America's early 1900's dream of greening the western desert through irrigation drew hundreds of would-be farmers to the Columbia River hamlet of White Bluffs in Washington State. Yearning for a healthy, possibly lucrative life in the wild desert setting, they struggled with nature, railroads, power companies, commission houses, water systems and the ever-disappointing market. Through oral histories, letters, photographs and meticulous research, author Nancy Mendenhall tells the story of how, despite all the adversities, the orchardists built a remarkable, thriving community until it was cut short by events of World War Two. At times reading like an epic novel, this rich social history shows in detail the hard roles of pioneer women, children and their men, and delves deeply into their emotional and intellectual lives. "An excellent social history of the White Bluffs settlement that includes the families of Walt Grisham and Alene Clarke (who are featured in Arid Lands ) ~ Sidelong Films , producer of Arid Lands documentary "Reading Orchards of Eden is like experiencing a great screen documentary, made rich through letters,photos, and memoirs, spanning 40 years. It is a personal history of a family, and a peoples' history of that era, with a close-up look at early desert irrigation and its adversaries. Nancy Mendenhall has written a great contribution to Pacific Northwest history and honored the lives of people who are usually only statistics in historical tracts." ~ Maria Brooks, video documentary maker, ( Sinrock Mary , The Reindeer Queen and The Odyssey of Captain Healy ) " Orchards of Eden is a wonderful book, and will be a valuable reference for me. I took scads of notes. I am so glad that Mendenhall recorded this history in such detail and with great compassion. Truly a gift to future generations of Northwesterners--this is where we came from. It's like a Steinbeck novel, only true." ~ Kevin M. Bailey, author of Fishing Lessons: Artisanal Fisheries and the Future of Our Oceans ; and Billion-Dollar Fish: The Untold Story of Alaska Pollock Orchards of Eden is cited heavily in Nowhere to Remember: Hanford, White Bluffs, and Richland to 1943 (Hanford Histories) ~ by editors Bauman and Franklin, WSU Press, 2018 Orchards of Eden is cited in T he Apocalypse Factory: P lutonium and the Making of the Atomic Age ( Steve Olson, W.H. Norton & Co. 2020) "Rich familial stories. . . a captivating journal." ~ Walla Walla Union Bulletin "A great read" ~ NW Hikers "Gives us important insights. . . A well-documented historical story. . . " ~ Journal of Rural and Community Development "Fascinating and entertaining. Mendenhall's excellent and exhaustive research forms the basis for Orchards of Eden and shines a spotlight on the distant, hidden influences that were at work while the early farmers toiled in the dry, sandy soil to bring their dreams of Eden to life. In spite of the White Bluff farming families' resolve to turn the desert into an Eden, the story of how their efforts were impacted by the railroads and power monopolies and by the US government itself, including the devastating Hanford Atomic Project, makes this book an important contribution to Washington State history." ~ Margaret K. Wood, descendant of White Bluffs Settlers "Mendenhall has brought to life in vivid detail the birth, maturation and death of a tiny desert town. A richly woven human story. . . a history that reads like a novel. . . " ~ Dr. William Keep , formerly of Yakima, WA " Orchards of Eden does for the small farmers of America what Norman Mailer's The Naked and the Dead did for the foot soldiers of World War II. It puts the reader in the trenches - in this case irrigation trenches - with the little people, struggling to get by and live out the American dream of a little piece of property to call their own and a better life for them and their children through hard work. This epic story of the small farmers at White Bluff, Washington is really the story of small farms across the country and probably in countries everywhere." ~ Thomas Coons, American History educator "At last--the little known story of the orchard-based communities of the Priest Rapids Valley of Washington State before the devastating effect of the World War II Hanford Project. Told mainly through the letters and recollections of one very articulate family. . . this book needed to be written for everyone who loves the Pacific Northwest and cares about its history." ~ Martiel O'Larey , historian "Vivid... dramatizes a great American tragedy...Mendenhall writes sympathetically of the people's struggle to build a viable and civilized rural community." ~ Tim Wheeler, journalist and author of News from Rain Shadow Country Nancy Danielson Mendenhall is a long-time Alaskan with great love for its people and its incredible surroundings: the ocean, rivers, mountains, and tundra. Her love for rivers