California Prune and Apricot Growers

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The ‘’’California Prune and Apricot Growers’’’ (commonly known as Sunsweet) is a long-lived co-operative for prune and apricot growers. Founded in San Jose in 1917, the company adapted to changes in marketing and in the locations of the crops. The company has also handled prune and apricot-related products, including canned prunes[1], prune juice, and apricot pit oil[2]. The company is currently based in Yuba City.

The association was started in the spring of 1917. Early management included Frank Coykendall (who sold his Andrews and Coykendall Ham Company to avoid conflicts of interest) and office manager Samuel Squibb[3] (who later worked for the George E. Hyde & Company in Campbell.

The co-operative initially served only for negotiating and marketing, but relied on independent packers to actually handle the crop. For the 1917 season, the association got commitments from farmers producing 75% of that year’s crop. Forty-five packers around the state were signed up to actually handle the crop. The San Jose list includes many of the smaller dried fruit packers[4]:

…east side growers

to George Frank Fruit Company on Alum Rock, south of San Jose to O.A. Harlan on South 4th, Campbell to George Hyde & Co, Los Gatos and vicinity to Curtis Fruit, Los Gatos; Saratoga, San Tomas, and growers around Vasona to Gem City Packing, Vasona; Mountain View and growers north of Fremont Avenue including Los Altos and Mountain View to Mountain View Packing Company; Mountain View, growers south of Fremont (Ave) and others go to George Herbert on Lincoln, F.H. Holmes on 18th and Jackson, J.W Chilton on North First, Pacific Fruit PRoducts on San Carlos Street, J.B. Inderrieden, Ryland Street, Warren Dried Fruit, Ryland Street, A & C Ham, Cinnabar Street, San Jose.

Even with their large fraction of the California fruit crop, he association only sold about 47% of the total crop either because of cancelled memberships or growers secretly selling to packers.

Working with the independent packers also turned out to be challenging from a business standpoint. Packing costs varied wildly by packing house. In some cases, packers either delayed paying the association for fruit sold or underestimated the crop owned by the association. In the most obvious case, the George N. Herbert Packing Company supposedly sold a million pounds of the crop without informing the association and held on to the $100,000 in proceeds, leading to a lawsuit, a demand for a $320,000 bond, and a louder demand for the immediate return of 1.9 million pounds of prunes and 178,000 pounds of apricots which belonged to Sunsweet. "...Mr Herbert gave copies of the shipping sheets to the inspectors, so as to permit the fruit to be checked out of the packing plant, but sent only a few selected sheets thereof to the sales department so that the officers of the corporation would be unable to find out that he was liable to the corporation for the purchase of the fruit."[5]. Sunsweet grabbed the twenty-two carloads of packed fruit and 200 tons of prunes the next week[6]. As a result, the association began to make offers to buy dried fruit packing houses so they could control their own crop[7]. The company also planned to manage the selling of apricot pits[8]Sunsweet acquired 16 packing houses before the beginning of the 1918 crop[9], first one bought was the George N. Herbert Packing Company plant.

The association also created their own “field warehouses” to hold onto packed but not-yet-sold fruit. Field warehousing put the product in the hands of a separate company on paper. By having a separate public warehousing company issue warehouse receipts, the association could then borrow money against the stored fruit [10]. Sunsweet’s field warehousing subsidiary was the Growers’ Packing and Warehouse Company.

Relations were mixed with the independent packers and brokers who had previously controlled the crops. At its inception, E. N. Richmond was quoted as saying that the brokers won't try to break the prices of the growers association[11]. In 1928, the association explicitly told packers they wouldn't tolerate encouraging growers to break contracts[12] The company was also challenged by lower prices for European fruit. Frank Coykendall summarized the market and Bosnian prunes in the February 1923 Western Canner and Packer

Locations

The following locations were believed to be operated by Sunsweet. Several other plants were leased but never bought, including Plant 22 (George E. Hyde & Company, Campbell), Plant 37 (Warren E. Hyde and S. E. Johnson, Cupertino), and Plant 38 (West Side Fruit Growers' Association, Stevens Creek Road, Cupertino).

Location Plant Number Years Address Details
Brooklyn, NY Plant 43 1921-1922 Bush Terminal Docks[13]
Campbell Plant 1 1917, 1964 5 Central Avenue Former Campbell Farmers Union Packing Company.
Colusa 1922 Construction started in 1922[14][15].
Cupertino Plant 38 Stevens Creek Road West Side Fruit Growers' Association. Contract packer only?
Gilroy Plant 3 1917 - Former Gilroy Farmer's Union. In operation at least to 1958.
Healdsburg 1922 Former Sherriffs Brothers plant. Bought in 1922[16].
Hemet Plant 5 1917- Former Hemet Apricot Grower's Association[17].
Hollister Plant 9 1917- Former Hollister Packing Company.
Los Gatos Plant 7 1917-1928 Winchester Road Former Gem City Packing Company. Became Sewall_Brown_and_Company
Los Gatos Plant 13 1917 ???
Morgan Hill Plant 2 1917-1964 91 East 4th Street Former Morgan Hill Farmer's Union . Torn down 1964. Dryer in town until 1987[18].
Mountain View Plant 8 1917- 1921 Oak Street at Villa St. Former Mountain View Packing Company.
Napa 1922-? Jackson Ave[19]<February 1922 Canning Age”. Construction to begin in spring.</ref>.
Red Bluff 1922- Bought from Sanitary Fruit Company in 1922 according to July 1922 Western Canner and Packer.
San Jose 213 W. Santa Clara Street Public fruit market,
San Jose Plant 4 1921, 1926- 4th and Lewis Used for the "special carton trade"[20].
San Jose Plant 6 595 Lincoln Ave. Former George N. Herbert Packing Company.
San Jose Plant 10 1964 2670 Alum Rock Ave. Alum Rock at White.
San Jose Plant 10 Meridian Road at narrow gauge Former George Frank and Company.
San Jose Plant 11 1921, 1936, ~1960 570 Cinnabar Former Andrews and Coykendall Ham Company. built 1918.
San Jose Plant 12 1917 Former F. H. Holmes.
San Jose Plant 14 1922 405 North First Former Chilton plant. Bought in June 1922[21]
San Jose Plant 15 1917 Ryland St. Former J. B. Inderrieden.
San Jose Plant 16 1922 740 W. San Carlos Street Bought in September 1922 from Pacific Fruit Products[22].
San Jose Plant 17 1918-? Margaret and 4th Former O.C. Harlan.
San Jose Plant 7 1964 7th and Alma[23].
San Jose 1964 Market and San Fernando. Headquarters.
Santa Paula 1922 Apricot processing plant[24].
Sunnyvale Plant 41 1923, 1930 Evelyn St. at Central Ave.[25][26]
Visalia 1922 July 1922 Western Canner and Packer
Yuba City 1964 Enlarged 1964.

Photos

Sunsweet Campbell Co-operative Dryer San Jose State University

Hemet: Photo at [http://coastdaylight.com/ph/scph/scph_hemet.html , listed as Growers Packing and Warehousing.

Additional photos of Sunsweet Plants appear in October 30, 1920.

Sunsweet in Mountain View

1921 Sanborn map shows main building has storage on first and second floors, grading on third, and a "process room" (sulfuring?) on second floor. Separate warehouse. Separate boiler house, with oil tanks at ground level. (Not on rolls by 1921)

Sunsweet in San Jose

Bob Morris photos from early 1960's show "mission-style tower":http://www.snowcrest.net/photobob/f29.html and "shed roof":http://www.snowcrest.net/photobob/f27.html covering wedge of land. Plant was built for A.C. Ham in 1917 as three-story, concrete. 1950 Sanborn map shows used for grading and packing.

Two story concrete building with grader on 2nd floor and warehouse on first. Built for O.C. Harlan in 1918. Separate sulfur house.

Sunsweet in Sunnyvale

References

  1. ↑ July 1922 Western Canner and Packer
  2. ↑ Western Canner and Packer. Attempt to manufacture cooking oil from prune and apricot kernels. Sunsweet calling it "Sunsweet Nut-Oil".
  3. ↑ May 21, 1917 San Jose News
  4. ↑ July 21, 1917 San Jose Evening News
  5. ↑ Packers Fear More Suits for Contract Breach Following Herbert Litigation: November 27, 1917 San Jose Mercury Herald
  6. ↑ Quantity of Prunes Seized at Local Packing House by the Growers' Association: December 5, 1917 San Jose Mercury Herald
  7. ↑ May 11, 1918 Pacific Rural Press: CPGA was buying packing houses in the large growing areas, not just leasing or otherwise combining.
  8. ↑ May 11, 1918 Pacific Rural Press: “The Prune and Apricot Growers' Association has developed a market for their apricot pits whereby members will receive better than $31.50 per ton for them. The contract is for two years, with privilege of a two-year extension.”
  9. ↑ California Dried Fruit Packing Houses: June 1918 Western Canner and Packer: Gem City being converted to handle pits only, eighteen plants officially being labeled “Sunsweet plants”.
  10. ↑ Procedure of Extending Credit on Canned Food in Warehouses: March 1923 Western Canner and Packer.
  11. ↑ May 21, 1917 San Jose Evening News
  12. ↑ Association Warns Packers to Sue if Growers Lured: July 27, 1928 San Jose Evening News.
  13. ↑ Robert Couchman, The Sunsweet Story, Sunsweet, 1967. Closed within a year - packing costs were four times what they were in California.
  14. ↑ February 1922 Canning Age
  15. ↑ July 1922 Western Canner and Packer
  16. ↑ March 1922 Canning Age.
  17. ↑ Photo: Packing Houses of Southern California. Listed as Growers Packing and Warehousing Association
  18. ↑ August 7, 1987 San Jose Mercury News
  19. ↑ July 1922 Western Canner and Packer
  20. ↑ 1922 Western Canner and Packer. Plant was too small, so they bought the J. W. Chilton plant at 405 North First Street. Leased to Libby for one season.
  21. ↑ July 1922 Western Canner and Packer.
  22. ↑ September 1922 Western Canner and Packer.
  23. ↑ Referenced in Portuguese in San Jose, Arcadia Publishing.
  24. ↑ November 1922 Western Canner and Packer. Handled 1,700 tons in 1921, expecting 3,500 tons in 1922.
  25. ↑ 1930 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map.
  26. ↑ http://books.google.com/books?id=2S0dAQAAMAAJ January 1923 Western Canner and Packer]
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