74 THE STRAWBERRY IN NORTH AMERICA 



berries from Independence, Louisiana, was made in 1879, 

 and consisted of sixteen crates shipped to Chicago by 

 American express. The first carload shipment from south 

 of the Ohio River was made by the IlUnois Central from 

 Greenfield, Weakley County, Tennessee to Chicago, in 

 1881." Strawberry-growing began at Memphis, Bartlett, 

 Gadsden and Milan, Tennessee, about 1870, and a few 

 years later at Columbus, Kentucky. Weakley and Gib- 

 son counties were the first centers of production in West 

 Tennessee. The East Tennessee or Chattanooga district, 

 comprising mainly Hamilton, Rhea and Knox counties, 

 has developed since 1880, when J. B. Howell made the first 

 shipment from his farm near Chattanooga. 



The completion of the Iron Mountain and Southern 

 Railroad across the state of Arkansas to Texarkana, about 

 1873, soon was followed by strawberry planting at Jud- 

 sonia and Beebe, WTiite County. The strawberry dis- 

 trict in the Ozark region of southwest Missouri and north- 

 west Arkansas has developed since 1890. In 1883 John 

 Carhahan planted the first strawberries at Sarcoxie, Mis- 

 souri ; this was the first point to ship in car-lots.^ 



Pacific coast. — Strawberry growing first began to as- 

 sume commercial importance on the Pacific coast about 

 1865, in the vicinity of San Francisco. In 1870 it was re- 

 ported, "The San Francisco market received, about the 

 first of May, 6000 lbs. of strawberries daily, and they sold 

 at 10 to 15 cents per pound." ^ The Florin district, near 

 Sacramento, and the Los Angeles district began to de- 

 velop about 1885. 



Hood River, Oregon, was the first point in the Pacific 

 Northwest to ship strawberries in car-lots. "In the fall 



1 Kept. Mo. Hort. Soc, 1897, p. 227. 



2 Jour. Hort., VII (1870), p. 354. 



