lOS Appendix. 



I'niir repaid me many times over for the jeers, ridicule and contentions* of my 

 comrades." 



Mr. William Meek, a fellow traveler with Mr. Luelling, brouglit a sack of 

 apple seed from the same region, :ind the following spring (1848) the two formed 

 a partnership and established the lirst nursery in Oregon, alongside the first 

 'jrchanl of grafted fruit. 



It Is related that the first big red apple produced liy Oregon soil was borne 

 upon a one-year-old root graft in this early nursery in the fall of 1848, ( ?) and 

 so great was the fame ijf it, and such the curiosity of the people that men, 

 women and children came from miles around to see it, and made a hard beaten 

 track through the nursery to this joyous reminder of the old homestead so far 

 away. 



The first orchards of notable size were planted in the Waldo Hills, on French 

 Prairie, and near Salem. The following varieties were the common ones of those 

 early days : Red June. Summer Sweet, Red Astrachan, Gravenstein, Talman 

 Sweet. Blue Pearmain, W. W. Pearmain. (iloria Mundi, (Jenet Baldwin, Rambo. 

 Winesap, .Jenneting. Seek-no-Further, Tulpahocken, American Pippin, Red Cheek 

 Pippin, Rhode Island Greening, Virginia Greening, Little Romanite. Spitzenburgh, 

 Swa;ir. Waxen, and a sinirious Yellow Newtown Pippin, since called Green New- 

 town I'ippin, and gener.illy considered wotrhless. Some few other varieties were 

 probably introduced at the same time, but of these there is no certain record. 



In 1850 Mr. Luelling returned to the east, and selected at the nursery of 

 A. .1. Downing, among other trees, some Yellow Newtown Pippins, which were 

 dug under the jiersonal supervision of Mr. Downing. These trees were brought 

 across the isthmus. On fruiting these proved to be nothing more than the so- 

 called Green Newtown I'ippin of the first introduction, and the real Y'ellow New- 

 town I'ippin as we have it now was not .introduced until some years later. 



The first box of apples offered for sale in I'ortland by Mr. Luelling was 

 eagerly purchased at ij^l.UU apiece, netting him .$7.5.00. Following this, prices 

 ranged frnm .$1.00 per ))ound to .1'2.").00 per box, and retailed at as high as .$1.50 

 per |)ound, and in one instance .$2.50 was i)aid for one apple. 



In 1X5.3 the surplus, a few boxes securely bound with strap iron, were shipped 

 to San Fr.-incisco. and sold for $2.00 pei- pound. 



In 1S54 the sui'plus amounted to 500 bushels, and was sold at a net price of 

 .-<1.50 to $2.00 per pound. 



In 1S55 () O'lo bushels wore shipped, returning a net price of .$20.00 to $30.00 

 per bushel. 



In 185!) shii)ments amounted to 20.0(10 lioxes. This year one box of Esopus 

 Spitzenburgh sold in San Francisco for $60.00 net, and three boxes of Wiuesaps 

 sold in I'ortland for $lo2.00. 



From this time till 1809 the shipments during the fall and winter months 

 varied from 0.000 to 12.000 boxes per month. From 1870 shipments to California 

 declined, as the young orchards of that state were coming into liearing at such 

 a rate as to not only supply their own demand, but to furnish some for exporta- 

 tion. In consequence of this loss of market, prices fell so low that thousands of 

 bushels annually rotted beneath the trees, ether thousands of bushels v.'ere con- 

 sumed by stock. The enormous prices obtained during the fifties resulted in the 

 planting of a great acreage of orchards. V\'ith the loss of the California market 

 came a total collapse in the industry, since there were no ade(!uate means of 

 transiK rting the great yield of fruit i'roni these young orchards to suitable mar- 

 kets. — Dr. J. R. Cnlihrcll, in .Firi^t Orcf/on Report. 



Speaking of the abundance of fruit at that time, E. L. Smith says : 



At a farm near Salem I iiurchased several hiuidred boxes of the largest Wine- 

 fa\)H I had ever seen. I could have bought almost unlimited quantities of this 

 fine fruit at from 12% to 15 cents per bushel. In an orchard near .Jefferson this 

 fruit was still cheaper, for there I remem!)er seeing the great Golden Belleflowers 

 falling to the ground to the evident satisfaction of the pigs beneath the trees. — • 

 /v. /-. Siaitli, at Fanners' Congress. Salem, 1902. 



The following note written in reply to a question asked ^Mr. Minto in Peb- 

 I'uary. 1902. throws an interesting ray of light upon the early orchards of Oregon: 



S.M^EJi, Oregon. February 14, 1902. 



I should judge fr( m my knowledge of the French Canadian settlers that 



.Joseph Gei-vais, who settled at Chemayway. was the first planter of apple trees 



in the Willamette Valley. He was the natural leader of his class, and in 1845 



his orch.ard of apple trees looked to be twelve or fifteen years old at least. The 



*It is said that in a few of the most diflicult parts of the trail some of the 

 party insisted upon throwing away the heavy boxes of trees in order to lighten 

 the load. At such times only the evident disposition to fight, on the part of Mr. 

 /.uelling. saved them. 



