NCW Libraries

Grant County was one of the last places to be settled in Washington State. The first visitors grazed livestock on the rich bunch grasses, sharing space with the Wanapum and Sinkiuse tribes. Homesteaders planted wheat, hay, and orchards, and marketed fish around Moses Lake. After unusually wet years, weather patterns returned to normal and the area creeks dried up, forcing many families to move away. Not long after, the Great Depression bankrupted...