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Oregon Historic Sites Database

address: NW Canal Blvd historic name:Pilot Butte Canal: Downtown Redmond Segment
Redmond, Deschutes County current/other names:
assoc addresses:
block/lot/tax lot:
location descr:[District] twnshp/rng/sect/qtr sect:
resource type:district height (stories): total elig resources:3 total inelig resources:6
elig evaluation: eligible/significant NR Status: Individually Listed
prim constr date:1903 second date:1950 date indiv listed:07/10/2017
primary orig use: Irrigation Facility orig use comments:
second orig use:
primary style: Utilitarian prim style comments:
secondary style: sec style comments:
primary siding: Earth siding comments:
secondary siding:
plan type: Canal/Ditch architect:Levi D. Wiest, Irrigation Engineer
builder:
comments/notes:
Survey/Grouping Included In: Type of Grouping Date Listed Date Compiled
   Carey and Reclamation Acts Irrigation Projects in Oregon, 1901-1978 MPS 07/10/2017 2016
NR date listed: 07/10/2017
ILS survey date:
RLS survey date:
106 Project(s): None
Special Assess Project(s): None
Federal Tax Project(s): None
(Includes expanded description of the building/property, setting, significant landscape features, outbuildings and alterations)
The Pilot Butte Canal: Downtown Redmond Segment Historic District is located on land owned by the Central Oregon Irrigation District in downtown Redmond, Deschutes County, Oregon. It consists of an approximately 6,780-foot long segment of the Pilot Butte Canal located entirely within several Deschutes County parcels. These narrow parcels correspond with the footprint of the canal segment, oriented north-south, extending between NW Canal Boulevard on the west and U.S. Route 97 (The Dalles-California Highway) on the east, and from about NW Quince Avenue on the north and NW Dogwood on the south, in the northeastern portion of downtown Redmond. The nominated area encompasses property owned or managed by the Central Oregon Irrigation District that functionally exists as an open irrigation canal in this vicinity. In addition to the canal segment, it includes two contributing features and seventeen non-contributing features. The two contributing features are a weir that spans the width of the canal and a lateral that parallels the canal for a short distance. The boundary of the nominated property includes the full extent of the last intact, uninterrupted segment of the Pilot Butte Canal that passes through downtown Redmond. The connecting sections of canal to the north and south, outside the boundary, have been replaced with underground pipe and have lost integrity, physically and visually separating the intact open canal segment from the rest of the Pilot Butte Canal.
(Chronological, descriptive history of the property from its construction through at least the historic period - preferably to the present)
The Pilot Butte Canal: Downtown Redmond Segment Historic District is historically significant under Criteria A of the National Register of Historic Places, at the local level of significance, in the areas of exploration/settlement and agriculture. It is considered historically significant for its association with the founding and settling of Redmond, Oregon, the development of agricultural irrigation in central Oregon, and as a principal resource of the Central Oregon Project, an early Carey Act project in Oregon. The segment meets the general and property-specific registration requirements for historic properties associated with the development of irrigation projects in Oregon described in the Multiple Property Document: “Carey and Reclamation Acts Irrigation Projects in Oregon, 1901-1978,” specifically under the historic context of “Carey Desert Land Act Projects in Oregon, 1901-1950.” As a principal resource of the Central Oregon Project, the Pilot Butte Canal is closely associated with early homesteading and settlement efforts in the Upper Deschutes River basin in the vicinity of Bend and Redmond, Oregon, and the use of irrigation as a means to improve agricultural production, overcome harsh environmental conditions, and provide a sustainable livelihood with limited resources in the region. Its construction was authorized under the Carey Act, which was adopted by the State of Oregon in 1901 to promote development of irrigated agriculture in the State’s arid regions, and led to the organization and actions of local irrigation companies to carry out these efforts. As part of the Central Oregon Project, the Pilot Butte Canal provided water for agricultural use in Deschutes County, and specifically the towns of Bend and Redmond, throughout its period of significance. These events led to the founding, initial development, and continued growth of these and other communities. The Pilot Butte Canal: Downtown Redmond Segment Historic District represents this historical significance.
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Historical Society:Oregon Historical Society Other Respository:
Bibliography:
Archibald, George B. “Central Oregon Project.” The Dalles, OR: U.S. General Land Office, 22 December 1916. Report by Carey Act Inspector on the water rights of the Central Oregon Project. Claeyssens, Paul G., and Jan Tomlinson. “Determination of National Register of Historic Places Eligibility for Historic Agricultural Resources in Central Oregon: Central Oregon Irrigation District.” Bend, OR: Heritage NW c/o Deschutes and Ochoco NFs, 1 June 2006. Clark, Keith. Redmond: Where the Desert Blooms. Portland, OR: The Oregon Historical Society, 1985. Crook County, Oregon. “The Pilot Butte Development Company, Articles of Incorporation.” Articles of Incorporation. Volume 1. Prineville, Oregon: Crook County Clerk, 29 October 1900: 78. Doncaster, Kelsey, Chris Horting-Jones, and Renewal Technologies, Inc. “Sagebrush to Clover: The U. S. Bureau of Reclamation’s North Unit of the Deschutes Project, Volume 1: History.” U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation, Pacific Northwest Region, November 2013. Hall, Michael S. “Irrigation Development in Oregon’s Upper Deschutes River Basin, 1871-1957: A Historic Context Statement.” Bend, OR: Deschutes County Community Development Department, 31 August 1994. Lewis, John H., and Percy A. Cupper. Irrigation in Oregon, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Office of Experiment Stations, Bulletin 209. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1909. Oregon Department of Transportation. “Deschutes Irrigation and Power Company Canal (Central Oregon Irrigation Canal),” Historic American Engineering Record (HAER OR-63/HAER ORE 9-Bend, 1). Seattle, WA: National Park Service, Columbia Cascades Support Office, 26 May 1998. __________. “Pilot Butte Canal,” Historic American Engineering Record (HAER OR-62/HAER ORE 9-Bend, 3-). Seattle, WA: National Park Service, Columbia Cascades Support Office, 26 May 1998. Public Service Commission of Oregon. Ninth Annual Report of the Public Service Commission of Oregon to the Governor, December 15, 1916. Salem, OR: State Printing Department, 1917. The Bend Bulletin (12 August 1904; 21 October 1904; 5 May 1905; 18 October 1933).