Importance and History of the Apple Industry 25 



fruit-trees in Yakima was made in 1888 by H. J. Bicknell, 

 in what is known as Parker Bottom. In the spring of 

 1889, Fred Thompson set out in the same locality what was 

 probably the first commercial apple orchard in the valley. 

 The whole planting consisted of ten acres and included 

 three acres of prunes, three acres of peaches, three acres 

 of Ben Davis apples and one acre of pears. 



In 1888 and 1881) two irrigation companies, one to un- 

 dertake the Selah project and the other what is now the 

 Sunnyside Government project, were organized. At this 

 time a few express shipments of fresh fruit had been sent 

 to the coast from the small home orchards. 



In 1894 the total apple output shipped from the Yakima 

 Valley probably did not exceed twenty-five cars. Fruit 

 was layer packed, but not wrapped, the old sixty-pound 

 box being in common use. In 1896 Fred Thompson 

 shipped from the Yakima Valley what was probably the 

 first car of fruit from this region to be sold east of the 

 Mississippi River. It was in 1894 that the apple planting 

 period really began, and the most extensive plantings were 

 made in the years 1900 to 1908. 



The history and development of the Wenatchee Valley, 

 which is probably the most intensive apple region in the 

 country, was even more recent than the development of 

 the Yakima Valley. The date of the first apple plantings 

 in Wenatchee is given by some as 1873, others 1876. The 

 first fruit-trees were set out by Miller Brothers who later 

 established the first irrigating ditch in this region in 1883. 



Practically the entire Wenatchee Valley was a barren 

 waste until 1896 when the Gunn ditch was built to water 

 600 acres of land. In 1901 W. T. Clark, coming from 

 Korth Yakima, interested himself in the organization of 



