Historic Hood River

Notes

The first step to creating an orchard in the Upper Hood River Valley was to remove all the timber.  Then you had to remove the stumps.  Ward I. Cornell identified this land as the “Atwater and Lyons place.”  According to The Hood River Glacier, they purchased this in 1909 for $110 per acre.  That seems a little steep given how much work they needed to do!  This article says they were from New Jersey.  They cleared 5 acres in the first few months, and hoped to have 7 acres ready for trees by fall.  No matter, it looks like they flipped it in December.  They sold it to Edward Culbertson from Pennsylvania.  No mention of the sale price, but this story pretty well captures the real estate rush of that era in the Hood River Valley.

Here’s how the 1911 promotional map described the economics of orchards:

COST OF DEVELOPING AN ORCHARD.
The cost of developing an orchard varies, due to differing conditions. Briefly, it may be said to be about as follows:
Cost of clearing and putting under plow $50 to $150 per acre; trees and planting, $20 per acre; cost of plowing, cultivating, spraying and pruning necessary for proper care of orchard from time of planting up to fifth year, approximately $15 per acre per year, or a total of $60 per acre for care for first four years. In the fifth year the trees should pay all expenses of care and small return on investment. In the sixth year the crop should pay all operating expenses and an increased income. From the seventh year the income should increase rapidly. This estimate is based on an average of 20 acres and does not include the price of land. The cost on a smaller acreage might be slightly more per acre, depending upon how the tract was handled.
The average size of a Hood River apple orchard is 16 acres.

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