Ever since Franklin County had been separated from Whitman County in 1883, the subject of irrigation had dominated the thinking of many of the civic leaders, first in Pasco and later also in Connell. the irrigation project that had received a considerable amount of attention by the Federal Government was what was known as the Palouse Project. The plan was to divert the Palouse River from its channel about the Palouse Falls at a point near Hooper close to the intersecting boundaries of Franklin, Adams and Whitman Counties, to carry the water down the Washtucna Coulee toward Connell and on in a southwesterly direction toward Pasco.

For that purpose, Washtucna Lake, now known as Kahlotus Lake, and Sulphur Lake were to be utilized for storage purposes. The United States Reclamation Service had at one time obtained a grant from the Federal Government for the purpose of making some test soundings of the project. However, in the end, it was decided to abandon this project as impracticable, although there was a considerable feeling that the examination had not been through nor impartial enough. At any rate, the project was abandoned in favor of projects in the Yakima Valley. Many of the people in Franklin County did not give up easily and as late as 1911 committees were formed to try to persuade the Federal Government to reconsider.

All of this thinking was well before there was any thought of such a large project as the present Columbia Basin scheme. In retrospect one can easily see that the Columbia Basin project as finally developed is far superior to the earlier contemplated Palouse project. Also, it would seem that the community of Connell would not have received a great deal of benefit from the Palouse project since most of the irrigation would have occurred further south in Franklin County.

Reference has already been made to the establishment of the German speaking Methodist Church in Connell. Not long after the establishment of the town site, both the English speaking Methodist Church and the Presbyterian Church acquired sites and built church buildings. Later, the Lutheran Church erected a building which still stands on Paradise Flat, but which is now abandoned as they have built their new church in the town of Connell. Also, in the interim, the German Methodist Church built a second building on Paradise Flat which was later abandoned as the two congregations merged and worshiped together in Connell. Still later, the English speaking and German speaking congregations also merged to form the present Methodist Church. The Nazarene Church was established in Connell after the first World War and since the coming of irrigation, Mormon and Baptist churches have been established in Connell. Meanwhile, the Presbyterian Church has been discontinued.

The discovery of the fact that wheat could be grown successfully in Franklin County was of course the impetus that established the town of Connell as a populated community. There were years of scant rainfall when crops were very light but on the other hand there were years with good crops when many of the farmers became prosperous and thus the community became well established. In fact, during the early years, the growing of wheat was beset with so few difficulties that one could say it was almost too good to be true. About all that the farmer had to do was to plow the ground in the early spring, after which he would go over it with a harrow once or twice. Then he would seed the wheat in the fall and reap the grain the following summer. Weeds presented little, if any, problem.

As can be surmised, this was too good to last. After a few years, perhaps beginning about 1907, a few Russian thistles began to make their appearance. At first these weeds were not plentiful and could be controlled by hoeing. However, another weed also soon put in its appearance, Jim Hill mustard. Before long the seeds of Russian thistle became so thick that it was no longer possible to control them by hand weeding with hoes and horse-drawn weeders were invented. Finally it became necessary to go over the summer fallow often several times during a season with rod weeders.

In addition to weeds there developed another serious difficulty as far as the farmers were concerned. In the spring of 1909 there was a severe storm in the month of March which destroyed a great deal of the young wheat crop. Also, for the first time, some of the land began to blow and drift. The problem was that the years in which the land had been cultivated it had become pulverized so that the sandy soil was easily caught by the wind. The plowing had always been cone by what was known as mould board plows which completely turned over and tended to pulverize the soil, turning under all of the stubble. Much of the land began to drift so that often seeding had to be done two or three times and each time the crop would be blown out. As a result, during the years just prior to the first World War, a fairly large proportion of land around Connell was abandoned. At the same time there were some years with light rainfall and poor crops and a number of the farmers went bankrupt, the stores could not collect their bills and a number of them either went bankrupt or closed their doors and folded up their businesses. The population of the town dwindled from about 400 to about 300.

During the first World War there was a considerable revival of agriculture around Connell because of the scarcity of foodstuffs and the high prices paid for wheat. However, even then, there was a great deal of trouble because of the drifting of the soil and many of the abandoned farms were not in cultivation. Even where cultivation continued, the problem of drifting of the sand continued. Gradually, however, some of the farmers learned that by disking the land instead of plowing they could keep the stubble on the surface of the soil and that this would retard the action of the wind. As this experience became more well known throughout the community, all of the farming was changed to this method and gradually during the twenties and early thirties even, the land that had been abandoned was, by this method, put back into cultivation.

Another factor that helped to revive farming in the Connell area was the advent of power farming. Even during the first World War and for some years afterwards, nearly all of the farming was done with horses and mules. As long as there were good crops, this proved successful, but when the crops were poor the cost of feeding the animals would contribute to mounting losses. Power farming had been tried previously, but the sand had so damaged the bearings that the machinery could not be maintained. However, during the twenties, different forms of lubrication were developed and the bearings in the machinery were so housed that the sand did not come in contact with the bearings. Gradually, all of the farming in the Connell area was converted from horse and mule power to diesel oil and gasoline power and the farms became larger and more successful. This did not increase the population, but it did increase the average income of the farmer and helped to complete the transformation of the community from poverty to prosperity.