Facts learned about the original Goldbeck Perfection Apricot tree upon 
investigation by Oregon Nursery Co.: 
When we received the first samples of fruit of this wonderful apricot in 
early August, 1935, our first thought was to at once go up to Waterville, 
Wash, and see the tree. Upon inquiry we were advised that the 1935 crop of 
15 apple boxes, about 600 lbs., had already been harvested. It was then 
decided that it would be best to postpone the trip until the fruit season of 
1936. In October, 1935 the early October freeze, that caused so much 
damage to fruit and nut bearing trees all over the Pacific Northwest, caught 
the Goldbeck tree with the season’s growth not yet matured. This freeze 
prevented the old apricot tree from producing a crop in 1936. We, there¬ 
fore, had to postpone our inspection trip until the season 1937. 
As the fruit ripens at Waterville in the early part of August we went to 
Wenatchee, Wash., arriving there on the morning of August 3rd, 1937. Mr. 
Yount, our contact man, met us and we drove to Waterville, about 35 miles 
distance. Leaving the Columbia River at an elevation of 650 ft. we climbed 
2000 ft. in six miles to the big bend plateau of the Columbia at Waterville 
and found the old tree on the Goldbeck property with a fairly good crop 
of fruit not yet quite ripe — on August the 3rd, 1937. There stood this old 
tree growing in a grass lawn where it has stood since planted there twenty- 
seven years ago. 
The fruit as we saw it, not yet quite ripe, was larger and more uniform 
than any apricot we had ever seen although it had not received the usual 
care the past season. The reason was that Mr. Goldbeck, an aged man, had 
been taken seriouly ill last spring and had to leave the home and go down 
to Wenatchee for treatment. He rented their home and as is very usual 
and customary, the renter did not realize the importance of keeping the 
ground irrigated and as a result of lack of moisture in that high, arid country, 
the fruit was not fully up to its normal size that year. And yet one thing 
that impressed us as we examined the fruit was its uniformity, scarcely a 
fruit on the tree was under the normal size. 
When the hardiness of the tree is considered growing at an altitude of 
2650 feet where the temperature goes down to as low as 30 degrees below 
zero at times, on a high plateau where commercial orchards of the hardiest 
fruit trees are not grown, and even in that severe storm period of Decem¬ 
ber 1918, this tree came through without being injured, one must realize 
its extreme hardiness as an apricot. There the tree stands now after 27 years’ 
growth with a trunk of about 8 inches diameter nvith a perfectly healthy 
top growth in its branches. It may well be designated a marvel-cot. 
The Perfection surely excels all other apricots in the main essentials for 
home use and commercial purposes. We predict a rich harvest from orchards 
planted with this super-cot. 
M. McDONALD, President 
Oregon Nursery Co. 
