In April 1993, ten members of the Yakama Nation (then spelled Yakima), some in traditional dress, gathered in the office of Washington governor Mike Lowry and urged him to veto a bill giving the Hell Roaring Irrigation Company access to reservation water. The bill promised the company the ability to file for water access through the state government rather than via the Yakama tribal government. Tribal members said this would infringe on their rights as a sovereign nation.

In 1906, settlers had started building the first irrigation ditch from the headwaters of Hell Roaring Creek through Camas Prairie, near Glenwood, in the southwestern part of the Yakama Reservation. Disputes over water rights continued for years, even after the irrigation company bought rights to the water and the right-of-way from the tribe in 1927.

In this image, Yakama Nation members discuss their petition before presenting it to Governor Lowry. Yakama General Council Chairman Jeffrey Bill (in hat) sits at the far end of the room. The bill had already made it through both houses of the legislature and awaited the governor’s signature. Lowry vetoed the bill on May 18, 1993.

Caption information source: “Petition for the Governor”, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, April 21, 1993, p. 11.
Caption information source: Shukovsky, Paul, “Yakimas seek veto of water bill”, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, April 21, 1993, p. 14.
Caption information source: Washington State Legislature Bill Information website, HB 1258, 1993-1994.