Stevens County Bets $1,000 on Its Apples
Spokane's apple-show manager came to Colville with a proposition: a county booth in Spokane and Chicago, a special fruit train hauled as second section of the overland fast mail, and $6 a box waiting in Illinois.
Ben H. Rice, of Spokane, manager of the National Apple Show, was in Colville Monday. Mr. Rice met with the managing board of the Chamber of Commerce. His talk was along the line of the necessity of Stevens county having an exhibit of apples this fall in Spokane. He also stated that the same exhibit would be taken to Chicago and placed on exhibition for one week in the armory building. When asked what would be the probable cost of such an exhibition, he said:
"We of Spokane have raised $42,000. I think Stevens county can get a suitable booth both in Spokane and Chicago for $1,000. This would cover all expenses, including a man to look after the exhibit both in Spokane and Chicago. And besides, the apples can be sold in Chicago for at least $6 a box."
In conclusion Mr. Rice said: "We have made arrangements with the railroad company for a special train of fruit cars to transport the apple show from Spokane to Chicago. This train will be run as the second section of the overland fast mail. The railroad proposes to give our train the fastest transportation possible."
The managing board of the Chamber of Commerce then met with the board of county commissioners, relative to raising funds for the Stevens county exhibit at the National Apple Show in Spokane and Chicago. The amount necessary for Stevens county to be properly represented was estimated at $1,000. The commissioners stated that if the fruit growers and the various commercial clubs in the county would raise $500, they would appropriate a like amount for that purpose.
The Chamber of Commerce believes that it is best to put its efforts into a county exhibit rather than into one for the city of Colville alone, and the co-operation of the entire county is desired. — Examiner.
“We have made arrangements with the railroad company for a special train of fruit cars to transport the apple show from Spokane to Chicago. This train will be run as the second section of the overland fast mail.”
A hundred and fifteen years before 'buy local' campaigns and state trade missions, Stevens County was being asked to put up $500 of its own money so commissioners would match it — the same public-private pitch counties still make. The orchard economy that paid for those booths is largely gone from the region, but the booster arithmetic of a chamber of commerce and a matched appropriation has barely changed.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.