SINCE 1966
Q5
Published Quarterly by the
Pacific County Historical Society
State of Washington
1883- 1983
100 Years of Cranberry Farming n Pacific County
AUTUMN
1983
Volume XVIII
Number 3
so Ot'
ou We tef4i
SINCE 1966
A Quarterly Publication of the Pacific County Historical Society, Inc .
A Non-profit Organization
Magazine subscription rate - $6 .00 Annually
Membership in the Society - $3 .00 single, $5 .00 couple
Payable annually - membership card issued
Address : P .O . Box P, South Bend, WA 98586
Historical articles accepted for publication may be edited by the editors to conform to size and other requirements .
Opinions expressed by the authors are not necessarily those of the historical society . All Rights
Reserved . Reprinting of any material approved by special permission from the Pacific County Historical
Society . Second class postage paid at South Bend, W ashington .
PUB . N O . ISSN-0038-4984
EDITOR
Larry Weathers
Staff
Karen Johnson and Luvirla Evavold - Subscriptions
Joan Mann - Editorial Assistant
Printed by Pacific Printing, Ilwaco, Washington
Our Cover
Our cover photo shows a crew of cranberry pickers on the Charles Nelson bog near
Nahcotta, Washington, around 1950 . Mr . Nelson (1883-1978) is standing to the right .
He was one of the few Peninsula growers who did not convert from dry to wet harvesting of
cranberries in the 1940s . The Clyde Sayce family, owners of the bog now, shifted to wet
harvesting methods following the end of the harvest in 1979 . This photo is from the collection of the Pacific County Historical Society Museum .
Charles Nelson was a charter member of the historical society in 1949, President in
1953, a member of the Board of Directors 1961 to 1966, and a frequent speaker at society functions .
Table of Contents
PAGE
TITLE
Our Cover
100 Years of Cranberry Farming in Pacific County - Larry Weathers
John Paul's Cranberry Bog - from notes by Amy Walker
The Ilwaco Cranberry Company - from a pamphlet by John W . Howerton
D .J . Crowley and The Cranberry Research Station - Larry Weathers
Ocean Spray Cranberries, Inc . - excerpts from Cranberries magazine
Errata
42
42
43
52
53
56
59
60
100 Years of Cranberry Farming
in Pacific County
by Larry Weathers
Editor's Note: This year marks the 100th consecutive harvest of commercial cranberries on the Long
Beach Peninsula of Pacific County . Our issue this quarter is dedicated to all of the named and unnamed pioneers who made the 100th harvest possible .
Information used in this story was compiled from several sources . The records of the Pacific
County Auditor and Assessor provided land ownership documents . Newspaper articles in the Chinook
Observer (Long Beach), Pacific Tribune (Ilwaco), South Bend Journal and Seattle Times provided
names, dates, and other biographical information . Coast Country by Lucile McDonald contained
stories not found in other sources . Willapa Bay: Its Historical and Regional Geography by Jean
Hazeltine (Shaudys) provided statistical data . Special thanks to Nancy Pryor, Washington/Northwest
Room Librarian, State Library, for researching and obtaining some of the more important newspaper
articles for me, and Edie Shire, Coastal Washington Research Unit, for allowing me access to the station's history file .
Readers who want to know more about cranberry farming in Pacific County should refer to a story
which appeared in the Sou'wester in 1969 (Volume IV, Issues 1, 2, and 3) . It is titled "Cranberries in
the Pacific Northwest" and was written by Mrs . Robert (Emma) Lindstrom of Silverton, Oregon . Mrs .
Lindstrom was a former resident of the Grayland area ; her husband's family had moved there in the
1930s . Her history is principally confined to cranberry farming in the North Cove-Grayland district
and includes several historical photos and drawings . Readers will find it a good companion piece to
this history of the Long Beach Peninsula district .
There is no definitive history of the Northwest coast cranberry industry . We think one is long overdue. Until it is produced, the articles published in the Sou'wester will have to suffice . Unfortunately,
they only scratch the surface .
Cranberries
Cranberries have been growing wild in North America for thousands of years . Native
Americans used the cranberry as a food and a medicine on both coasts . They are believed
to have been presented to the Pilgrims on Cape Cod in 1621 and are known to have been
used for barter with European explorers on the Northwest coast .
Domestic varieties of the cranberry have only been cultivated for commercial purposes
for a little over 160 years . Since it is essentially a marsh fruit requiring acid peat soil and a
moist climate, it thrives in only a few locations . Scarcity of good growing areas, and the
potential for economic gain, stimulated volume production of the fruit early in 'the 1800s .
Commercial harvesting commenced in the Cape Cod section of Massachusetts around
1816, spread to the southern part of New Jersey about 1835, and eventually to the central
portion of Wisconsin in 1853 . The coastal sections of Washington and Oregon were successfully planted in 1883 and 1885, respectively .
At least one unsuccessful attempt to cultivate domestic cranberries occurred on Willapa
Bay before 1883 . The attempt was made by James G . Swan . Swan was a canny observer
of his environment . Shortly after his arrival on the Bay in 1852 he realized that if wild
cranberries grew well on the coast, the domestic berry of his home state of Massachusetts
should prosper equally well . Somehow he obtained vines from home and tried to grow
them near his land claim on Bone River. Lucile McDonald wrote in a December 1949 article for the Seattle Times that " . . .he did not experiment seriously and if he had not mentioned them in his writings no one would have known of this attempt ."
43
The Anthony Chabot Bog
The first successful planting of domestic cranberries on the Pacific Coast was made on
the Long Beach Peninsula near the corner of Sandridge and Cranberry Roads in the
1880s . The pioneer bog was located in marshland north of Cranberry Road . The owner
was Anthony Chabot . Mr . Chabot did not live in Pacific County, but he owned several hundred acres of land on the Peninsula and paid for the planting .
Anthony Chabot was born and grew up on a Quebec farm in Canada in the
mid-1880s . He graduated from college as a civil engineer and moved to the San Francisco
Bay area following the years of the California gold rush . He took up residence in the city of
Oakland where he established the Chabot Water Works and built sawmills for lumber companies .
'
Anthony became interested in the cranberry industry due to the advocacy of a brotherin-law living in Massachusetts . The brother-in-law, who had visited the Long Beach Peninsula, observed native cranberries growing in the marshes there and was impressed with the
area's resemblance to Cape Cod . He convinced Anthony that the peat soil could be successfully adapted to the cultivation of commercial cranberries . The brother-in-law, who had
expected to become a partner in the enterprise, dropped the idea himself when his wife
refused to leave her Massachusetts home .
The records of the County Auditor and Assessor provide interesting information concerning Anthony's land acquisition on Long Beach Peninsula . It appears that he initially acquired approximately 1200 acres of public land on the Peninsula from the Government
Land Office at Vancouver between 1872 and 1877 in partnership with H . Pierce, A .J .
Pope, and W .C . Talbot of San Francisco . He acquired an additional 440 acres of public
land in his own name during the same period . A revision of An Act of Congress 1822
made it possible for them to obtain patent to these lands for prices as cheap as $1 per acre .
Some of the acreage described in the patents was good pastureland, but most of it was
undeveloped marshland running up the center of the Peninsula . It may have been that Anthony's brother-in-law was scouting this newly acquired property for him when he recommended the marshland be turned to cranberry cultivation .
According to a copy of a letter from a daughter (the letter was found in the files of the
Coastal Washington Research Unit and is addressed to D .J . Crowley, November 6, 1936),
Anthony purchased the 1200 acres of government land from his partners in 1880 and
made his first cranberry planting on the Peninsula the following year . Newspaper stories,
recounting the story years later, say that Anthony, having no personal knowledge of
cranberry cultivation, hired a Netherlander from New Jersey to plant and tend the bogs for
him . Cranberry vines of the the McFarlin variety were imported from Cape Cod and planted
on 35 acres . They were planted so that they could be dry harvested by hand .
On June 2, 1883, the Pacific Cranberry Company was incorporated under the laws of
the state of California with Anthony Chabot named as president and Emilie M . Chabot as
secretary . Robert Chabot, a nephew of Anthony, was appointed as an agent of the company . All of the government patents acquired by Anthony, including the ones he bought
from his former partners, were registered in Pacific County under the name of the company
on August 4, 1883 .
Evidently the Netherlander hired by Anthony as his "technical advisor in residence"
did not prove satisfactory for the job and he let him go . Robert Chabot, the newly authorized agent of the company, was sent to live in Ilwaco . He tended his uncle's bog on the
44
-a photo from a promotional pamphlet by Ilwaco Cranberry Co .,
used courtesy of Coastal Washington Research Station
Workers planting an acre of cranberries near Ilwaco about 1915 . The bog
was owned by Chris Hanson, an immigrant from Denmark .
Peninsula for nearly a decade with the help of Bion A . Landers of Cataumet,
Massachusetts . The first harvest of the Chabot bog was made in the fall of 1883 .
The Chabot bog thrived for several years before dissipating in the late 1890s . During
the good years the harvest reached 7,500 barrels (one barrel is equal to 100 lbs .) annually .
All of the picking was done by hand . Local Indians, Chinese under contract, women, and
children let out of school at harvest, did the picking work . Many residents of the Peninsula
tell stories of the grandparents working for the Chabot company .
Robert Chabot left his uncle's employ in 1892 and went to Copalis, a coastal community north of Hoquiam in Grays Harbor County, where he found suitable peat soil to
establish his own cranberry farm . His bog was the first Washington planting outside the
Peninsula .
The departure of Robert Chabot, and eventually B .A . Landers, from the Peninsula left
the Chabot property without a foreman . According to newspaper accounts, Anthony
enlisted two Chinese laborers in his employ to care for his property . When they both left in
the early 1 900s, the Chabot bog went to weeds .
In November 1904, the Chabot bog, and other Pacific Cranberry Company holdings,
were leased to J .M . Arthur of Portland, Oregon . Mr . Arthur was a real estate salesman and
owner of the Breakers Hotel north of the town of Long Beach . Earlier in the year he had incorporated the Pacific Cranberry Marsh Company under the laws of the state of
Washington . His partners in the venture were A .A . Arthur and Dorsey B . Smith .
The Pacific Cranberry Marsh Company finally bought the leased properties around
1910 and sold portions of it during the next decade before going out of business .
The Industry Stagnates
There were very few cranberry farmers living on the Peninsula between 1883 and
1910 . After the Chabot company quit in 1904 there were only four producers . Chris Hanson of Ilwaco, who harvested a two acre farm north of Black Lake, was typical . Cranberries
45
were not his main source of income .
Development of the cranberry industry on the Peninsula during the early years was
stagnant for a variety of reasons : 1) The demand for cranberries in those days was confined
to the Thanksgiving-Christmas holidays, and the market was already adequately supplied by
established bogs in the Northeast and Midwest : 2) The cost of marketing the berries during
such a short period of time was greater because of the Peninsula's isolation ; 3) Farmers
found that preparation of marshland for commercial harvesting required a tremendous firstyear investment of money and labor, and the investment could not be recouped for a period
of four to six years : 4) Farmers imported eastern vines for planting and often found them infested with pests, mildewed in shipment, or unable to withstand the vagaries of Northwest
frost ; and 5) Absentee landowners accounted for a large number of marshland owners .
Unable to tend their bogs properly, they abandoned them to weeds . Some found the profits
unequal to the taxes they were paying for farmland . It was easier on their pocketbooks to let
the bogs revert to swamp and marsh .
When marshland, of which there were hundreds of acres up the center of the Peninsula, became a liability, owners began looking for ways to unload it . According to a story in
Coast Country by Lucile McDonald, several marsh owners thought they found buyers
around 1900 when speculators decided that the peat bogs could be mined and dried for
fuel . One company bought several hundred acres with the intention of pressing the peat into small peat briquettes . They soon realized that there was no chance the briquettes would
compete successfully with the abundance of cheap wood available in the Northwest . The
briquette manufacturing idea faded from the scene in 1907 .
-a photo from a promotional pamphlet by Ilwaco Cranberry Co
used courtesy of Coastal Washington Research station
Workers sanding a bog by hand near Ilwaco about 1915 .
46
-Pacific County . Historical Society collection
Pickers filling cranberry tote boxes about 1910 .
The Decade of the Syndicates
The 191 Os ushered in a decade of syndicates speculating in the purchase and sale of
marshland for cranberry farms . A few of the companies were locally financed, but most
were out-of-state syndicates . Within a very short period of time they controlled several thousand acres of marshland which they promoted as ideal cranberry growing land . In reality
most of the acreage was undeveloped and under several feet of swamp water . Unsuspecting
investors found building a bog to be the least of their problems when faced with the task of
first draining the land . Nevertheless, most of the syndicates were quite successful in selling
their holdings .
The "cranberry boom" of the 1910s was responsible for dramatically increasing the
number of farmers and acreage involved in the industry but it was doomed to a short life .
Vines for planting the bogs were still being imported from Cape Cod and many of the pests
which caused economic losses in that section were sent along with them . By 1917, losses
were so great that many growers lost faith in the industry once again and abandoned their
bogs . Those who remained in business started looking for help .
The Cranberry Research Station
Help arrived for anguished cranberry farmers in the early 1920s in the form of D .J .
Crowley, cranberry specialist . Mr . Crowley had a B .S . in plant pathology from the State
College of Washington and was assigned the task of investigating the problems of the industry on the Washington Coast in 1922 . Recognizing that climatic conditions on the coast
were different from those of older cranberry sections of the country, and that many of the
problems encountered were closely related to local conditions, he endeavored by ex-
47
perimental tests to work out farming methods and practices which would improve cultivation and crop yields under coast conditions . His tests eventually allowed him to make
several important recommendations to growers . Among the more significant were his
recommendations concerning the use of chemical sprays in a timely and thorough manner
to control insects, and the installation of overhead water sprinkling systems on bogs to prevent frost injury .
The good health of the cranberry industry today is the direct result of the tests Mr .
Crowley conducted at the Cranberry Research Station on Pioneer Road 1923-54 .
The Twenties and Thirties
The recommendations made by D .J . Crowley in the twenties and thirties were not immediately adopted by growers . They required an enormous amount of investment capital
which growers did not have . Six consecutive years of crop loss from 1917 to 1922 ; recurrent losses, which were especially severe in 1924, 1928, and 1933 ; and the deepening of
the Great Depression left many of them in dire financial straits . Furthermore, the hard times
caused growers to be more cautious and skeptical of new ideas .
The bad years of the Depression did have one beneficial effect . They cleared the industry of most of the deadwood . Growers who were serious about cranberry farming, made
budget adjustments, farmed smaller bogs, used income from other occupations to pay
taxes, and somehow survived . Those who were less than serious, particularly speculators
and absentee landowners, disappeared .
Decades of Transition
The decades between 1940 and 1970 were an important period of transition for the
cranberry industry on the West Coast . They were particularly eventful years for the growers
of the Long Beach Peninsula . Old methods of cultivation gave way to new, and product
yields and quality showed vast improvement .
Peninsula growers who previously could not afford to implement the recommenda-
-Pacific County Historical Society collection
Cranberry picking machine on Charles Nelson bog near Nahcotta, 1945 .
48
tions of D .J . Crowley suddenly found investment capital available to them in World War II .
By 1945, sprinkling systems were installed on almost every bog, and chemical sprays were
being applied on a regular basis . In 1947, farmers harvested the best crop they had seen in
fifteen years . Profits stabilized at a lower level following the high year of 1947, but it was
obvious the changes had improved the product .
Another change in the method of cultivation occurred in the 1940s when most Peninsula growers shifted from dry to wet harvesting practices. The availability of water from the
necklace-like string of lakes on the Peninsula made the change feasible and economically
practical . The new method meant growers could harvest 100 per cent of their crop, instead
of the 75 to 80 per cent harvested under the dry method . It also meant that growers no
longer needed an army of pickers each year . Harvesting under the wet method required
farmers to purchase some new equipment and hire a few farmhands . Overall, the changes
reduced overhead, increased profits, and encouraged new bog development .
One of the new cranberry farms which appeared on the Peninsula during this period of
transition is currently the largest on the West Coast . It is called Cranguyma Farms and was
established by Guy C . Myers in 1940 . Mr . Myers, a native of New York State, was living in
Seattle when he made his initial investment in the cranberry industry . The farm now
belongs to the family of Frank Glenn, Jr ., a son-in-law of Mr . Myers, and comprises nearly
1000 acres . Approximately 141 acres are planted to cranberries . Mr . Glenn went to work
for his father-in-law in 1945 and bought the farm from him in 1955 .
The 1 940s also saw the return of the Chabot name to cranberry farming on the Peninsula . Although the Anthony Chabot bog, under the name of Pacific Cranberry Company,
-Pacific County Historical Society collection
Charles Nelson using a mechanical scoop on his cranberry bog . This machine was first
used on the West Coast about 1949 . It replaced hand picking of crops .
49
-an Associated Press photo, used courtesy of The Daily Astorian
Three generations of the cranberry-growing Chabot family of Long Beach .
From left : Elwell, Jim and Jeff Chabot . October 6, 1983 .
had been harvested until the first years of the 1900s, the name of Chabot had been absent
from the census and tax rolls of Pacific County since 1892 . Robert Chabot and his family
had left the Peninsula that year to start a bog in Grays Harbor County . The family name
returned to the Peninsula in 1947 when Robert's son Elwell, in partnership with two
relatives, built a bog along Sandridge Road . Elwell's son Jim now owns the bog .
The period of transition saw a stability appear in the number of growers involved in the
industry on the Peninsula . In 1983, there were 27 growers and 387 acres of bog (in production) on the Peninsula . The number of growers fluctuates up and down from year to
year but never by more than a few names . Speculators, at least on the Peninsula, have been
virtually eliminated from the industry .
The transition period also saw changes in the marketing techniques used for selling
cranberries . Ocean Spray Cranberries, Inc ., a grower's cooperative, is most responsible .
Today, a variety of cranberry juices and canned goods are found on tables throughout the
year, not just Thanksgiving and Christmas .
The 100th Harvest
The West Coast cranberry industry began on the Long Beach Peninsula in 1883 with
the establishment of a 35 acre bog on property owned by Anthony Chabot . Although
harvests were generally good, profits were never counted in more than thousands of
dollars . One-hundred years later, there are around 235 growers on the West Coast from
British Columbia to Oregon with several thousand acres in production . The industry now
counts its profits in the millions of dollars .
The 100th consecutive harvest of commercial cranberries on the Long Beach Peninsula was completed in the fall of 1983 . The profits are not yet tallied, but the process is
already beginning for the 101st harvest .
50
-a Chinook Observer photo
Left :
Peninsula growers flood their bogs with water from
private reservoirs and churn it up with eggbeaterlike machines . The turbulence of the water
dislodges the berries and causes them to float to
the surface .
Below:
-a Chinook Observer photo
Two-by-fours hinged together are used to corral
the floating berries and convey them to elevators at
the edge of the bog . The elevators transport the
berries to waiting trucks and separate some of the
chaff and pieces of vine from the berries .
-a Chinook Observer photo
Bottom :
Once harvested, the berries are trucked to a receiving station on Sandridge Road north of Pioneer
Road . Later they are shipped to Markham processing plant in Grays Harbor County .
51
John Paul's Cranberry Bog
from notes by Amy Walker
Editor's Note : The coastal marshes of Pacific County were teeming with wild cranberries prior to the
planting of the Chabot bog . Chinook Indians of the lower Columbia River called the native berry "pit
olallies" (red berries) and had been picking them for hundreds of years . Native berries were ignored
when commercial cultivation commenced in the 1880s because they were smaller berries, the vines
grew closer to the ground, and they were harder to pick . However, there was at least one effort to
cultivate Long Beach Peninsula "pil olallies" for mass consumption by a man named John Peter Paul
between 1869-1878 (refer to "Pacific County Census 1870" in the Sou'wester, Volume V, No. 2,
Summer 1970, page 38, House No . 42) .
One version of the John Peter Paul cranberry bog story appears in the notes of Amy Walker,
Seaview, who was secretary of the Pacific County Historical Society from 1950 to 1966 . The notes
were made at a monthly meeting of the society on February 17, 1954 . They appear here in edited
form .
Charles Nelson told of a party recently given for D .J . Crowley at Long Beach where he
gave a short talk on the cranberry industry . He said the first one to plant cranberries on the
Peninsula was always presumed to be Anthony Chabot, but actually it was John Peter Paul
between 1869-1878 .
Mr. Nelson said that John Paul was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1828 . In 1853 he
heard about the wild and woolly west, so he left Cincinnati, went down the Mississippi
River, took a month to cross Nicaragua, stopped in San Francisco, went to the mines in
California, Idaho, and the Fraser River in Canada, visited Wallula and Portland, and finally
came to Knappton in 1859 . After some years at Knappton he moved to the Peninsula
where he bought a large tract of land north of Cranberry Road . (According to land records
in the County Auditor's Office, John Paul bought land at Knappton from Job Lamley in
1869, sold it later, and bought 470 3/4 acres of land on the Long Beach Peninsula near
Island Lake from the Government Land Office on April 11, 1876 - Editor .) He built his
cabin south of Freshwater Creek .
Mr. Nelson said that John Paul planted wild cranberry vines on some of his property in
1869 but it did not prove satisfactory and he abandoned the effort in 1878 . He was a
carpenter by vocation, so he returned to that trade . He built the first courthouse building in
Oysterville in 1872 and also the schoolhouse there . Later he bought the John Crellin
Donation Land Claim and platted the town of Nahcotta . Mrs . Trondsen said her father was
the one who really named the town . John Paul lived there until the 191 Os . It was said that
he had a good time with all his money because he had no one to leave it to . (John Paul was
married but he evidently had no children . His wife's name was Mary - Editor .)
John L. Wiegardt added a few facts to the record concerning John Paul . He said that
the first records of the cranberry industry were kept on old shakes . The Dye family (County
Assessor records show that the Dye family owned property near John Paul - Editor) inherited these records and took them to their place where they were stored in an old chest in
a cabin . The cabin fell down and the shakes were lost to history . Mrs . Dye said 1878 was
the last recorded date on the shakes .
52
The Ilwaco Cranberry Company
from a pamphlet by John W. Howerton
Editor's Note : The West Coast cranberry industry has experienced several brief periods of stagnation
during its first 100 years. The first such period occurred between 1895 and 1910 . The Pacific Journal
(Ilwaco), Observer (Chinook), and South Bend Journal wrote of the county harvest n glowing terms
during those years, but the fact remained that production was down . There were fewer than half a
dozen growers n coastal Washington and Oregon n 1900 harvesting a marketable product and their
annual crop was seldom over 3,000 barrels . Ten years later, the number of farmers had not increased
and the annual harvest was between 2,000 and 2,500 barrels . The factors deterring development of
the industry have already been noted n other stories n this issue .
There have also been periods during the first 100 years when the industry boomed . These booms
happened at intervals between 1910 and the mid-1960s . During the 1960s, new products, marketing
techniques, and better methods of cultivation stabilized the industry and freed farmers from the "feast
or famine" cycle.
The first of the cyclical booms occurred after 1910 n response to the promotional methods of
cranberry syndicates or corporations . Most of these syndicates were organized by businessmen living
outside Pacific County. Their promotional pamphlets said otherwise, but n truth, they had little interest n the cultivation of cranberries . They employed salesmen to do one thing - sell corporation
real estate holdings. Once their holdings were sold, the syndicates usually divested themselves of any
further interest n the industry .
A few of the syndicates were established by local businessmen . Their interest n the development
of the industry was more honorable, if only because their reputations n the community depended on
a personal commitment. Their promotional methods varied little from those of the out-of-county syndicates, however .
The Ilwaco Cranberry Company was one of the local cranberry syndicates . It was incorporated
under the laws of Washington State n December 1914 . Prominent among the officers, directors, and
stockholders were such men as: Dr. Lee W . Paul, physician and Mayor of Ilwaco ; Robert M . Watson,
owner and editor of the Pacific Tribune; Ernest F . Saylor, President of the North Shore Light and
Power Company ; R .S . Jennings, accountant and train dispatcher for the Oregon, Washington
Railroad and Navigation Company ; George Clark, North Jetty builder ; and John W . Howerton, proprietor of the Sprague Hotel and real estate dealer . Mr . Howerton was the company secretary and chief
salesman . His office was located n the one-story Cranberry Exchange Building n downtown Ilwaco .
The purpose for which the Ilwaco company was formed was stated n the articles of incorporation .
The articles said that the officers and directors were engaged n developing, planting, harvesting, canning, and marketing cranberries. . ."in every legitimate manner within their power, that the growing of
cranberries may develop into one of the leading agricultural industries n the State ." n plan language
this meant the company had purchased hundreds of acres of marshland, subdivided it into varied
sizes for re-sale, would provide experts who would teach "clean cultural methods", had bog foremen
to tend the land, and, if necessary, would harvest and market the berries for investors .
The promotional efforts of the cranberry syndicates n the 1910s were rewarded with immediate
success . Land sales boomed the ndustry . By 1919, the U .S . Bureau of
the Census published figures showing
that the number of Washington
.
growers (most were n Pacific County)
11-WA
had Increased from 4 n 1909 to 38,
CRANBERRY EXCHANGE
and the number of acres harvested
iLWACO GRANBF'ftR' %O'fp-ANV-°
had multiplied from 5 to 306 . This
ILWACO REALTY A" INVESTMENT j .
boom was short-lived, though, and
MERGES A- M°_NARY COMPANY
ended around 1920. The sale of
CTba HOLMAN TRACT] .
marshland declined when growers
J. W . F10WERT ON .
reported that the "clean cultural
methods" advocated by the syndicates
were no match for the pests plaguing
their bogs . Between 1917 and 1922,
growers reported annual crop losses of
40 to 75 per cent. It was the end of
most syndicates, the Ilwaco Cranberry
Company among them .
The following excerpts are from
an Ilwaco Cranberry Company pamphlet penned by John W . Howerton n
1915 . Mr . Howerton was enthusiastic
-a photo from a promotional pamphlet by Ilwaco Cranberry Co.,
about his new company and
used courtesy of Coastal Washington Research Station
sometimes embellished the available
The Ilwaco Cranberry Company sales office
facts .
n Ilwaco about 1915 .
53
The Development and Growing of Cranberries
The growing of cranberries on this Peninsula is no longer an experiment . We have
passed the experimental stage . We are growing commercial cranberries profitably . We have
never had a failure nor a short crop .
On this Peninsula there are approximately 3000 acres of peat bog adapted to
cranberry culture, of which, 600 acres are now planted to vines . The four year old bearing
bogs yielded last year (1914) 150 barrels per acre, and the growers received for their crop
an average of $9 .00 per barrel, finding a ready market among the Pacific Coast consumers .
With increased development and planting at the same ratio not a long time will pass before
our marshes will be producing cranberries equal in quantity and superior in quality to many
of the older cranberry producing states .
Cranberry growing commercially is in its infancy, the entire crop of the country when
judiciously handled never having been sufficient to supply the demand for even a short
season .
In reviewing the phenomenal yield of the bearing bogs on this Peninsula for the year
1913 and 1914 we are convinced that there is no crop in this or any other country that the
soil can produce that will yield larger profits per acre, or that will give more certain results,
than the growing of cranberries under clean cultural methods ; furthermore, the culture of
cranberries is not only remunerative but at the same time interesting .
The man who wants big profits from his marsh must devote the combined energy of
capital, scientific knowledge and perfect natural resources .
As the cranberry propagates itself naturally a cranberry bog once established and
cultivated under clean cultural methods may be expected to yield indefinitely .
The growing of cranberries commercially is one of the most intensive forms of horticulture, and like most intensive forms of small fruit raising it requires very large investments per acre . It differs from most other small fruit industries in that it brings little or no
returns until the third season, when a quarter crop is usually secured ; for this reason it is
very essential that great care be taken to select a suitable location where soil and climatic
conditions are congenial to the plant .
Estimated cost of establishing a cranberry bog in four years (scalping, sanding, planting, weeding and spraying) is $615 .00 per acre . Estimated cost of picking and marketing
170 barrels (at the end of the initial growing period of four years and eight months), at
$2 .50 per bbl ., is $425 .00 . Total disbursement at end of initial growing period is
$1040 .00 . Estimated receipts at the end of initial growing period for 170 bbls ., at $9 .00
per bbl ., is $1530 .00 . Total net profit $490 .00 .
This estimate however does not include the cost of the land, buildings, equipments and
other improvements necessary to maintain and conduct the cranberry marsh under clean
cultural conditions .
Land in its undeveloped state can now be bought in tracts of forty or more acres, and in
subdivided tracts of five to twenty acres with drainage privileges and ditches at prices ranging from $200 to $350 per acre . The selling price depends largely upon the locations, surroundings, drainage privileges and conditions of accessibility to Ilwaco, the trade center and
shipping point of this Peninsula .
Cranberry bogs when once established under clean cultural conditions are practically
perpetual ; they do not have to be replanted . The only cost of maintenance, is in keeping the
ditches cleaned out and repaired . A partial resanding, with a light sprinkling of sand, may be
54
necessary about every seven or ten years, spraying and trimming or thinning the vines is
necessary . The cuttings therefrom find a ready sale to planters at eleven cents a pound .
The within statements of the cost of developing a cranberry marsh to the point of production may appear to the reader to be beyond the reach of a man with limited means, but
not so .
All things have a beginning, most all enterprises, whether agricultural, industrial or
educational that have achieved greatness sprang from meager beginnings, and the degree
of success attained, is due absolutely to the energy, efficiency and untiring fidelity of those
entrusted with its care .
Cranberry lands like most other types of agricultural lands can be bought on the partial
payment plan by paying a portion of the purchase price in cash, the balance can be paid in
monthly or annual installments with interest on deferred payments at the rate of six percent .
The Cranberry Yield in 1915
Reports just received from several bogs where picking is completed, show the yield for
this year 1915 to be as follows :
Murdock's bogs . 2 1/2 year old vines, 2 acres 15 bbls.
Cooper's bog . 5 year old vines, 112 acre47 bbls .
MacAfee's bogs . 4 year old vines, 2 acres93 bbls .
Davis' bog . 6 year old vines, 1 acre101 bbls .
Moore's bogs, 6 year old vines, 1 3/a acres98 bbls .
Holtz's bogs . 3 to 6 year old vines, ave . per acre100 bbls .
Williams' bogs . 2V year old vines, 10 acres90 bbls .
Williams' farm, called Cranmoor, comprises 440 acres . It was planted within the last
three consecutive years and shows a remarkable healthy growth, 10 acres of the 2'/z year
old vines produced 90 barrels .
From 600 acres now planted to vines, all of which will be full bearing in 1919-20, this
district should produce approximately 60 .000 barrels of cranberries and the returns from
which should reach the half million dollar mark, to harvest the crop will require the services
of a small army of pickers .
W .C . Morden : Cranberry Grower
W .C . Morden, cranberry grower and rancher, residing about two miles north of Ilwaco,
deposeth and says, that from cranberry vines planted by him in the month of April, 1910
(being four year old vines) he picked 155 barrels of marketable cranberries of 96/100ths
of an acre of cranberry bog, as per measurement made by Dr . Lee W . Paul and others, and
that he received an average price of $9 .00 a barrel for same .
In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal the day and year of December
7, 1914, signed W .C . Morden . Sworn to and subscribed before me, J .J . Brumbach, notary
public in and for the State of Washington, residing at Ilwaco, County of Pacific .
After harvesting the above cranberry crop, W .C . Morden sold from his bog to other
planters clippings amounting to $535 .00 .
Cutting and selling clippings from matured bogs reduces the yield the following year
about V3, hence, the yield for 1915 from 5 and 6 year old bogs from which cuttings were
sold last winter show a decrease in this year's crop of about '/s below the average .
55
D .J . Crowley
and The Cranberry Research Station
by Larry Weathers
Editor's Note: D .J . Crowley, known as Jim, died on June 9, 1978, at Ocean Beach Hospital, Ilwaco . He
had been a resident of the peninsula since 1922 . Throughout his adult life he had worked diligently to
eradicate the problems facing cranberry farmers of coastal Washington and Oregon : a span of over 50
years . At the time of his death he was 88, a noted pioneer In the Industry, and an acknowledged expert
in the development and growth of cranberries . He had been the Director of the Cranberry Research
Station at Long Beach for 30 years .
Information for this story was acquired from several sources . Ruth Crowley, Jim's widow, and Lee
Crowley, their son, allowed me personal interviews at the family home on Pioneer Road on October
28, and November 8, 1983 . Azmi Shawa and Edie Shire of the Coastal Washington Research and Extension Unit at Long Beach answered my questions and provided me with background information
concerning the station and cranberry industry . Articles in the Long Beach newspaper Chinook
Observer and the Seattle Times furnished biographical background for both Jim Crowley and the industry .
-a family photo used courtesy of Ruth Crowley
D.J . Crowley displaying cranberries at the Cranberry Research Station on Pioneer Road
in 1944 .
56
Daniel James Murray Crowley was born in Ireland on September 13, 1889 . He came
to America at the age of 17 in 1906 . During World War I he enlisted in the army and
served with the 90th Division in four major engagements in France . He became a naturalized citizen three months after joining the army . Following his discharge as a Sergeant First
Class on June 24, 1919, he enrolled at the State College of Washington (now Washington
State University) in plant pathology . He married Ruth Lindsey on August 27, 1920, while
both were students at Pullman .
Jim Crowley first came to the peninsula for three months in the summer of 1922
before entering his senior year at Pullman . He had been chosen by the college to answer an
appeal for help from cranberry growers on the coast . Growers had been losing upwards of
forty percent of their annual crop to a variety of causes since 1917 and wanted assistance
from specialists in plant disease . An earlier cooperative investigation 1918-1919 by the
State College and United States Bureau of Entomology had recommended solutions but
none of them had significantly reduced losses .
During the summer of 1922 Jim visited all of the cranberry farmers on the Peninsula,
studied their problems, and read all available information on the industry . In the end he
decided that the problems of the industry were not insurmountable and returned to Pullman
in the fall to make his report . Many of his colleagues at the college were not as certain as he
that the problems of the farmers could be solved, but they made plans to return him to the
coast in 1923 . He received his B .S . and was allowed to graduate early in his senior year .
Part of the reason Jim was allowed to return to the coast and pursue his investigations
was due to the sudden availability of funds . In 1923, Ilwaco banker Percy L . Sinclair (who
had become a State Senator in 1918) championed the interests of the cranberry farmers in
his district and was instrumental in getting the Legislature to appropriate, $9,000 for
research in cranberries and blueberries by the State College of Washington . The college
used the money to set up a Cranberry Investigations Laboratory at Long Beach with Jim in
charge as a Specialist in Cranberry Investigations . He was made Director of the station in
1924 .
When Jim returned to the Peninsula in the spring of 1923 he brought his wife Ruth
and infant son with him . Ruth Crowley remembers that the family took a steamer from
Portland to Astoria, a ferry from Astoria to Megler, and then rode the Ilwaco railroad from
Megler to Black Lake north of Ilwaco . They got off the train at the cranberry farm of H .M .
Williams, known as Cranmoor, where they were greeted by the recently widowed Mrs .
Williams . They lived at Cranmoor all that summer with Mrs . Williams. When fall arrived
Ruth returned to Pullman to put her affairs there in order . She was a third-year student with
intentions of becoming a teacher, but had decided not to finish so that she could be with her
husband . "Raising a family in those days meant quitting school," she said recently .
Ruth Crowley returned to the Peninsula the following year to find that Jim had purchased a house for them in Seaview . They lived there for a year until it was flooded and they
decided to move . The next house they purchased was on Washington Street in Long
Beach where they eventually raised eight children . Each of them attended the grade school
in Long Beach and graduated from Ilwaco High School . Ruth says she started teaching her
children before they attended the first grade and a couple of them were allowed to pass into
the second grade without attending the first .
Jim Crowley's work among the cranberry bogs of the Peninsula commenced the day
he got off the train at Cranmoor . Ruth says they had no car in the early years, so Jim had to
make his inspection tours by foot most of the time . His inspections took him from Ilwaco to
Oysterville, a round trip of nearly forty miles . There was no laboratory building so he used
an old shed on his property . He conducted his tests with equipment that he often built
himself, on patches of bog loaned him by farmers .
The frequent inspection tours convinced Jim that the Peninsula's climate and peat soil
57
were ideal for commercial cranberry raising . The lack of reliable scientific information concerning proper cultivation, however, meant that he had to start from scratch to solve the
problems plaguing the farmers . He spent his days, and many sleepless nights, collecting
and evaluating data from the test bogs .
Jim's work was made easier following the 1924-25 fiscal year when Pacific County
contributed 11 acres of marshland to the college for an actual station site at Long Beach .
The acreage was donated on a long-term renewable lease for $1 a year . The site, which was
chosen by Jim, was located on the north side of Pioneer road . It provided him with peat soil
for the establishment of test bogs in a central location and eliminated much of the travelling
he was doing . There was still no money for the construction of buildings, so he continued
to use an old shed for his laboratory . The bookkeeping and report writing was done at his
home . Ruth functioned as his unpaid secretary .
Control of cranberry pests and diseases, and improvement of annual crop yields, were
Jim's main concern throughout his tenure as Director of the station . Initially, his experimen
.taHeiofnsuwdrhmtceaoswruifngchemalspry
sprays but they were applying them in an indiscriminate manner to no good purpose . His
tests and observations eventually led him to the conclusion that the degree of success attained with a spray depended on applying it at the correct time and in doing a thorough and
careful job . Farmers who followed his spraying program soon found themselves with fewer
problems .
Perhaps Jim's greatest contribution to horticulture was in the area of frost injury
prevention . In February 1929 he wrote a forty-seven page bulletin for the college concerning his cranberry investigations in which he reported that spraying programs reduced the
numbers of insects, weeds, and diseases afflicting growers but they did nothing to prevent
frost injury . He felt that Peninsula bogs were especially susceptible to this damage, and that
it was the major cause of low yields or total crop loss . He also reported that methods for
combating frost, such as the use of smudge pots, were ineffectual . Smudge pots with their
rising heat had no effect on low-growing cranberry vines . His report indicated that he was
-a Chinook Observer photo
The office of Coastal Washington Research and Extension Unit on Pioneer Road . The
station was established in 1923 . The office building was built in 1948 .
58
experimenting with various methods of combating frost injury .
Jim finally made a recommendation for the prevention of frost damage during the midthirties . It was made after successfully experimenting with a sprinkling system he had installed at the station, and was based on what his physics professor had taught him about
water turning into ice and releasing heat . While he had a hard time convincing growers that
freezing water gives off heat, and thus protects vines and berries from freezing, his successes at the station eventually won them over to the idea . Sprinkler systems are now standard equipment for commercial cranberry growers and other fruit growers throughout the
world .
Establishment of the station on Pioneer road also allowed Jim the opportunity to test
other varieties of cranberries in Peninsula peat soil . Most Peninsula farmers were growing
an eastern variety known as the McFarlin, but at the station plantations of several varieties
were made . Over a period of 15 years, Jim assisted in the development of a variety
designated as W .S .U . 72 . By vote of the growers in 1970 it is now called the Crowley in
his honor . It is particularly adapted to conditions in Oregon where it is a big producer . In
1983, Washington crops were 97% McFarlin, 2 3/4% Stevens, and 1/4% Crowley.
The county land on Pioneer road was finally deeded to the State College of
Washington in 1948 . An office building was constructed and the facility was officially
named the Cranberry-Blueberry Experiment Station . Ruth was recognized by the college as
the station secretary and paid $1 a day for her work . The same year, the Crowley's built a
house across the road from the station and moved their family there .
Jim Crowley retired from station employment February 1, 1954, but it was not the end
of his involvement in the cultivation of cranberries . While working for the college he was
not allowed to own his own bogs, but after retirement he purchased bogs near his home
and entered the business for himself . His son Lee still tends the family enterprise .
In 1965 a name change was made at the research station and it is now known as the
Coastal Washington Research and Extension Unit . It continues to assist growers with their
problems by providing technical advice, conducting experiments, and providing
Cooperative Extension Services . The station grounds total 41 acres but only a portion are
planted and used for tests . The facility is supported by Washington State University and the
U .S . Department of Agriculture .
This year marks the 60th anniversary of the establishment of the station . The only
other cranberry research station like it exists in Wareham, Massachusetts .
Ocean Spray Cranberries, Inc .
excerpts from CRANBERRIES magazine
Editor's Note : The cranberry farmers cooperative Ocean Spray Cranberries, Inc ., is celebrating its
53rd Anniversary in 1983 . The excerpts below are from a story which appeared in Cranberries : The
National Cranberry Magazine, August 1980, for the 50th Anniversary of the cooperative .
Ocean Spray has several processing plants on the Atlantic Coast and in the Midwest but there is
only one plant in the West . It is located at Markham in Grays Harbor County on Highway 105 between
Westport and Aberdeen . Smaller receiving stations are located on the Long Beach Peninsula, Bandon, Oregon, and British Columbia . All West Coast cranberry growers belonging to the Ocean Spray
co-op (235 in 1983) send their crops to the Markham plant .
The first cannery at Markham was built by a local association of Grays Harbor-Pacific growers to
process and market their berries . In 1941 the cannery burned down, was rebuilt, and the growers
joined the Cranberry Canners Company . Additions were added to the old cannery at Markham in
1968 and 1981 .
The year was 1930 .
It was a year that was to have a significant impact on "the ruby of the bog ."
59
On August 14, 1930, was born Cranberry Canners, Inc ., a cooperative created from
the merger of Ocean Spray Preserving Company of South Hanson, Massachusetts, the
A .D . Makepeace Company of Wareham, Massachusetts, and Cranberry Products, Inc ., of
New Egypt, New Jersey . Cranberry Canners later became the National Cranberry Association (1946) and, finally, Ocean Spray Cranberries, Inc . (1959) .
The original Ocean Spray Cape Cod Cranberry Sauce, "strained and sweetened," and
first packed in cans in Hanson, Massachusetts in 1912, was the source for the name of the
cooperative that has stuck to this day . The sauce had been developed by Marcus L . Urann,
a Boston lawyer who, in his spare time, had begun buying up cranberry bogs in Plymouth
County . A resolute, hard driving pragmatist, who combined industry with enterprise, Urann
became bilious at the sight of fresh berries rotting in the sun for want of a market . Hence,
the idea of processing the berry into sauce .
Urann invented the recipe, stirred the first batch, designed the label, canned the product and sold it . He became the first president of Cranberry Canners in 1930, a post he
held until his retirement in 1955 .
The marketing of processed berries - the brainchild of Urann - dovetailed well with a
growing interest among women in prepared foods in order to reduce household chores and
pursue jobs and interest outside the home .
Ocean Spray Cranberries, (is) now some 700 members strong in the U .S . and Canada
. . .with plants throughout the U .S . . . .
As is the case with all major business ventures, existence for Ocean Spray hasn't been
all smooth sailing . First of all, there were conflicts among the early parties to the merger, as
well as later joiners . Government agencies have poked, probed and prodded the
cooperative in search for anti-trust violations .
Although he had been in grave doubts about the cooperative surviving its first year,
John R . Quarles, the original counsel for the cooperative and its unofficial historian, once
suggested that Ocean Spray thrived because it gave "attention to finding special ways to
help the growers and advance the industry generally ."
Following a period of excess supply and lessened demand - largely a result of the
notorious "cranberry scare" of 1959 - the cooperative took a number of steps to revive
the industry, including a host of new products, an improvement of existing products,
modernized production, an aggressive marketing program and strong emphasis on
research and development and quality control .
Among other more recent highlights in the history of Ocean Spray has been the inclusion of grapefruit growers in the cooperative starting in 1976 .
The cranberry cooperative was ranked 86th in Fortune magazine's listing of the top
U .S . food manufacturing companies . . .
Emphasis in the 1 980s is on further growth .
Errata
Editor's Note : From time to time The Sou'wester prints erroneous dates, spellings, and directions . We
regret making the following errors .
The Sou'wester, Volume XVIII, Number 1, Spring 1983
The photo caption in the upper right corner of page 5 should read, "Daniel M . Nupp
at home in his Morris chair ." The word Morris was misspelled . The name of the chair
comes from William Morris who popularized it . It was a large armchair with an adjustable
back and removable cushions .
The photo caption in the lower right corner of page 7 should read, "The Garden
Tracts home of the Nupp family . Ruth, Dorothy, Donald, and Ruby Nupp with the family
pet ." The name Helen should not have been in the caption .
60