Hanford Apples Take a Bite Out of the Big Apple
Dissatisfied with local middlemen, a group of Hanford growers bypass the regional market to ship a test car of fruit across the country.
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.
Dissatisfied with the price being offered by local apple buyers, a few of the growers at Hanford, consisting of V. H. Ferguson, A. G. Evett, C. M. Rolph, Norman Anglin, B. G. Root, Miss Elizabeth Grant, G. T. Slavens, Buckholdt Bros., Agathon Land company and Julius Macomber, bunched together enough apples to make up a car and started it along to feel out the market in New York. The car contained 798 boxes of fancy and extra fancy Rome Beauties and Winesaps. The letter announcing the arrival of the car in New York was received by the growers this week: 'Your fruit is beautiful and we don't want to handle any better, cleaner, rich-looking Romes than came out of that car. Your apples excited the admiration of other people on the wharf.' Part of the apples were sold at prices ranging from $1.82 to $2.50 per box, with freight costs of about 50 cents a box.
“Your apples excited the admiration of other people on the wharf and we should not be surprised if they took your name and address and drop you a line.”
This early attempt at bypassing regional distributors to reach high-value markets reflects the enduring tension between local producers and global supply chains. While Hanford as a town is gone, the region remains a agricultural powerhouse still grappling with the power dynamics of who controls the path from farm to table.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.