{"product_id":"vintage-1940s-hy-land-kids-pears-label-cowiche-washington","title":"Vintage 1940s Hy-Land-Kids Pears Label 🍐 from Cowiche Washington","description":"\u003ch2\u003eWho Packed Hy-Land-Kids Pears? 🍐 Hy-Land-Kids Brand Pears, Cowiche Growers, Inc., Cowiche, Washington\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSize:\u003c\/strong\u003e 10 1\/4\" x 7 1\/2\" ~ Little to no wear.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"max-width:315px;margin:0 auto 20px;\"\u003e\u003cdiv style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:177.78%;height:0;overflow:hidden;\"\u003e\u003ciframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/EljZrdEnLLw\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer;autoplay;clipboard-write;encrypted-media;gyroscope;picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003cp\u003eLook at the size of those pears! This is a vintage 1940s Hy-Land-Kids crate label, shipped by Cowiche Growers, Inc. out of Cowiche, Washington. Three huge pears hang off a leafy branch on the left, so real you could pick them, and to the right a framed view runs out over rows and rows of orchard trees, past a Spanish-style ranch house, to snow-capped mountains. HY-LAND-KIDS sits across the top.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI read the name as a play on \"highland,\" and it fits. Cowiche sits northwest of Yakima near the eastern foothills of the Cascades, right where the valley meets the mountains.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e🏷️ What's Printed on It\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHY-LAND-KIDS BRAND\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eSHIPPED BY COWICHE GROWERS, INC.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eCOWICHE, WASHINGTON\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e947 (tiny red numbers in the lower right corner)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eSTECHER-TRAUNG S. F., CALIF. (the printer, in tiny type at the lower left)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThat printer's line is a nice clue. Stecher Lithograph opened in Rochester, New York in 1887, and in 1936 it was bought by the Traung company of San Francisco. The two ran together as Stecher-Traung until 1966, when International Paper bought the company, so a label signed Stecher-Traung S.F. was printed somewhere in those thirty years.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e🍎 Cowiche Growers, a Hundred-Year Co-op\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEarly in the winter of 1922 a small group of local fruit growers got together and decided to form a cooperative to pack and sell their own fruit. Cowiche Growers was founded on January 27, 1923, with sixteen charter members, and that April they started building the warehouse, with Walter Praetorius as the first general manager. They installed belt elevators to bring the fruit in and bought a gas engine and generator to light the packing room and run their \"Ideal\" sizer, and that first year they packed 58,000 boxes of fruit. It only took one more year before they had to make the place bigger.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn the mid-1930s the co-op even made its own apple cider. Wilbur Nelson ran things for thirty years, from 1946, building an enlarged storage in 1946 and putting in one of the first two electronic color apple sorters in Washington State in 1966. A fire later took the old warehouse, but the co-op kept right on going. It celebrated its hundredth anniversary in 2023 and is still grower-owned today, with more than 65 members farming about 3,000 acres of apples, pears and cherries.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e🏔️ Cowiche, the Footbridge to the Mountains\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCowiche, sometimes spelled Cowychee, is said to mean \"footbridge between the valley and the mountains.\" The first people there were the Tkai'waichash-hlama, a band who lived along Cowiche Creek. Farmers settled it late in the 1800s and grew what didn't need water, wheat, barley and rye, and ran cattle, and homesteading was hard work because the fields had to be cleared of volcanic rock before they could be plowed. Everything changed with the Tieton Irrigation Project, part of the big Yakima Project. Construction started in 1906, water came through in 1907, and before long orchards were replacing the wheat fields. It's just the kind of orchard valley you see in this label's picture.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e🏡 Display\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCrate Labels are a reminder of a bygone era but the amazing lithography process is unparalleled even to this day in my opinion. Museums and Art Institutes have galleries dedicated to them and more and more collectors are seeking these out to preserve their history. Once the limited supply for sale is gone and on display with collectors or in galleries then they will be very difficult to acquire.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eImagine this amazing vintage advertising hanging as home decor in any room of your home instead of a museum! Those big golden pears brighten up any kitchen, and it's a perfect gift for anybody from Cowiche, Tieton or the Yakima Valley.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"relatedBlock\"\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e🔎 More From The Vintage \u0026amp; Antique Gifts Archive\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-denisons-crest-crate-label-wenatchee-wa-1940s-treasures\"\u003eVintage 1940s Denison's Crest Washington Pears Crate Label 🍐 — Wenatchee WA, Thistle and Lamp Crest\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/1940s-quail-crate-label-california-fruit-exchange-vintage-treasures\"\u003eVintage 1940s Quail Brand Crate Label 🍐 Contra Costa Bartlett Pears, Blue Anchor California Fruit Exchange, Valley Quail Bird Art\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-1940s-yakima-chief-crate-label-native-american-wa-treasures\"\u003eVintage 1940s Yakima Chief Crate Label 🪶 | Native American Washington Produce Art\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Vintage and Antique Gifts","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47010710487272,"sku":"VAG-9059330359528","price":8.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0597\/2718\/4037\/files\/il_fullxfull.6652645813_m0u1.jpg?v=1785442260","url":"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-1940s-hy-land-kids-pears-label-cowiche-washington","provider":"Vintage and Antique Gifts","version":"1.0","type":"link"}