Location of Kittitas County, Washington

Kittitas County lies in the heart of Washington State. It is situated 100 miles southeast of Seattle and 30 miles west of the Columbia River on the eastern slopes of the Cascade Mountains. Kittitas Valley lies within the north-south corridor which produces much of Washington State's apple, pear and soft fruit crops. This fruit producing region extends from Canada south through Washington and into Oregon. It includes the major fruit producing areas of Okanogan, Wenatchee, Columbia Basin, and Kittitas and Yakima valleys. The City of Ellensburg is the County Seat.   The Kittitas County is situated between Chelan and Douglas Counties to the north with their famous apple growing regions and Yakima County to the south which is also renowned for fruit production. Fruit production in Kittitas Valley began on a commercial scale after the completion of the Cascade Canal in 1903 which opened up 12,500 acres east of the Yakima River for irrigated agriculture. By 1910 there were 38,244 apple trees and 3,167 pear trees in the Kittitas Valley and fruit trees continued to be planted through the 1920's. By 1930 the Kittitas Valley had nearly 100,000 apple trees and more than 4,000 pear trees producing fruit on an estimated 832 acres.   Kittitas County Mountain and Valley View Property Available. Click for more information Early Orchard Sites Selected The earliest homestead orchards were established on the valley floor near the city of Ellensburg where they experienced poor production and limited success. It was soon determined that the southern slopes of the hills that rimmed the valley were much better suited for commercial fruit production than the comparatively colder valley floor. The southeastern hillside area of the Kittitas Valley where successful orchards were established, was known as Edgemont-Thrall and the far southeastern corner of the valley was Badger Pocket. Click for pictures of our orchards as they appear today - Summer 2001  Summer 2000 Allocation of water from the Cascade Canal limited the location of orchards in the early 1900's since it brought water primarily to land on the valley floor. Thus, orchards planted prior to the 1930's were often situated in places with poor air drainage. However, some orchards planted at higher elevations in the Edgemont-Thrall district between 1906 and 1908 are still producing commercial fruit crops. This area is situated below the Cascade Canal but on the north facing Manastash slope with sufficient elevation to facilitate air drainage. According to the May 1908 edition of The Coast,  Ellensburg (population 5,200 at that time) had "three banks, schools, churches, hotels, newspapers, public reading room and library, good water supply, paid fire department, a fine theatre, electric lights, telephones, steam heated dwellings, and public buildings." (Click to see the City of Ellensburg today)

In the spirit of optimism and expansion, orchard tracts in Badger Pocket were advertised in this regional magazine. S.W. Maxey, local pioneer horticulturist, wrote in The Coast: Thirty years ago it was said that we could not grow apples in the Kittitas Valley; that it was too cold and bleak. However, a few lovers of fruit ventured to put out some fruit trees. One by one they made the venture and in each case found it a decided fact that this county was second to none as a wonderful apple growing section...Kittitas County apples have been tested side by side with the apples grown in the great apple growing region of Ontario, Canada, and found to be equal in flavor and keeping quality. Place variety after variety side by side and the same variety raised here will be much larger and better developed than the same variety of Ontario apples. Click for more from The Coast, Alaska and Greater Northwest, Vol. 15 No. 5, May 1908

Area newspapers covered the story of local fruit production. A headline in The Evening Localizer on February 1, 1908 claims "Kittitas Fruit In Limelight". On February 11, 1908 the newspaper reported "Badger Pocket Fruit Concern, 80 Acres to be Planted". On March 6, 1908 a follow-up story appeared describing "Thousands of Fruit Trees Arrive for Planting".

Periodic Economic Depressions Strike the Kittitas Valley

Ellensburg Dawn, Souvenir Edition, Dec. 28, 1900, reported on the effect of the economic depression at the end of the 19th Century.

A few years ago the boom dropped out at Ellensburg and the valley was one of the quitest (sic) in the state. The people had no money and every one walked about looking forlornly along their noses, scarcely seeing any one, so engrossed were they with their unhappy thoughts of shattered hopes and evaporated fortunes. But it's different now, and the change is largely due to the advent of the creameries, an industry which is growing and increasing daily.

The Kittitas Valley rallied with the rest of the nation during the roaring twenties but was hit fairly hard by the Great Depression of the 1930's. Special Edition of The Evening Record, July 10, 1926 reported on the successes of the Kittitas Valley including the future of the High Line Canal, progress of Vantage Bridge Construction, Recent Soil Survey, Swauk Gold and 170 railroad car loads of apples and pears shipped to market. The situation had changed ten years later.

In 1932, completion of the Bureau of Reclamation's High Line Canal opened up seventy-two thousand additional acres for irrigated farms. This included land at higher elevations along the Manastash Ridge under the Pump, Gravity, and Turbine Laterals. However, fruit acreage in the Kittitas Valley began a decline about this time and continued to fall through 1964. Low fruit prices during the Depression did not cover production costs and the expanded utilization of commercial refrigeration lessened the market advantage held by Kittitas Valley fruit's superior keeping quality. New varieties of fruit trees were also being introduced, outdating many of the tree varieties which had been planted 25 to 30 years earlier and contributing to the gradual change in consumer demand for specific varieties of fruit. Growers became increasingly desperate. On October 10, 1936 a local newspaper headline shouted, "Bootlegging of Cull Apples". At that time, it was forbidden by Washington State law to sell culls except to processing plants. An inspector found eight tons of cull apples under beef carcasses in a truck on "Apple Runner" Snoqualmie Pass, which during Prohibition was known as "Rum Runner" Pass.

The water constraint on orchard production in the Kittitas Valley changed in 1932 with the completion of the Kittitas Reclamation District's High Line Canal. Seventy-two thousand additional acres were brought under irrigation at this time, including land at higher elevations along the Manastash Ridge. However, capital was not readily available for orchard development during this period.

The "dying tradition of local fruit growing" combined with generally low fruit prices, increasing costs of establishing new orchards, and the strong economic viability of existing farms of 160 to 320 acres may help to explain the continued decline of fruit acreage in the Kittitas Valley during the 1940's and 1950's even though water was available on potentially prime orchard land.

Orchard Development Rebounds in Kittitas Valley

Kittitas Valley orchards declined during the depression years, a trend that did not reverse for another thirty years. In the mid-1960's fruit acreage and production in the Kittitas Valley increased simultaneously with generally rising fruit prices, development of improved fruit varieties and changed cultural practices which produced higher yields per unit of land in the early years after planting.

In addition to the standard Red and Golden Delicious, Rome apples and green Bartletts and D'Anjous, Granny Smith apple plantings along the Columbia River and red pears, both Bartlett and D'Anjou, at higher elevations comprise much of the new orchards planted in the 1970's and 1980's. During the last decade of the 20th Century these trends have continued with additional plantings of Bosc and Asian pear varieties. According to the 1997 Census of Agriculture, Kittitas County land in orchards consisted of 1,265 acres in 1992 and 2,204 acres in 1997.

Places of Interest in Kittitas County

Vantage, Washington

Douglas fir log, completely fossilized at Ginkgo State Park near Vantage. Photographer: Asahel Curtis, ca. 1935

Kittitas County - Summary History

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