Whitney Reflections

A tribute to the early settlers of a western Nebraska village

The undated history below was probably written in the 1970s. Our many thanks to Dixie Thompson, Secretary of the Irrigation District, for making this history and many other materials available.

WHITNEY IRRIGATION PROJECT

HISTORY

Whitney Irrigation District was formed in 1922.  George Lawrence and John Rasmussen were true pioneers and were of primary importance in establishing the project. Construction started in 1923 on the pipeline and on the 3,100 feet of 11 to 19 foot high dike around the lake.  Mule teams pulling freznos and dump wagons were the primary construction equipment.  Eighteen to twenty teams were worked throughout the daylight hours, and in the spring of 1925 the project was completed.  The original wooden stave pipe is still used in transporting the water the 6 1/2 miles from White River to Whitney Lake.  Only about 600 feet have been replaced with concrete pipe.  The south dike required considerable repair in 1966.

A diversion dam diverts water from White River through about 6 1/2 miles of 36” to 40” diameter redwood stave pipeline to Whitney Lake for storage.  The lake covers 984 acres of land and holds about 9,000 acre feet which is about 2 1/4 billion gallons of water. The water from the lake is released through 3 head gates to canals and field ditches to irrigate 6,700 acres of land on approximately 50 farms on the project.

The soil on the project is governed by the Whitney Irrigation District Board currently consisting of the following: President: Milton Arner; Members: Leo Daniels and Jack Carnahan.  The District currently hires 2 employees. They are a maintenance employee, Angelo Martin and a Secretary, Glen Kendrick.