Historic Hood River
Apple Harvest
8-8-2019
Notes
Apple and pear harvest is just around the corner. This is how it was done over 100 years ago. Notes on the image observe the apples are being loaded into field lugs and the image predates the introduction of irrigation at the orchard. Image from the McIntosh collection.
Charlott
These do not appear to be very old apple trees and they don’t seem to have been pruned. Maybe that far back they didn’t prune trees.
Noticed those old iron wheels on that wagon. Just getting those horses all "suited up" for the day was an undertaking in itself. I wonder how long it took. Just wish I had of asked my Grandpa a lot of things………………..
L.E.
So much physical labor back in those days to put food in your belly and a little money in your pocket.
Ben
We have team of horses we work on our farm. Harnessing up a team takes about 10 minutes if everything goes smoothly.
nels
Those boxes are huge, maybe 40 lbs? No orchard boxes like today.
Nellie
Those lugs were used when I was growing up on our Hood River Ranch. AGA had them and that is what we picked pears into. Then they had to all be stacked on the truck and all roped down to make the trip to town. Prior to that they would have been stacked on wagons, tied down and taken via horses. Such a life….
L.E.
I grew up with boxes like these around our farm. They had my grandfather’s name stenciled on the side and were leftovers from the days of prune orchards in the Clark County.