Editing Grant County, Washington (section)

==History==
[[Native Americans in the United States|Native American]] cultures in the area included the [[Interior Salish]], [[Wenatchi]], and [[Okanagan people|Okanagan]]. The first white settlers began to arrive in the mid-to-late-19th century, primarily with the goal of raising livestock. One government official described the area in 1879 as, "…a desolation where even the most hopeful can find nothing in its future prospects to cheer."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Symons |first=Lieut. Thomas W. |title=Report of an Examination of the Upper Columbia River and the Territory in Its Vicinity in September and October 1881, to Determine Its Navigability, and Adaptability to Steamboat Transportation: Made by Direction of the Commanding General of the Department of the Columbia |page=121}}</ref>

When railroads arrived they also brought new settlers, and the economy began a shift from [[ranch]]ing to [[dryland farming]]. This transition required the people to have ready access to water, and [[irrigation]] became a necessity. The first large-scale irrigation attempts began in 1898, but it would be years before real success.

With the influx of dryland farming, the county soon boasted access to three major railway systems; the [[Great Northern Railway (U.S.)|Great Northern Railway]], [[Northern Pacific Railroad]] and the [[Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad]]. In addition, the [[Columbia River]] in this area was [[Navigability|navigable]]. This allowed crops to be transported out of the area easily. Towns like [[Wilson Creek, Washington|Wilson Creek]], [[Quincy, Washington|Quincy]] and [[Ephrata, Washington|Ephrata]] began to thrive.

The [[Washington State Legislature]] officially created Grant County on February 24, 1909, naming it in the memory of Ulysses S. Grant, the 18th president of the United States, and a major contributor to the Union victory in the [[American Civil War]]. The county seat was located in Ephrata. The area's population at the time stood at around 8700 people.

The [[Columbia Basin Project]], which ultimately produced the [[Grand Coulee Dam]] with its associated irrigation and hydroelectric generating grid, was an outgrowth of the 1902 creation of the United States [[Bureau of Reclamation]]. When that agency began studying feasibility of projects in the Northwestern United States, competing groups from Spokane, Wenatchee, Ephrata and elsewhere advanced competing possibilities. One idea was to dam the Columbia River at [[Grand Coulee]]. This concept was approved in 1933, and construction continued in the following decades. The project would fundamentally change the region forever.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Grant County - Thumbnail History |url=http://historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=output.cfm&file_id=8010 |access-date=April 6, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Great Grant County – News from the best county in the world! |url=http://greatgrantcounty.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=12&Itemid=26 |access-date=April 6, 2018 |website=greatgrantcounty.com |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=North Central Washington in the 1900s |url=http://ncwportal.com/community/north_central_washington_in_the_1900s#grant |access-date=April 6, 2018 |website=ncwportal.com |language=en-US}}</ref>