.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Map of Orondo area