Origin and history of original Perfection Apricot Tree by the originators, 
Mr. and Mrs. John Goldbeck and discovery by Mr. H. Yount: 
Wenatchee, Wash. 
July 7, 1936 
It is a seedling that came from pit planted in 1911, presumably the Royal, as it was 
a box of small sweet cots bought from Mr. Thompson, near Orondo, Wash. The tree 
has born continuously from its third year. In earlier years 13 apple boxes were packed 
at one picking from the tree and only three years since it came into bearing has it failed 
a crop and that was on account of frost. Tree was badly damaged by Oct. 1935 freeze 
when the temperature dropped below zero. But at this date July 7, 1936, it is making 
a rapid recovery while other trees at the same elevation are mostly all winter killed. 
This tree stands in the lawn and in consequence was watered all summer and was 
growing at the time freeze came. The season of 1935 the yield was 15 apple boxes, 
many of them too large to put in a narrow mouth Mason fruit jar. We have canned 
this fruit exclusively of all other varieties of apricots as the flavor is delicious when 
canned. 
Signed: JOHN GOLDBECK 
BERTHA GOLDBECK 
Originators. 
Wenatchee, Wash. 
Dec. 21, 1936 
Mr. M. McDonald 
2024 N. W. 26th Ave. 
Portland, Oregon 
Dear Mr. McDonald: 
You asked me to write you a description of, and how I happened to discover the 
new "Perfection” Apricot. Well, one day during July 1935 I engaged an old gentle¬ 
man in conversation in Wenatchee and he mentioned having an apricot tree that bore 
cots "as big as my fist.” That sounded pretty big to me, and I asked if I might see 
them, and he promised to write me when they were ripe, which he did from Water- 
ville. Wash., where the tree was growing in his lawn. 
I immediately drove to Waterville, which is situated at an elevation of 2650 feet 
above sea level and the temperature frequently drops to 30 degrees below zero. Well 
when I first saw the tree with its load of approximately 15 apple boxes of great golden 
colored apricots, many of them too large to be put in a Mason fruit jar whole, I just 
felt like the man when he saw his first giraffe, "There ain’t no such animal.” It just 
did not seem natural that cots would grow that large, but there they were, golden 
yellow all over and tree ripe but still firm enough to stand shipment to distant markets. 
I have had years of experience with apricots but I have yet to see an apricot 
equal in size, flavor, or shipping quality. 
H. YOUNT 
Originator of the Riland Apricot. 
Dear Mr. McDonald: 
Wenatchee, Wash. 
June 8, 1937 
Yours of the 4th received. There will not be a heavy crop as the new growth of 
last summer is all the fruit wood there is on the tree. That is the result of the Oct. 
freeze of ’35. There will be from 2 to 6 apple boxes of fruit, I think. There was no 
winter injury from the past winter but other trees suffered badly. Two cot trees 
standing about 100 feet from it are totally dead from the freeze, also a cherry tree 
25 feet from it was killed. 
I am more than pleased by the way it stood the extreme cold, 26 below zero, and 
still bearing what I consider a full crop for the amount of fruit wood produced since 
that freeze of Oct. 1935. 
H. YOUNT 
