The homesteaders who settled in western Washington in the late 1800s, many of them immigrants from Germany and Scandinavia, drained wetlands and built dikes to control floodwaters in order to establish farms, many of which are still producing potatoes. As potato farmer Roger Knutzen put it, describing the efforts of his greatgrandparents and other homesteaders in the 1890s, "They reclaimed this entire Skagit Valley ... they dug ditches and drained the ground ... so that they could farm it." Nearby on Whidbey Island, immigrant farmers from China, Holland, and elsewhere also drained land and raised large crops of potatoes. The potatoes thrived on the reclaimed lands of the Skagit Valley. Meanwhile. farmers on the east side had dug long ditches to bring irrigation water from rivers to their fields. The Reclamation Act of 1902 made federal funding available to local irrigation systems. One of the first areas to benefit was the Yakima Valley.
"The Great Big Baked Potato"
With irrigation water flowing, Yakima Valley farmers were able to grow large quantities of potatoes – and very large potatoes. Russet Burbanks, a then-new variety, grew so large in the valley that growers had problems selling them because they were considered too big for restaurant use. This difficulty was overcome with help from the Northern Pacific Railway, one of the transcontinental lines crossing Washington. NP dining-car superintendent Hazen Titus saw the huge Yakima Valley Russet Burbanks in 1908 and was told about the problems marketing them. "Titus bought as many of the giant potatoes as the farmers could grow, baked them and served them with butter to the hungry diners heading west in his rail cars. The potatoes were such a hit with diners that they became the signature trademark of the railroad ...whose tracks were forever known as the 'Route of the Great Big Baked Potato'.
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