,911 BETTER FRUIT Page 37 



MISSOULA'S WESTERN MONTANA APPLE SHOW 



BY A. L. BREITENSTEIN, SECRETARY CHAMBER OF COMMERCE, MISSOULA, MONTANA 



^T|~^ O six men the Missoula Chamber 

 I of Commerce let the destiny of 

 the second annual Western Mon- 

 tana Apple Show for the year 1910. It 

 is only necessary to quote the utterances 

 of several apple show experts to prove 

 that this event held at Missoula, October 

 10th to 15th, was a success. Hon. H. S. 

 Van Deman. of Washingtnn, D. C cim- 

 sidered the best apple judge in the 

 United States and who passed upon the 

 products of this show, in an address to 

 the business men at Missoula remarked: 

 "This is one of the finest and best apple 

 shows for its size that I have ever viewed. 

 Your varieties are excellent and of 

 splendid commercial value, and the qual- 

 ity has increased 300 per cent from the 

 shovv of 1909.'' Ren H. Rice, secretary 

 of the National Apple Show, made a 

 special trip to see Missoula's Annual 

 Apple Show, and when escorted into the 

 huge tent where the apples were dis- 

 played, stopped short and said, "Amaz- 

 ing, astonishing, wonderful; I had no 



BEAUTIFUL SILVER TROPHY CUP 

 Given by the Portland Commercial Club for best 

 ten boxes of apples grown in an Oregon orchard. 

 Won by John Hackel, of Hood River, Oregon, 

 National Apple Show, Spokane. Washington, and 

 Chicago, Illinois. 



idea western ^Montana's soil brought 

 forth such surprising varieties as these." 



The six men who worked so ener- 

 getically, earnestly and industriously to 

 shape this special event to auspicious 

 dimensions, were F. M. Lockman, a 

 wholesale grocer, who acted as president: 

 Fred J. Erfert, an expert apple grower, 

 was general vice president, while A. J. 

 Breitenstein, secretary of the Missoula 

 Chamber of Commerce, carried out the 

 publicity ideas and served as secretar}- 

 and treasurer. The other directors were 

 F. S. Lusk, president of the First Na- 

 toinal Bank: M. L. Dean, State Fruit 

 Inspector, and A. L. Stone, editor of the 

 Missoulian. 



The decorations of the huge tent in 

 which the show was held this year were 

 especially attractive: this tent, 60x130 

 feet, was broken in the center by a large 

 band stand from which band concerts 

 were given each afternoon and evening. 

 In addition, tliere were other musical 



and vaudeville stunts that not only 

 amused but brought back spectators a 

 second time. On one side of the tent 

 were the box displays and on the other 

 the plate exhibits. Down the center on 

 each end were the difTerent commercial 

 club booths, showing off their fruits. 



grains and vegetables. In addition there 

 were, of course, vegetable and grain sec- 

 tions, allowing farmers not growing 

 fruits to compete for some very liberal 

 premiums. 



This year an expert apple packer gave 

 daily demonstrations on the important 

 and best commercial packs. For the 

 grower this was an interesting part of 

 the show, and was intently watched by 

 eager learners. Lectures and addresses 

 were also given by horticultural experts 

 and frrit growers of renow n. 



Over one hundred varieties of apples 

 were shown, the most prominent being 

 the Mcintosh, Jonathan, Belleflower, 

 Gano and Northern Spy. These are con- 

 sidered the leaders in commercial var- 

 ieties in Western Alontana. Of course 

 many other varieties are really excellent 



from all standpoints; for instance, the 

 Rome Beauty, Northwest Greening. 

 Aiken, Delicious, Gravenstein, King, 

 Rhode Island Greening and Wagener. 

 Over seven hundred entries were made 

 in the Western Montana Apple Show 

 this year, a large majoritj' of the ex- 

 hibitors being from the renowned and 

 glorious Bitter Root Valley. The fertile 

 Plains Valley was also well represented, 

 and of course the territory adjacent to 

 iMissoula had many entries. Some of 

 the important winners were as follov.'s: 



Engraved by Hicks-Chatten Engraving Company, Portland, Oregon 



VIEW OF THE WESTERN MONTANA APPLE SHOW, FROM THE ENTRANCE, SHOWTNG 

 ONE CORNER OF THE IMMENSE TENT. MISSOULA, MONTANA, 1910 



Engraved by Hicks-Chatten Co., Portland , Oregon 

 PLATE EXFHBIT AT THE WESTERN MONTANA APPLE SHOW, 1910, MISSOULA, MONT.\N.\ 



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