Historic Hood River
Steam Sprayer
2-20-2019
Notes
This is a good example of a steam powered sprayer for orchard use. The boiler was a “Little Giant.” I’ll bet it was a challenge to keep this apparatus working. Anything with two pressure gauges, two belts, multiple valves and an oil can has to be fun.
We don’t know whose orchard this was or the year, but those are apples.
That flare at the bottom of the image looks like a “light leak” in the camera.
Ellen
Related to Arthur’s post…David Burkhart’s great book on the Hood River Valley fruit industry, "It All Began With Apple Seeds" did not come with an index. I know Dave was ill at the time and just wanted to get the book finished. A couple of years ago, for my own reference, I created a People Index. I gave a copy of that index to the History Museum in case anyone else was doing research. Would be helpful to have a Subject Index but I never found the time.
Charlott
Appears this was a two man sprayer, as two hoses coming out so two rows could be sprayed at one time. My thought is that this would only be effective on smaller trees, as doesn’t seem powerful enough to reach much higher.
What I noticed in this photo is how flat and plowed that orchard seems to be.
My great-grandfather had one that must have looked somewhat like this. The bottom portion with the wheels is still in the family, as a yard ornament. Most people don’t even know what it once was.
nels
Any idea what they used for spray? That must have been pre DDT.
Arthur
We know they used a chemical called "Corona Dry" which was lead arsenate to treat coddling moth. They used stuff like lime sulfur which is still used as a dormant spray.
Jeffrey W Bryant
Hood River even had a spray manufacturing company around 1911-13.
nels
OK, now I remember. The late Ron Stewart who started one of the early organic orchards as well as the HR Organics products which his sons run, once told of the arsenic and lead spray. His humorous comment was, ‘if the govt. knew they’d make us all put chain link fences around the orchards.’ He said that that same solution was also applied via overhead spray pipe systems.
Charlott
Lots of lime and sulphur when I was a kid. Smelled like eggs and the spray person was usually sort of green. Arsenic and lead also well remembered as the good old DDT. Grandpa had over head spray lines and there were places to hook in those old horrble heavy black hoses that my Dad and Uncle Ken dragged all over that orchard.
Ben
Love to see horse power. The lead and arsenic are still in the soil, as well as the ddt. When we were buying property we did multiple soil tests on various pieces of land and were discouraged to find very contaminated soil in the valley.
Jack Sheppard
There was a steam powered sprayer on the Plog place north of Odell. The pump turned up at Gehrig’s Chevron station about 50 years ago. Frederic brought it in and they were running it on compressed air. Boiler and wagon were long gone.