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Pioneer Builder of Irrigation Systems in the Walla Walla Valley
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Building an irrigation system that lasts for a century is quite a feat. The Burlingame Ditch was completed in 1905 to carry water for irrigation and it still is in operation today. The man who designed and built that ditch, Ed Burlingame and his wife Elizabeth, will be at Fort Walla Walla Museum to tell their story.
In 1893, Burlingame, a veteran of irrigation efforts in Yakima and Benton Counties, arrived in Walla Walla to inspect the plans for an ambitious irrigation project and stayed to dig the ditch that bears his name today. The Burlingame Ditch, as it was called, turned more than 5,000 acres of sagebrush into productive farmland. More than one hundred years after its completion, the Burlingame Ditch still conveys water by gravity within its earthen banks 14½ miles from the Walla Walla River to the arid lands of the Gardena bench. Eventually a centenarian, Burlingame lived to see the 1½ mile wooden stave siphon he built across the Pine Creek valley replaced with steel pipe. During the half-century Burlingame farmed his irrigated lands near Gardena, he lost money growing fruit before turning to more dependable alfalfa to support livestock operations. Through financial successes and reverses, “Lizzie” Burlingame tended the family home in Walla Walla, single-handedly raising the children during her husband’s frequent and prolonged absences in the field.
Tom Williams portrays irrigation pioneer Edward Copeland Burlingame and Virginia Williams plays her grandmother Elizabeth “Lizzie” Robson, Burlingame’s second wife.
Museum hours are 10 am to 5 pm daily. Admission is free to members, children under 6, and through a reciprocal agreement Tamástslikt Cultural Institute's Inwai Circle cardholders and enrolled members of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation; $3 for children ages 6-12; $6 for seniors (62+) and students; and $7 for adults. Your admission cost can be applied to a membership, which includes free admission to all Living History performances, priced beginning at $25. For more information, contact Fort Walla Walla Museum at 509-525-7703 or email: info@fortwallawallamuseum.org
755 Myra Road - Walla Walla, WA 99362 - (509) 525-7703
Fax: (509) 525-7798 - Email: info@fortwallawallamuseum.org
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