The following is an excerpt from “A History of Leelanau Township by the Leelanau Township Historical Writers, first published in 1982.
George Mathews came from England in 1878 and settled on the present Kitchen farm on Kitchen Road. Early records state that he was a fruit grower. Years ago there was a large apple orchard on his farm; some trees still remain.
Charles R. Thomas, who celebrated his 90th birthday in 1981, recalled the apple orchards in the early days. He tells of his uncle Joseph’s large orchard with a variety of apples located in the Christmas Cove-DeLong area.
“Apples were package in barrels. I can remember watching the cooper set up a barrel around a master hoop, putting the barrel over a hot metal drum to expand it so he could fit in the top and bottom.
The cooper shop was on the approach of Kehl’s Dock at the foot of Nagonaba Street. Apples were shipped by boat to Chicago commission men who, when sending payment of a low price (often not enough to pay for the barrels and the freight, said the fruit was over-ripe.”
Cooper shops were located in out buildings on a few farms that had large orchards. Some of the orchards included those of Charles A. Nelson and Steiner C. Garthe. On the Garthe farm they had purchased barrels in September 1907 and paid $3.50 for 10 barrels.
After the arrival of the railroad in 1903 apples were shipped by the carload, mostly handled in bulk carloads of barrels. Baskets packed with ring-faced tops were shipped in refrigerator cars. In the early 1900s growers sold cider apples to Kehl Brothers.
The John C. Morgan Company operated fruit boats on the Bay around 1915 and picked apples at Northport and Omena. Apples for cider were delivered in bins to the dock and sluiced into a hold half filled with water and transported sloshing around in the water on their way to the cider press in Traverse City.
Later when trucking became the way of transportation they were hauled to Traverse City by growers. For a number of years some growers hauled and marketed their own fruit, going to the Upper Peninsula, Detroit and Chicago. Then independent truckers, such as Bill Doorn, Sam Skaff and Ed Fryzelka, started coming for fruit to put on the markets in Benton Harbor, Bay City or Grand Rapids.
Markets for apples at the present time are: Cherry Growers, Inc. Triple-D Orchards, Inc., The Leelanau Fruit Company, Gerber Products Company and growers selling directly to individuals.
The apples planted in earlier years were of the standard variety taking high ladders to get the tops picked and packers were paid by the bushel — 10 cents. This has changed in recent years and now they are paid by the box which holds 18 bushels. The usual rate for picking a box is $9 or $10. Mechanical harvester may be used also.
Apples were the first commercial fruit crop to be grown in the township until around 1912 when they began to be replaced by cherry trees. In the last 20 years though, apples have been making a comeback in the semidwarf size. Some popular varieties today are Macoun, Ida Red, Northern and Red Spy and the Red and Yellow Delicious.
