The Great Windfall of 1916
A brutal autumn wind storm carpeted local orchards in harvest-ready apples, turning a bountiful season into a salvage operation.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
One of the worst wind storms of the year 1916 struck Richland Monday night and raged the greater part of Tuesday, and many hundreds of dollars will be lost to the orchardists of the district as a result. Fine large apples of all varieties which were ready to pick the first of October are literally carpeting the ground. Several farmers are talking of getting cider presses and converting these windfalls into cider so that they will have vinegar for their own use as well as to sell.
“Fine large apples of all varieties which were ready to pick the first of October are literally carpeting the ground.”
Orchardists in the Tri-Cities region have long faced the gamble of volatile weather during harvest season. While modern storage techniques and precision agriculture mitigate some risks, the struggle to preserve a fallen harvest remains a classic theme in the history of Washington's fruit belt.
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