Historic Hood River
Koberg Pears
5-23-2019
Notes
This may not be the most exciting picture, but I learned several things from it. This is from a series of photos of the pear orchards at Koberg Beach. Where in a modern orchard the trees are pruned heavily so the branches are short and stout, in this period it seems they used branches to prop up the branches which were heavy with fruit. I’m not sure if our modern practices required different types of trees, or if modern orchardists benefit from years of trial and error. Hopefully someone who knows something about agricultural history will help us understand.
I was also surprised to see the trees running right up to the Columbia River. I had thought Koberg’s orchards were all sheltered by Stanley Rock.
Bill Seaton
In the summer of 1959, I worked for Ted and Shirley Ekker in their orchard. At that time, their pear orchard had branches that needed support. My job was to use a heavy twine to tie one branch to one on the opposite side of the tree so they would counter balance each other and that would keep them from sagging.
L.E.
When I first opened the photo, I thought, “sandy soilâ€.
Then I read the caption. I guess it is sandy soil.