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ington, now the leading state in this industry, dates 
back to 1877 when the first orchard was planted in the 
Yakima Valley by an Indian named Klickitat Peter, This 
region has a very small rainfall and must resort to ir¬ 
rigation, In 1888 and 1889 the first irrigation compan¬ 
ies were organized followed by a rapid development of 
the apple industry. Six years later, in 1894, the total 
shipments from the Yakima Valley did not exceed twenty- 
five carloads. With the development of the irrigation 
projects came very extensive plantings of apple trees, 
especially during the years 1900 to 1908. 
The Wenatchee Valley, lying north of Yakima and 
separated from it by mountain ranges, started its de¬ 
velopment in 1896 when the Gunn ditch was built to pro- 
"viae water for SOo acres of land. The development in 
this valley was pehnomenal up to 1913 when it possessed 
a total of 30,000 acres of irrigated land most of which 
planted to fruit. This valley is today the leading 
and most intensive apple growing region in the world. 
The total acreage in North Central Washington, includ¬ 
ing the Vienatchee Valley and the upper Columbia River 
Region, is approximately 40,000 acres. For the ship¬ 
ping season of 1919-1920 the shipments reached 12,300 
cars cf apples. Land values are very high, averaging 
nearly $3,000 per acre. The co-operative marketing of 
fruit is highly developed. The organizations are the 
logical outgrowth of a great need requiring the market*-* 
ing of their fruit in distant markets. It is here that 
the grading, packing, and standardization has been de- 
