Page 4 



BETTER FRUIT 



Julij, 1921 



Davidson Fruit Company from 

 Hood River in 1898, to Scobel & 

 Day, New York City, and was a 

 solid car of Spitzenburgs. 



Since then thousands of cars of 

 fruit have followed that daring 

 lead Eastward, even as thousands of 

 sturdy sons, attracted by the won- 

 ders of the Northwest, have flowed 

 in the opposite direction. In 1905 

 E. H. Shepherd, founder and own- 

 er of Better Fruit until his death 

 in 1916, was manager of the Hood 

 River Apple Growers' Union. 



In 1906 the millenium presum- 

 ably had come to the fruit industry 

 in the formation of the North- 

 Western Fruit Exchange at Seattle. 

 This organization was formed to 

 whip into line every association in 

 the Pacific Northwest, to act simp- 

 ly as a clearing house, or sales 

 head for them. Each district asso- 

 ciation was to retain its individ- 

 uality in everything but sales. Prac- 

 tically all of the marketing asso- 

 ciations in the field went in, but 

 during the next year dissension 

 crept in, and the toboggan of se- 

 cession commenced, which in a few 

 years was the ruination of this first 

 attempt at Northwest unity in mar- 

 keting. 



From then on, as new districts 

 were opened up, thousands of acres 



planted to trees, and the real devel- 

 opment of the Northwest fruit in- 

 dustry fell into its stride, district 

 associations were formed by the 

 dozen. 



The Yakima County Horticul- 

 tural Union came into being, as the 

 first growers' organization in Yak- 

 ima. It was purely co-operative. 

 In 1911, and again in 1 9 1 7 it passed 

 through reorganization. Today it 

 is functioning as the Yakima Fruit 

 Growers' Association, and is still 

 co-operative. 



Throughout the Rogue River, 

 Willamette and Spokane Valleys, 

 the Wenatchee and Puyallup dis- 

 tricts, the Bitter Root valley in 

 Montana, and the Boise, Payette 

 and other districts in Idaho, the 

 seed of some sort of co-operation 

 in selling was germinating, fertil- 

 ized by reports of the strength and 

 success of the Citrus Growers' As- 

 sociation of California, perhaps the 

 strongest association of its kind in 

 the country. 



In 1912 Hood River answered 

 the call, when all local selling or- 

 ganizations and all independent 

 shippers joined forces within the 

 then existing Apple Growers' 

 Union. 



For four or five years this situa- 

 tion held, when dissention and mis- 



understanding finally prevailed, 

 and certain of the organizations 

 and independents dropped out, 

 leaving within the union approx- 

 imately sixty-five per cent of the 

 valley's tonnage. This organiza- 

 tion is functioning today as the 

 Hood River Apple Growers' Asso- 

 ciation, and is still co-operative. 



In 1913 another effort was 

 made for territorial unity, in the 

 formation of the North Pacific 

 Fruit Distributors, with head of- 

 fices in Spokane, a purely co-opera- 

 tive organization for the marketing 

 of Northwest fruits from all sec- 

 tions. It was recognized as the ex- 

 clusive sales agent for the follow- 

 ing districts: Yakima Valley Fruit 

 Growers' Association, North Yak- 

 ima, Washington; Apple Growers' 

 Association, Hood River, Oregon; 

 Idaho-Oregon Fruit Growers Asso- 

 ciation, Payette, Idaho; Walla 

 Walla District Fruit Distributors, 

 Walla Walla, Washington; Mon- 

 tana Fruit District, Hamilton, 

 Montana; Spokane Fruit Growers' 

 Company, Spokane, Washington; 

 Central Idaho-Washington Fruit 

 Growers' Association, Garfield, 

 Washington; and the Wenatchee 

 North Central Fruit Distributors, 

 Wenatchee, Washington. 



This apparently strong and ideal 



The finished product — the consummation of years of eternally keep- 

 ing at it, and holding one's faith in the ultimate outcome 



