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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1897 | 6 |
| 1898 | 17 |
| 1899 | 2 |
25 stories matching appl
- Washington Apples Fight Back Against a New York Snub
A Seattle commission man rebuts a trade journal's claim that Northwest fruit can't match California's, citing 10,000 boxes of fancy apples already shipped east.
- The Prize Apple Was Stuffed With Shot
A judge's suspicion at the Spokane fair exposed a prank that briefly put a Wilbur exhibitor's reputation on the line.
- The Orchardist Who Turned Down $1,000 Cash and Bet on His Apples
A Yakima Valley rancher's careful spraying and pruning turned a pest-ridden orchard into a crop he expects to net $1,500 — so when a buyer waved a thousand dollars at him, he said no.
- When Every Eastern Market Was Swamped: The 1897 Fruit Glut That Broke Northwest Growers
A Northwest agricultural writer tallies the wreckage of a boom season — glutted markets, freight and icing bills nobody could pay, and a blunt prescription for growers: dry your prunes and hold for a price.
- The Pioneers of Whidbey Island Orchards
A look at the early fruit industry in Island County and the lessons learned by the region's first orchardists.
- Apples and Prunes, Not Peaches: The Hard Truth About Shipping Fruit East
A horticultural commissioner's verdict — apples and evaporated prunes are the only sure commercial crops — forces Northwest growers to reckon with soft fruit that spoils on the long haul east.
- Spokane’s Fifteen-Cent Fair Was a Dollar Show for the Inland Empire
In October 1897, Spokane turned a downtown block into a clean, no-gambling agricultural exposition—and invited the whole Inland Empire to admire its fruit, grain, and future.
- The Orchards of Lyle: A Fruit Boom Waiting to Happen
A correspondent tours the young orchards above the Columbia at Lyle, where ex-ironworkers and a Portland streetcar conductor are betting their futures on prunes and apples.
- Twenty Days to Spray: Yakima's Orchard Inspectors Take On the San Jose Scale
Yakima County's fruit inspectors are the busiest in Washington, ordering every infested orchard sprayed on twenty days' notice — while eastern growers scoff that the scale panic is just a racket for would-be inspectors.
- The Orchardist Who Told the State Its Moth Spraying Was Useless
In 1898, a North Yakima grower argued that the state's codlin-moth spray schedule did not fit the Yakima Valley's climate—and warned that apple and pear growing might be doomed without better field science.
- The Codlin Moth War: Hogs, Padded Poles, and a Walla Walla Grower's Doubts About Spraying
W. S. Offner reported a quarter-million-dollar fruit trade from the Walla Walla valley—and explained why the standard spray calendar failed against the orchard pest.
- The Expert's Guide to the Inland Empire Orchard
A federal pomologist warns Northwest growers against over-watering and bad variety selection, while offering tips on pest control.
- The Garden City's Grand Harvest
A vivid account of the 1898 Walla Walla Valley Fruit Fair, where local farmers showcased the agricultural bounty of the Inland Empire.
- The Fourth Annual Whitman County Fruit Fair
A look back at the 1890s agricultural exhibition in Colfax, where local growers competed for prestige and prizes.
- The Wholesaler Tells the Growers the Truth: 'We Don't Love You'
Sixteen years in the Seattle commission trade and no patience left, R. Merchant tells a room of fruit growers that no middleman has ever cared about them — and that neat, uniform packing, not grievance, is the only thing that ever got a farmer paid.
- A Steel Bridge to Make Vineland a Boom Town
A 1,485-foot span across the Snake River to Lewiston is under construction, and its promoters promise it will raise property values more than any improvement ever could.
- The 1898 Sales Pitch That Called the San Juan Islands a 'Klondike at Home'
A judge's promotional essay promised apples, prunes, sheep, fish, limestone and health in Washington's island county—and complained that the outside world had not yet noticed.
- Counterfeit Yakima Potatoes on the Sound
A Tacoma paint dealer tells the valley's paper that Puget Sound merchants were passing off second-grade Western Washington spuds as Yakima's prized crop — and that in a full year he got the genuine article only three times.
- The Fruit Boom on Orcas Island
A local resident reports on the rapid agricultural expansion of the San Juan Islands, predicting a tenfold increase in fruit production.
- The Berry Math That Made Puyallup
A fruit-growers' manager laid out the 1898 economics of Western Washington berries: $1 a crate, 75-cent hired labor, and a cannery on the horizon.
- Six Mowers in the Alfalfa: Inside the Northwest's Largest Irrigated Ranch
The superintendent of the Moxee Company's farm walks a reporter through 680 acres of alfalfa, 180 of barley and a hop yard rented out for a quarter of the bale — and explains why California-style hay stacking won't do for Yakima Valley stockmen.
- Yakima's Orchards Weren't Dead After All
After a November cold snap that hit 20 below zero, Yakima Valley growers feared their fruit trees were ruined. By spring, the blossoms told a different story.
- Wenatchee Bets the Valley on Alfalfa — And Dreams of Dairy Herds
A touring correspondent finds the apple country sowing alfalfa by the acre, convinced the real money is in feed, stock and cream rather than in boxed fruit shipped east.
- Wenatchee, 1898: A Valley Sold on Irrigation and Fruit
A booster's tour of the Wenatchee Valley recounts the first settlers, the whisky traders who fled the law, and the orchards and ditches that promised to turn sagebrush into wealth.
- The Dairy Commissioner’s War on Adulterated Food
A Washington dairy official warns that fake honey, poisoned candy, oleomargarine and brewers’ grain are cheating farmers — and demands stronger pure-food laws.