Capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1919-1980, 1920-03-04
EARLY HISTORY Of
PUUNE INDUSTRY
told By PIONEER

If YOU will look up the files Of the
Corvallis papers Tor 1883 you win find
considerable discussion as to the advis
ability of planting commercial prune
orchards. says Fred LOekley in the
Portland journal. One of the most ar
dent advocates Of the prune indutry at
that time was Bob Jhnnson. The agita-
tion Of the leading men OF the city 20
organize to plant commercial orcn-
ard. The promoters suggested that 20
men take one share each at cost or
sa5o. and that 20-acre orchard be set
out. SO enthusiastic were the prospec-
tive prunegrowers that Is men sub
scribed for 10 shares each, and 1t was
decided to set out 160 acres. A chosce
quarter section midway between Corr
Wallis and Albany was purchaed, the
ground was deeply plowed and a mr.
yeyor was employd to lay out the or
chari SO that the trees would be exact
Iy 20 feet apart. making los tees TO
the acre.
First Rrune Tree k-thhOfu.
A day or so ago talked with the
former secretary of the company, Bob
johnson, and asked him to give ME the
history of this orchard.
1--WE had more enthusiasm than
knowledge Of the prune industry in
those days" said Mr.. Johnson. we
purchased Italian prune trees AZ rine
cents a tree and set them ont. when
the bill for the 1880 prune trees came
in. amounting TO over $t,500, we ley ed
AN assessment of S25 a share on our
stock. AS the payments for the laa1 fell
due we levied additional assessments.
We hoped that we should never have
to pay the full assessment Of $3.50 a
share, but we were compelled to in
crease the par value Of share from
$3.50 to $500 sh,.te to keep the en-
terprise out of debt. The firse year we
planted 100 acres of potatoes between
The rows. We bought 500 bushels OF
seed potatoes at 81 bushel. We had
a tremendous crop. Potatoes that fall
were drug on the market at As cents
a bushel, so we didn't dig our potatoes.
when the tees were five years old
we employed Professor Lake in charge
Of the horticultural department of the
Oregon Agricultural college, to take
charge OF our orchard. We paid him
$3.50 q month. The following season W.
had phenomenal crop. The trees Were
blue with prunes. Professor Lake trav-
eled all over the Willamette valley in
vestlgating tho various types of prunc
evaporators or dryers. He finally Sc.
lected the Fliclsenstein, guaranteed tc
dry 100 bushels day. We installed
one. but because OF our inexperienct
or for some other reason we were un.
able to take care Of more than &C
bushels day, the result being that
The lolk cf oui crop rotted under tht
trees.
Shipped Fruit Green.
THE nextycar we decided to shil
our prunes green and we realised $50,
a car for them. This, we thought, oolv
cd the problem. The next year awe
we packed our green prunes In 22
pound crates, 1000 crates to the car
and shipped te ncarloads and spen
the next few weeks figuring where W,
could spend to best advantage tn,
$500 we would receive. When the re
turns came we were told we owed $32.
for freight In other words, we were
out the labor and the crates and still
owed 1924. That settled the question
OF shipping green prunes We erected
another DRYER so as to be able TO ear,
FOR our next years crop. Hundreds o
farmers had planted prune orchard
and built dryers OF all sorts. The re
suit was that carloads of Oregon
prunes were being dumped on tn
Eastern and Middle Western market
that were improperly dried. These shi
ments OF messy, sticky, unsalah
prunes gave the oregon prune such
black eye that the price went down t
y cents pound and stayed there 70
several years.
Secured the Orchard
1--WE had TO levy an extra assessmen
on the stock of the company Th
stockholders We're fed up on prune
and refused 20 pay. We mortgaged tn
place TO secure funds, and eventuall.
the mortgage was foreclosed For tw,
or three years the orchard was neg
iected I hated to see Il suffering 70
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