Kiona is an
unincorporated community
An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...
in
Benton County,
Washington
Washington commonly refers to:
* Washington (state), United States
* Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States
** A metonym for the federal government of the United States
** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...
, United States. Kiona is a term belonging to North American indigenous people meaning "brown hills."
Kiona and
Benton City share a
school district
A school district is a special-purpose district that operates local public primary and secondary schools in various nations.
North America United States
In the U.S, most K–12 public schools function as units of local school districts, wh ...
(commonly called "Ki-Be").
History
In 1888, the
Northern Pacific Railroad
The Northern Pacific Railway was a transcontinental railroad that operated across the northern tier of the western United States, from Minnesota to the Pacific Northwest. It was approved by 38th United States Congress, Congress in 1864 and given ...
built a new station in the western part of
Benton County at present-day Kiona. This allowed farmers to easily bring their produce to market (the main crops were corn, wheat, alfalfa, potatoes, and fruit, especially apples), which encouraged further settlement in the area.
Due to the sparse precipitation in the area, most agriculture at the time was
dryland farming
Dryland farming and dry farming encompass specific agricultural techniques for the non-irrigated cultivation of crops. Dryland farming is associated with drylands, areas characterized by a cool wet season (which charges the soil with virtually ...
.
Irrigation first came to the county in the 1890s and brought many changes.
In the 1890s the Yakima Irrigation and Improvement Company built a canal bringing water from the Yakima River to Kiona.
The
Oregon-Washington Railroad and Navigation Company
The Oregon Railroad and Navigation Company (OR&N) was a railroad that operated a rail network of running east from Portland, Oregon, United States, to northeastern Oregon, northeastern Washington, and northern Idaho. It operated from 1896 as a ...
built a new railroad across the
Yakima River
The Yakima River is a tributary of the Columbia River in south central and eastern Washington state, named for the indigenous Yakama people. Lewis and Clark mention in their journals that the Chin-nâm pam (or the Lower Snake River Chamnapam Nat ...
from Kiona in 1907. The new community of Benton City sprang up around it. Beginning in 1917, the
Yellowstone Trail
The Yellowstone Trail was the first transcontinental automobile highway through the upper tier of states in the United States, established on May 23, 1912. It was an Auto Trail that ran from the Atlantic Ocean in Plymouth, Massachusetts, throug ...
, a national highway from
to
Seattle
Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...
, was routed through Kiona.
Kiona has never been officially incorporated as a city.
In 2002, the
Benton City – Kiona Bridge
The Benton City – Kiona Bridge is a steel box girder and cable-stayed bridge carrying two lanes of Washington State Route 225 over the Yakima River in Benton City, Benton County, Washington. The current span was opened to traffic on J ...
over the Yakima River at Benton City was added to the National Register of Historic Places.
[http://www.nationalregisterofhistoricplaces.com/WA/benton/state.html Structure#02000240]
References
External links
Kiona-Benton City Heritage. Digitized historic resources from the Benton City branch of Mid-Columbia Libraries and the Kiona-Benton Historical Society.
Unincorporated communities in Benton County, Washington
Unincorporated communities in Washington (state)
Populated places on the Yakima River
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