History Corner

In the early 1950s the Mesa cannery produced 47,000 cans of applesauce a day.

The following paragraphs come from the Adams County Leader, November 21, 1952.

“Applesauce is again being packed at Mesa Orchards on its continuous canning line. The plant has a capacity for 3 ½ tons of finished canned sauce an hour. As soon as the fresh apples are all packed, the cannery will be on a two-shift 18-hour daily schedule. In this modern cannery where the applesauce is processed continuously, only 8 minutes elapse from the time the apples are started on their way until the lid is sealed on the can.

“During this time, the four varieties of apples are blended to make a consistent high flavored , properly balanced acid and sugar combination have been peeled, cored, inspected, sliced, cooked filled into the can, and sealed. About 60 individuals per shift are required to maintain this production line.

“Each peeler operates a bank of 3 machines from which the peeled apples pass through chutes to the inspectors who trim the bruises, skins, and other defects. The apples are flumed in a diluted salt solution to prevent ‘browning’ to a dewatering water reel where they are washed prior to being elevated to the slicer. They are further inspected before they drop into the continuous cooker where they are mixed with the proper amount of sugar. This cooker is fed by 90 lbs. of steam through 45 small steam jets located in the bottom and lower sides of the cooker. During the 3 minutes the apple is passing through the cooker, it has been mixed with sugar in the proper proportions and its temperature raised to the boiling point.

“The cooked apples are discharged into a paddle type pulper where the sauce is forced through a stainless steel screen and discharged over an inclined tray into a 200 gallon holding tank. Four girls, using a modified milking machine, suck off the last defects that might have escaped the previous inspectors.

“From the holding tank, it is pumped continuously through a pre-heater which maintains the sauce at a proper filling temperature. When this temperature is reached, valves open automatically and discharge the pulp into a 5 nozzle filler. Cans passing through this filler continue through to the sealing machine at a rate of 125 per minute. From the sealer, the cans are automatically inverted and are held 3 ½ minutes to complete their sterilization before they are cooled to 100 degrees, where at this temperature they are conveyed to the storage warehouse and continuously labeled.

“The Northwest Canner Convention has acclaimed Mesa Applesauce as tops among all those packed in the Northwest. Visitors are always welcome to view this operation.”

Adams County Leader, September 4, 1953: “Virgil Seiple of the Mesa Company reports this week that one of the largest pear crops ever to be grown by the Company is now ready to pick. Pickers are needed and will start Saturday Sept. 5th and will work the 6th and 7th. There will be about 10 days picking with pickers getting 12c a box.”

At the very end of 1954 the Mesa orchards were sold again. The January 14, 1955 Leader said:

“The Mesa Company has sold its 3,500 acre ranch to Bryan Ball, formerly of Dillon, Montana, and a large Montana livestock and ranch operator who is now making his home at Mesa, Idaho. A.H. Burroughs, Jr., Boise, the former owner, said the sale included all livestock, fruit packing and processing plants, including canning plant where Mesa-M Brand apple sauce is produced, farm and orchard equipment and other personal property, including the ‘Mesa-M’ Trade Mark.

“A number of years ago Mesa Orchards consisted of approximately 1,500 acres of fully planted apple orchard all in one tract, and was at that time the largest apple orchard in the world in one tract, under one management. A large part of the old orchard has since been pulled and now consists of about 650 acres of old apple orchard, 20 acres of old pear orchard and 160 acres of young orchard consisting of approximately 60 acres of pears, 40 acres of peaches, 40 acres of apples and 10 acres of prunes.

“It is understood that Carroll W. Farmer, formerly of Sebastapol, California, and well known in the California canning industry, has leased the Mesa Cannery and expects to shortly start production by his Farmer-Dell Products, Inc. of Mesa-M Brand apple sauce from apples largely coming from the State of Washington, as Burroughs reports having previously sold most of the Mesa 1954 apple crop in the fresh market.

“No price was announced but it is known that the sale was made subject to a $90,000.00 real estate mortgage held by Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance Company.”

A month later the Leader reported that Farmer was “operating the cannery under the name of Farmer-Dell Products, Inc, a corporation of the State of Idaho. A test run of the plant has just been completed.” By the end of May 1955 the cannery employed 50 workers.

Continued next week.

‍