Among its 4,000 or so individual customer accounts, it also provides municipal water to the city of Redmond, neighboring subdivisions, and parks and schools in Bend.

[citation needed] The right of agricultural users to the water were provisional until irrigation actually began producing crops as provided by the Carey Act.

Among the earliest was Pilot Butte Development Company, established in 1902[3] by Alexander M. Drake, a capitalist who arrived in the area in spring of 1900 by covered wagon, lured by the possibility of irrigating upper Deschutes County[4] and dry air for health reasons.

The company's ownership was given to its users who created the Central Oregon Irrigation District on December 17, 1917, although legal challenges continued until a court resolution emerged July 9, 1921.

The land contains thick layer of basalt—a dense, abrasive volcanic rock—underlying relatively thin soils with scant organic matter, typical of the Great Basin arid desert.