The Colfax gazette. [volume] (Colfax, Wash.) 1893-1932, 1911-08-04
ELBERTON GROWS
MUCH GOOD FRUIT
MANY CARLOADS OF PRUNES. GO
TO MARKETS OF The WORLD
FROM WHITMAN.

NhelS lue wv H. q N rail-
road leaves the north fork of the
Palouse Is miles northeast Of Colfax
and winds its way up Silver creek is
situated the thriving town of Elber-
ton. A more pleasantly situated town
will be hard to find. While 100000
bushels of wheat will be delivered at
the warehouses this year il will rep
resent only half the income of Elber-
ton people. Prune and pear orchards
on the surrounding hills and quanti-
ties of small fruit contribute the 9TH
er half to the income of the COM
munity.
The Prune Business.
Because of the unusually fine quail
ity of prunes grown in this particu-
lar part of Whitman county there has
been rush of buyers to this section
this year. DR.. w. n. Divine and ].
F. Long, each with 20 acres of the
best Italian prunes grown in the
United States, have contracted their
crop to the Rasher-Kingman-Herr
company, wholesale commission
dealers of Spokane. The fruit will
be picked and delivered TO the pack
ing house where the buyers will pack
green and ship it to the markets of
the world. The price TO growers is
1872 cents net for 20-pound boxes,
or $3.50 a ton. The same COM
pany had the crop from these orch
ards last year but at a considerably
lower figure.
Italian prunes grown in the Elber-
ton country are said to EXCEL all 9TH
ers for rich juicy favor. Picking
will begin soon after the middle of
September when it will be easy to
get good labor from the harvest
fields.
Among the largest growers of
prunes in Elberton and Immediate
vicinity are: ]. f. Long, 20 acres;
F. H. Brown, 20 acres; W. v Ewing,
rs acres; J. A. Waggoner, % acres;
n. NJ. Swanson, Is acres: Arthur
Hanson, Is acres; Dr.. W. n. Divine,
20 acres and Ira A. Long, Is acres.
Ten tons to the acre is big yield
and will not be realized this year.
A good 20-acre orchard will keep
from 10 TO 20 people employed for
about 20 days during the picking
season.
For the past three years part of
the prune crop has been shipped
green and the Allen Evaporating
company has handled the remainder.
w. X. Allen of Eugene, Oregon, put
in the evaporator about IL years ago
and the plant is now under the man
agement of w. G. Allen of Salem,
Oregon. The plant has the distinc-
tion of being the largest prune dryer
under one roof in the United States.
AS many as 80 car loads of dry
prunes have been shipped from the
plant during some of the best years.
1t is with amusement that the orch
ard men now look back to the early
days when Rupert Brothers first in
troduced prune trees in the Elberton
country selling their stock for 35
cents piece. That was back in 1898.
From this expensive start the prune
business has grown to be OF impor-
tance and is said to furnish an easier
and better living than wheat raising.
All Kinds of Fruit.
J. ". Berkstresser is recognized as
one of the best authorities on general
fruit growing in Eastern Washing
ton. Starting Is years ago by grub
bing out the roots and stumps on his
little tract $50 feet above the town
he now has one of the best general
orchards in this part of the country.
Only IL acres are in fruit but it
would take $1,000 to induce him to
SELL From a half-acre of black cap
raspberries his three pickers gath
cred $50 gallons that sold for so
cents a gallon. He is planning to set
another acre to black caps next year.
The few apricot trees on the Berk-
stresser place will yield about 5000
pounds this year which will market
for about four cents. He will have
from $4,000 to 10000 pounds of
peaches that will average three cents
a pound. One hundred cherry trees
are in bearing and 200 two years old
have a few cherries on this year.
There will be something like 1000
pounds in the crop which will be
nearly all gathered by the end of this
week. Cherries are selling at from
FIVE to six cents a pound. Some of
his crop has been shipped as far east
as Sioux City and few boxes have
even gone as far as Milwaukee. Al
most every known variety Of fruit