The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1916-12-21


With an apple crop this fall that
bids fair to run about 200 carloads,
and with a strawberry crop which runs
about 200 carloads each season, all
moving out by American Express. 1t
will probably interest American FIX
press men to know little something
about the region which is sending out
an annual average of l40, 600 crates OF
straw berries and 756, 900 boxes OF
apples over our lines.
The word Hood River" has come to
be practically synonymous with red
apples and fine Strawberries, the
famous Hood River Valley OF Oregon
having established reputation almost
nationwide for Its strawberries, and
really world wide for its apples.
Hood River is located 63 miles east
of Portland on the main line of the
o. w. r. & N. Co. (Union Pacific Sys-
tem) and on the south bank OF the
great Columbia River, stream that
is navigsble from Astoria on the
Pacific Ocean to Lewiston, Idaho, a
distance of approximately 400 miles.
1t is also located on the famous Colum-
bia River Highway, a scenic, hard
surfaced road built along the river
through the Cascades of the Columbia
at cost of several million dollars.
Apples, pears and strawberries are
the crops raised in the greatest guam
titles, but everything except tropical
fruits does well on the Hood River
soils. The most perfect and prolific
Anjou pear trees In the world are
grown there, but the acreage as yet is
small. IL is the apple and strawberry
which 80 far have been the great
revenue producers.
The quality of the Hood River apple
is due to the perculiar geographical
conditions under which it is raised.
The climate is mild, and the summer
one of constant sunshine, tempered by
the snow lowered peaks of Mt. Hood
and Mt. Adams. the one guarding the
southern and the other, forty miles
across the Columbia in Washington,
the northern end of the valley.
Hood River, which traverses the
valley, has its source in the II. 225-foot
Mt. Hood, and the water from it is
used for irrigating the fruit lands OF
the entire valley. The valley contains
about 60, COO acres and about Is, 900 art
in apple-bearing orchards. Apples
have been raised there for fifty years
and strawberries for twenty-five, but
none of the fruit has become famous
until in comparatively recent years.
The Hood River Spitzenburg is the
king of red apples, being cIassed BY
the American Pathological Society as
the perfect red apple" 1t is ready
for eating about the 18th of October
The Hood River Yellow Newtown is
distinctly winter apple. not changing
to the yellow until three months or
more after picking. Two-thirds of the
apples grown in Hood River are of
these two varieties. The Arkansas
Black, Golden Ortley, Winter Banana.
Wagener, Jonathan. Gravenstein, and
others are raised in varying quantities.
but all possess the remarkable keeping
quality of the Spitzenburgs and New
towns grown in this valley.
The strawberry industry in the Huod
River Valley has been fostered and
developed largely through the efforts
of the railway company and the Amer
ican Express Company, until it has
reached its present huge proportions.
The Clark Seeding variety is best
adapted to tho soil and climatic condi-
tions, the berry being very large,
richly favored and so firm that it ships
exceptionally we'll to such distant mar
kets as Duluth, Winnipeg. etc. Cool
nights with warm sunshine during the
days permit the fruit to mature grad
ually. giving it the color and crispness
which has made it famous. The Hood
River strawberry outclassed the world
in 1893, when it took first prize at the
Chicago Worlds Fair.
The season lasts more than eight
weeks, and how Hood River can ship
extra fine Strawberries that length of
time has always been question asked
by those who are not acquainted with
the local conditions. The main valley
is divided into three separate valleys
or levels. The first, or lower valley,
is at an altitude of from 300 to 800
feet. Berreis are marketed from this
valley early in May and shipping lie
good for nearly three weeks. The
second. or middle valley, is at an alti-
tude of from l,l00 to |, 400 feet. and
picking follows the first valley very
closely. The third or upper valley is
at an altitude of from 1000 to 5000
feet and follows the second valley in
picking and marketing. The taking
advantage of nature in this manner
has made it possible to ship the finest
of strawberries continuously for more
than eight weeks, and the last berry
picked is as good as the first one. The
fields of the upper valley in some in
stances are right under the snow banks
of old Mt. Hood, and berries have been
picked as late as August 81.
As an indication of the productive.
ness of the soil and the prolific quail
ties of the Clark Seeding variety
under these favorable conditions, a
single plant in its second year this
season bore more than 500 berries at
one time. BY actual count. there were
482 berries on it after two hallocks. or
about so berries, had been picked.
The Umatilla, Yakima and Warm
Spring Indian reservations furnish a
large number of the strawberry pick
ers. They are considered the best
pickers, as they remain throughout the
entire season, never joining the
"White Mans" strike. The squaws
do the field work while the bucks"
congregate in small crowds in the
wooded section of the bank of the
Columbia and spend the day in gam
bling and horse racing.
The distribution of Hood River
apples, which is effected by American
Express, is claimed to be more nearly
worldwide than that>of any other
apple.shipping district in the United
States. In normal times about 40 per
cent of the entire crop is exported,
England. Germany and South America
being the largest consumers.
The Yellow Newtown apple, after
having been in storage until February
or later, becomes the famous eating
apple Of the British Isles, to which
distant point most of them have been
shipped in past years. 1t is admirably
adapted to expectation as it is very
good keeper. The European countries,
strange as it may seem, prefer the