This day in history: Irrigation was causing problems for Moses Lake

Wed., May 27, 2026

By Jim Kershner The Spokesman-Review

From 1976: The city of Moses Lake was becoming a little too much … lake-like.

Hundreds of acres of the city were turning “into a swamp,” because intensive irrigation was raising the water table.

“There are puddles in basements, small ponds on the surface and some running streams,” said the Associated Press. “… Now some city streets buckle, businesses run pumps continually in their basements and other firms are building higher floors to escape the seasonal seep.”

This problem arose because of the abundance of irrigation water provided by the Columbia Basin Project. As farmers irrigated their crops the water table slowly rose and peaked in mid-September.

The city’s assistant public works director said strong measures were needed to solve the problem. The city has appealed to the Bureau of Reclamation, which operates the Columbia Basin Project.

From 1926: Gertrude Weiser, 44, was so angry at the testimony of Henry Jackson, taxi driver, that she “struck him twice in the face and banged his head against the wall several times.”

This happened right in the middle of her police court hearing on a vagrancy charge. Police officers were finally able to pull her away, corner her, and take her back to the city jail.

Jackson had testified that when he drove Weiser to the Arlington Hotel, she picked up a 40-pound box of timetables and hurled it at a hotel clerk. The hotel clerk had angered her because he refused to give her some money.

The taxi driver emerged from the courtroom assault without injury, but Weiser was now facing an additional hearing, to determine her sanity.

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