Grant County is a county located in the U.S. state of Washington. As of 2000, the population was 74,698. The county seat is at Ephrata. Its largest city is Moses Lake. It was named after U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant.
Grant County was formed out of Douglas County on February 24, 1909.
Native American cultures in the area included the Interior Salish, Wenatchi, Okanagan. The first white settlers began to arrive in the mid- to late-1800s, primari...
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Grant County is a county located in the U.S. state of Washington. As of 2000, the population was 74,698. The county seat is at Ephrata. Its largest city is Moses Lake. It was named after U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant.
Grant County was formed out of Douglas County on February 24, 1909.
Native American cultures in the area included the Interior Salish, Wenatchi, Okanagan. The first white settlers began to arrive in the mid- to late-1800s, 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...".
When railroads arrived they also brought new settlers, and the economy began a shift from ranching to 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...
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