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Origin of Tumalo Town District Improvement Company
and use of water from Deschutes River:
Origin of Tumalo Town District Improvement Company
and use of water from Deschutes River:
Laidlaw was platted in 1904 in anticipation of the railroad coming up from The Dalles along the Deschutes River. Due to the Carey Act which allowed homesteading in the west, land seemed readily available, all it needed was water to help the deserts bloom.
In 1904 and 1905, the Deschutes River was adjudicated a water right. A State Record of Water Rights Certificate confirms a right to the use of seepage water from Tumalo Creek, a tributary of the Deschutes River and the Deschutes River itself, for domestic purposes and the irrigation of land. There were 27 properties with adjudicated water rights at that time.
In 1938, 1950, 1951, and 1952, the state granted permitted rights to landowners or trustees. Tumalo Town District Improvement Company (aka TTDIC) was incorporated in 1952 to better manage the water usage in the platted townsite of formerly known as Laidlaw, now known as Tumalo. In 1993, the TTDIC updated their records per House Bill 3111 and new certificates were applied.
The ditch at one time had a wooden flume which carried it into town, and the water flowed in the small hand-dug ditches. In the 1970s, the old flume was removed and steel pipe was used to carry the ditch from its point of origin at the north side of the bridge on O.B. Riley Road by Tumalo State Park. The main head gate near the entrance of the ditch regulates the amount of water needed during the season which is allotted May to October. The ditch is a combination of piped and open ditch. There is a “return” to the river access point which helps to close the flow of the ditch after the irrigation season is over. The ditch is piped under the Knife River plant and flows on the west side of the Tumalo Steakhouse and Saloon, then it crosses under US Highway 20 east, to a weir behind a property at 7th Street and Bruce Avenue. There it splits, servicing properties on Cook Ave. north to 4th Street and follows a tree line to 5th Street and continues north to 2nd Street west of the school and services those properties along 2nd Street.
TTDIC water is for irrigation use only. Laidlaw Water District provides water for domestic use in Tumalo town. Every spring users are asked to participate in helping to clean the open ditches of debris, limbs, pine cones, etc. to keep the water flowing. Members are not to block another user’s water. In the instance of drought conditions, TTDIC will mandate a rotating schedule for water use and members will be notified.
TTDIC meets annually in April for the members to look at the books and comment on proceedings. There is a governing Board of Directors and a secretary, bookkeeper.
Nena Close, SecretaryRecorder
A Historical Timeline
A Historical Timeline
The Town That Almost Was
The Town That Almost Was
Courtesy of Deschutes Historical Museum
Tumalo is an unincorporated community 4 miles NW of Bend, OR, just off West Highway 20. Locals used to say, “if you blink, you’ll miss it” when driving through. But at one time, it was destined to become the biggest little city in Central Oregon.
Mid 1800s
Mid 1800s
Courtesy of Deschutes Historical Museum
May 20, 1862, an Act of Congress was approved to “Secure Homesteads to Actual Settlers on the Public Doman”. The Carey Act of August 18, 1894, initiated many of the irrigation projects in the western states by authorizing the federal government to contract with the states for land reclamation. The water rights established under the Carey Act were inchoate or temporary until the land was actually irrigated and producing crops. Land seemed readily available, all it needed was water to help the deserts bloom.
An application was filed Nov. 5, 1894, and approved by President Grover Cleveland, to grant Sophia Palmer and her heirs, a tract of land in the West ½ of the NE quarter and the west ½ of the SE quarter of section 31, in Township 16S, Range 12E of the Willamette Meridian in Oregon. 160 acres of bare land with a river running through it. She passed away March 7, 1901 in The Dalles, OR, and the land passed to her sons, Hiram J. and Andrew C. Palmer.
Early 1900s
Early 1900s
Courtesy of Deschutes Historical Museum
The Palmers sold to the 160 acres to William Andrew Laidlaw in 1904 for the sum of $1600 and the deed was issued May 28, 1904. Mr. Laidlaw, a real estate broker from Portland, OR knew that the railroad was being built from The Dalles along the Deschutes River into Central Oregon and he quickly proceeded to plat a town on those 160 acres and name it after himself. Shortly after acquiring the deed, he sold the land to the newly created Laidlaw Townsite Company for $1.00. Mr. Laidlaw lists himself as the Secretary of the corporation, and B. S. Cook as President. The town was platted with 70 blocks divided into lots. Mr. Cook and Mr. Laidlaw then form the Laidlaw Banking & Trust Company and sell Lots 13 and 14 in Block 14 to set up an office. The lots sold quickly, and buildings started to rise. At some point a wooden flume was built to carry water from the Deschutes River into the townsite. The water system was named Laidlaw Townsite Company ditch, and one of the earliest recorded water rights was issued to Caroline F. Bullard in 1904 for ½ acre feet of water to irrigate on Block 2. Other entrepreneurs followed.
The townsite of Laidlaw was bigger than Bend for a few years, until the railroad reached Bend, bypassing Laidlaw. Mr. Laidlaw and Company were sued for fraud and misrepresentation of irrigation on larger parcels of lands outside the townsite. In a show of protest, the settlers and townspeople hung him in effigy and renamed the town Tumalo.
Wm. Laidlaw went on to other ventures, however. Public records state in 1917 he was the proprietor of a hotel in San Diego, CA, and the 1920 census has him listed as fruit grower in his own citrus grove. He and his wife Cora are buried in San Diego.
A fire swept through the town and destroyed most of the old buildings, but a few of the original homes are still standing.
Above photo is similar to what the wooden flume may have looked like. Not the actual photo of the Tumalo Town Ditch flume.
Mid 1900s
Mid 1900s
From 1938 to 1952, the Oregon State Water Board granted permitted water rights to landowners or trustees. Tumalo Town District Improvement Company (aka TTDIC) was incorporated by several of the landowners in Tumalo in 1952 as a 501 © (12) non-profit group to better manage the water usage providing domestic and irrigation water to the townsite lots. The By-Laws state the Board would consist of a chairman and 2-3 Directors on a rotating basis. In a meeting held 1954, a motion was made and carried to allow collections to be made to landowners for the new permits as rental for use of the ditch. In those days the water assessments were $1.00 per 25’ lot and $2.00 per 50’ lot and continued that way for many years with neighbors helping neighbors when problems with flow arose.
1956-57 a concrete wall was put up in the riverbed to support the wood flume and by 1975 the flume was leaking and becoming difficult to maintain. Doscussion began to replace with pipe but the district was low on funds and manpower. Director David Buck was tasked with finding a good deal and at the Oct. 1975 Special District meeting, he reported that he had located heavy gauge steel pipe for sale in Fort Rock at $1.00 per foot. A bid from David Stoner Trenching Co. was approved in March 1976 to install 600’ section to replace the flume. Rates continued to be raised to accommodate the necessary expenses.
Historical TTDIC records on file.
2000s
2000s
As commercial enterprises were built on both sides of Hwy 20, several water rights were transferred to accommodate lack of lots having lawns/landscapes to irrigate. The ditch was rerouted and buried going through the Knife River plant (formerly Hap Taylor & Sons Aggregate). Construction of a round-a-about in 2023-2024 at OB Riley and Cook Ave on Highway 20, enabled the Tumalo Town Ditch to have quite a large section of ditch piped at the expense of ODOT. Continuing efforts by the small group of Directors and volunteers have improved the flow by adding more section of buried pipe up to the present day. However, lack of volunteers and members willing to join the Board continues to be a problem in managing the ditch without raising the rate per acre foot and increasing the Operation and Maintenance fee. The State of Oregon also has changed the way small districts are required to operate by setting rules and regulations so that all are complying.
Historic Newspaper Article Reference
Historic Newspaper Article Reference
Laidlaw Chronicles
March 17, 1910
Laidlaw Chronicles
March 17, 1910
Page 4
"The Laidlaw Development League advocated a clean up day for the town to secure new enterprises. The matter of cleaning up the town was taken up and a date was appointed as general clean up day. The secretary of the League was instructed to correspond with the Laidlaw townsite owners and see if they would not repair and clean out the town ditch, clean off the sage brush on the vacant land in the town and furnish street signs."
Page 6
"Chas. W. Thornthwaite and Dennis McCale drove over from Bend Sunday. They were driving one of Aune's livery teams and stopped at the ditch at Tumalo to water them when one of the horses refused to drink. Mr. Thornthwaite took the bridle off in order to let the horse drink and the team became frightened and ran away throwing Mr. McCale out of the rig. Fortunately, he was uninjured except for some painful bruises."
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