Artesian, Washington — Postal Name From the Irrigated Yakima Valley

Artesian lies east of Yakima in the lower valley's agricultural country.

The community once carried enough local identity to have its own post office, a small institution that mattered considerably more when rural communication and travel moved at nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century speeds.

The surrounding landscape changed as irrigation expanded agriculture across the Yakima Basin. Farms, orchards and roads spread through country whose productivity depends heavily on moving water where growers need it.

Artesian remained small while nearby communities such as Moxee and Zillah became easier places to reach for commerce and services.

The post office is gone, but the name stayed attached to the locality—a reminder of when even a very small settlement needed its own point of connection to the outside world.