The Berry Boom Hits the Rails
Kennewick's strawberry harvest is so bountiful that the town's depot platforms are overflowing and train schedules are being held to keep up with the demand.
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.
Picking, shipping and caring for the immense crop of strawberries has been the occupation of three-fourths of the people in the Kennewick valley during the present week. The immense shipments, both east and west, caused some sorrowful faces on the railroad men handling the trains. Every day since the shipments commenced it has been almost impossible to find passage way on the depot platforms on account of the great quantities of berries ready for shipment. The trains have at different times been held from 35 to 45 minutes while the berries were being loaded. The Kennewick berries have up to the present time monopolized the markets, and the prices have been very satisfactory to the growers.
“Every day since the shipments commenced it has been almost impossible to find passage way on the depot platforms on account of the great quantities of berries ready for shipment.”
Kennewick's history as an agricultural powerhouse began with strawberries before shifting toward the grapes and orchards visible today. The logistical scramble to get perishable goods to market remains a familiar narrative for regional growers who rely on tight shipping windows.
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