Historic Hood River
Spraying
10-2-2020
Notes
I’ve noticed a lot of spraying at local orchards lately. Here’s Bruno Hukari in the late 1930’s or early 1940s applying treatment to what I believe are apple trees. Hopefully it’s not something too toxic, because his only PPE seems to be a hat.
Bruno Hukari died in 2004, just short of his 93rd birthday. He was one of three men who set up an airport in a cow pasture at what is now Ken Jernstedt Airfield, and was also a founding member of West Side Fire Department. You can read his full obituary here.
Jim Gray
looks like he is using the Windmaster Spray Gun
Charlott
That was the era of DDT and a number of other very toxic sprays that were used. He is very typically dressed for spraying during that time frame. My grandfather had a stationery sprayer where he mixed the spray and my Dad and uncle were down in the orchard where the metal pipes ran overhead with a facet every so often where they hooked their old heavy black hoses in. It was all gravity fed to them. I used to spend the day with Grandpa at the sprayer site, playing around in all the bags and bottles of spray, thinking nothing of it, while he mixed tank after tank of whatever type of spray was being applied. Used to smell like rotten eggs after being around the lime and sulphur they sometimes used. I have a friend who said when he was old enough to spray and it was hot he would even take his t shirt off and spray DDT.
Kyle
Ye gods…
L.E.
My parents had a feed store for a few years. My mom said they would get DDT in bulk and she would sack it up into smaller weight bags. It might not be toxic in that form, but she used no protection such as gloves or mask.
RHD
Definitely a Windmaster Sprayer. Built right in Hood River across from what is now Windmaster Market.
ArthurB
We have a Windmaster spray handle in the museum collection.
nels
Interesting information about human contact with DDT being that it was used for disinfecting humans ‘en mass’ to kill body lice,fleas, bed bugs.etc. And the fact that it nearly decimated raptors by causing fragile egg shells. And then use in orchards. I don’t hear of human reproductive concerns, and this local information carries that out.
Albert Duddles
He is using a Windmaster spray gun invented by one of the Hukari’s but I don’t think it was Bruno that invented. The shop set on the corner that is now named after the spray gun ( Windmaster Corner ). Hukari’s also made an orchard trailer there.