456 THE APPLE 



5. Marketing. The cities of Portland, Seattle, Tacoma, Spokane, 

 Vancouver, and Victoria are all excellent and growing markets, 

 but they cannot consume a fiftieth part of the fruit raised in the 

 Northwest. The chief markets for this fruit at present are the 

 mining camps of Washington, Oregon, British Columbia, Montana, 

 and the cities of the Dakotas and Minnesota. It is well known that 

 mining camps are much better markets for fruits and vegetables, 

 in proportion to the population, than manufacturing towns. Butte, 

 Montana, is the center of an extensive mining district and is one 

 of the largest distributing centers for Northwestern fruit ; but 

 Montana now has a million fruit trees coming into bearing, and 

 these will soon claim a share of this trade. 



The local towns and mining camps of the Northwest will always 

 be important markets for the fruit of this section, but one is con- 

 vinced that the great opportunity of Northwestern fruit-growers is 

 in developing a market in Alaska and the Orient. The Northwest 

 occupies a strategic position with reference to oriental trade. 

 Through the wonderful inland harbor of Puget Sound will pour 

 most of the vast volume of trade which is bound to pass between 

 the United States and Japan, China, the Philippines, and other 

 Asiatic countries. That there has long been a waiting market in 

 the Orient for the fresh and preserved fruits of other countries is 

 shown by the fact that in 1 899 the exportations of fruit from vari- 

 ous sources, chiefly American, to oriental markets were valued at 

 about $700,000.00. The white population of these countries almost 

 entirely depend upon the imported fruits to supply their tables. 

 The tinned fruits found in the Orient come mostly from America, 

 and the preserved fruits from Europe. Within the past few years 

 a good market for Northwestern apples has been opened up in 

 Siberia, and each year many apples are shipped to Australia, the 

 Winesap being a special favorite for this trade. Several thousand 

 boxes of apples, principally the Ben Davis, are annually shipped to 

 China and invariably reach there in good condition. 



In 1900 about 150,000 boxes of Pacific coast apples were ex- 

 ported to P2urope via New York. The freight tariff on carload lots 

 of apples from Pacific Ocean terminals and intermediate points to 

 the Atlantic seaboard cities was $1.00 per hundred pounds for 

 apples in boxes. The railroad men explain this high rate in 



