The Colville examiner. [volume] (Colville, Wash.) 1907-1948, 1920-01-10


shrubs from 20 inches to four feet in
height. With these he left the Mis-
souri, river with a wagon train May
II, 1874. Moisture was provided by
water dipped from streams on the
way. The cargo was heavy load
for his OK team and promised no end
of annoyance to the train with which
he was travelling. At the Platte
river many of his companions pro-
tested a continuance of the enter
prise, some ridiculing him and
others expostulating in more cer-
tain way, until finally he told them
they might go on, if they were in
too much of a hurry, and he would
follow in his own good time. Noting
his determination in the matter he
was allowed to proceed with the
caravan across the great American
desert, over the Rocky mountains and
down the Pacific slopes of the conti-
mental divide to the Willamette val
ley where he transplanted his travel
ing nursery to virgin soil in its new
home on the shores of the Columbia
river. Some say it was not alto
gether a labor of love but was the
outgrowth of ambition to surpass
others who had planned to establish
the fruit industry in the West by the
planting of seeds. One man brought
bushel of apple seeds and a half
bushel of pear seeds. Potato seeds
and peach pits were exported across
the desert; but, by far the most
important, was the travelling nursery
and the apple. In this same year.
when about 5000 immigrants crossed
the plains, the first pure-bred Dur
ham cattle We're brought to the
coast.
From the Luelling beginning other
nurseries were opened-one at Van
couver and one by Philip Ritz at
Walla Walla. 1t was claimed by
many that fruit would not grow in
the Colville valley, and that pota-
toes would not grow. In 1868, John
Hickey and man named Weaver es-
tablished placer camp at Hickey
rapids. They noticed that the In
dians were successfully engaged in
| potato culture on the bench lands
| from seed obtained from the settle
| ments. Weaver went north and died
| the next year. Hickey continued his
| placer mining and as side enter
| prise bought the Indian ranch. He
| concluded that, since potatoes had
| dissipated the prevalent idea that
| they could not be grown, why not
fruit. In 1871 he placed an order
with the Wala Walla nursery for
125 apple trees. M. Pellisier under
took to deliver them, but the bad
storms of an early winter overlook
| him at Lake Colville, near where
| Sprague now stands, and he deposit
| ed them in a cellar until spring
| d872) when they were carried to
| their destination and planted. A few
seeding sprouts had sprung else
| where by accident, but this was the
| first commercial orchard to be plant
ed in Stevens county and the first
fruit found ready cash market as
|. soon as the orchard came into bear
ing, and from this example of finan-
cial success of the apple industry in
Stevens county an active interest was
shown in horticulture and for time
| the Walla Walla nursery did thriv-
ing business in the Colville country.
In 1871 man by the name OF
Cook, who was tailor at Fort Col
Vile, planted an apple seed orchard
at the mouth of Pingston creek,
near Marcus. The trees grew, but
the fruit was of seeding varieties, so
when Capt. A. T. Pingston obtained
the lands there, he sawed the trees
down to the trunks and grated
scions from improved stock from
which fine apples are being gathered
each year. Joseph Martin planted a
few trees on the site of Colville, and
few single specimens were planted
by settlers in various parts of the
county in the early seventies.
In 1858 Sam Oppenheimer, who
with his brothers owned the Pend
Oreille mills near Arden, while at
Walla Walla learned that nursery
stock was to be sold at sheriffs sale
He bought at this sale a variety OF
trees and brought them to the Col
vile valley On the way through
the country he gave from one to
half dozen apple sprouts to his
friends, one of them being the late
James Monaghan who was operating
a ferry at LaPray's bridge on the
Spokane river. He set the trees out
on the Spokane county side of the
river, but that was portion oil Ste
vens county at the time and it is
claimed that these were the first
grated apple trees ever planted in
Stevens county That spot is now
$50 feet below the surface of Long
Lake, as result of the building OF
the Long Lake dam for electric