Early Costa Mesa by Costa Mesa Historical Society

Author:Costa Mesa Historical Society
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
Published: 2011-09-22T16:00:00+00:00

George Waterman moved to the Newport Heights area in 1909 and, in the spring of 1910, founded a nursery for apple trees. He and another farmer each planted 5 acres of trees, thus establishing the first commercial orchards in the area. Apples were later to play a major role in the growth of Harper. The photograph above, taken in 1920, shows Waterman working his orchard on his International Junior 8-16 kerosene tractor.

By 1920, apples had become a major crop in Harper, with lemons in second place. Peaches, plums, and pears were favorites in home gardens. Harper apples proved to be of exceptionally fine flavor and were in great demand throughout Orange County. At first, growers sold their fruit directly to the public at their orchards. Later they would form a grower’s association and build a packinghouse. This 1920 photograph shows mature trees in the Donald Dodge orchard.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.