Articles from the Historical Society in Josephine County Oregon

July Surprise II - The Great 4th of July Surprise of 1909

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constructed 16 miles of ditches. Water would be pumped to two highline ditches. The highline ditches still in use are the 200-foot north side ditch, and the 350-foot Fruitdale south side ditch. The R.R.Courier of July 9th 1909, reported that the president of the Josephine County Irrigation and Power Company, H.L. Gilkey, ordered that irrigation water be turned into the north side 200-foot ditch for the first time. The only ditch completed at this time was the 200-foot highline ditch through Tokay Heights, which terminated near Morgan Lane.

The water was permitted to flow down Sixth Street to the surprise of nearly everyone watching the 4th of July parade celebrating our first irrigation under construction. The procession started with the city band marching in front of a long geared heavy wagon bearing a billboard 24 feet long and 8 feet wide. The sign was painted in large letters, "Irrigation under construction, covering 18,000 acres of choice fruit and alfalfa lands". On the board was a picture of an Alfalfa field through which ran an irrigating ditch. Next to the alfalfa, was an orchard showing large trees. Still further to the left was a box from which red Spitzenberg apples were rolling. There were ... Continued - Page 3

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