Eliza Tibbets

Eliza Tibbets, along with her husband Luther C. Tibbets, is best known as the founder of the California citrus industry. [ California State Parks, "California Citrus State Historical Park." (Sacramento: 2002); U.S. Congress. House, Congressman Ketnner of CA "Remarks on the Washington Navel Orange Anniversary Celebration", Cong. Rec. 63rd Cong. 2d Sess. (3 Sep. 1914), 3.] In 1873 she convinced William Saunders, [ Saunders was a nurseryman, landscape gardener and horticulturist. Among other things he designed the Soldier's National Cemetery at Gettysburg and the Lincoln Monument in Springfield, Illinois. See biography in 1899, "Meehan's Monthly", 9; William Saunders, "Experimental Gardens and Grounds," in USDA, "Yearbook of Agriculture 1897", 180 ff; USDA, "Yearbook of Agriculture 1900", 625 ff. As the nation’s chief experimental horticulturalist, he was responsible for the introduction of many fruits and vegetables to American agriculture; with five others he founded the National Grange and Patrons of Husbandry. L. H. Bailey, [http://books.google.com/books?id=72EDAAAAMAAJ&printsec=titlepage&source=gbs_summary_r&cad=0#PPA1594,M1 "The Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture"] , 2nd ed. (New York: Macmillan, 1930) 3: 1594-95. "See also", US Dept of the Interior, "Pioneers of American Landscape Design II" (Washington: GPO, 2000) 132-137.] Superintendent of the fledgling Bureau of Agriculture, to make her a test grower for his new seedless oranges from Bahia, Brazil. [William Saunders' journal, unpub., quoted in USDA, "The Navel Orange of Bahia", Bull. No. 445 (Washington, DC: GPO), 5-6; USDA, "Annual Report of the Commissioner of Agriculture", 64.] By planting and nurturing the orange trees that Saunders sent her, Tibbets revolutionized the citrus industry. [Bailey, 1595.] Introduction of these oranges, later called the Washington Navel Orange, proved to be the most successful experiment of Saunders’ tenure, [ Ibid, "His greatest success... was the introduction of the Bahia or Washington Navel Orange... [which] practically revolutionized the orange industry in California at that time..."; Saunders' journal, quoted in USDA, 1917, 5; ,] and one of the outstanding events in the economic and social development of California. [USDA, "Yearbook of Agriculture 1937", (Washington, D.C.: 1937) 771. “It is now generally recognized that one of the outstanding events in the economic and social development of California was the introduction of this orange in 1873."] For the next 60 years and more, a great industry was built up from the two small trees planted by Mrs. Eliza Tibbets. [USDA,"Yearbook 1937", 771. ]

Biography

Born in Cincinnati on August 5,1825 Eliza Maria Lovell was the youngest child of Oliver and Clarissa Downes Lovell. [May Lovell Rhodes and Thomas D. Rhodes, 1924 "A biographical genealogy of the Lovell family in England and America", Asheville, N.C.: Biltmore press, 75.] Pioneers to early Ohio, the Lovells had come to Cincinnati from Boston in 1812, first by covered wagon, then by Ark. [Ibid, 202-06.] The Lovell family quickly became prominent in the frontier town. Eliza’s father was, among other things, a town councilman, city councilman, President of the Fire Warden’s Association, a New Jerusalem minister, and a trustee of the city water works, the Woodward School, [Charles Theodore Greve, "Centennial History of Cincinnati and Representative Citizens", Vol 1, (Chicago: Biographical Pub., 1904), "passim". See also Charles Cist, "Cincinnati in 1841",(Cincinnati: The Author, 1841); "The Cincinnati directory containing the names, profession and occupation of the inhabitants" ... , (Cincinnati, Ohio: Oliver Farnsworth, 1819); Annals of the New Church, (Philadelphia: Academy of the New Church, 1898), 396, 412. ] and the Academy of fine Arts. [ Ophia D.Smith, "Frederick Eckstein: The Father of Cincinnati Art." "Bulletin of the Historical and Philosophical Society of Ohio" 9 (October 1951): 274.] Her uncle “Commodore” John Downes was a well-known and highly decorated officer of the War with Tripoli and the War of 1812. [ [http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/d5/downes-i.htm John Downes] , Naval Historical Center website. Accessed 4 March 2008.] He commanded the Mediterranean Squadron and later the Pacific Squadron. [Ibid.] Downes’ ship "Potomac" became the first U.S. naval vessel to circumnavigate the globe. [ [http://www.hazegray.org/danfs/frigates/potomac.htm Potomac] Hazegray Online. Accessed 4 March 2008.] The ship was also the first to host royalty -- the king and queen of the Sandwich (Hawaiian) Islands. [Jeremiah N. Reynolds, "Voyage of the United States frigate Potomac", (New York: Harper & Bros.,1835) 405. ] Three destroyers in the United States Navy have been named "USS Downes" in honor of him. [ [http://www.hazegray.org/danfs/destroy/dd45txt.htm DD-45] Hazegray Online, accessed 4 March 2008; [http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/d5/downes-i.htm DD-45] , Naval Historical Center website, accessed 4 March 2008. [http://www.hazegray.org/danfs/destroy/dd375txt.htm DD-375] , Hazegray Online, accessed 4 March 2008; [http://www.destroyersonline.com/usndd/ff1070/ FF-1070] Destroyers Oneline, accessed 4 March 2008.]

The Cincinnati Lovells were Swedenborgians, members of the Church of the New Jerusalem based on the writings of Swedish scientist and mystic, Emmanuel Swedenborg. Cincinnati Swedenborgians were intelligent and influential people who loved good literature, music, painting, the theater and other arts. [Smith, "Adam Hurdus," 113.] Cincinnati church members included inventors Jacob, William & R. P. Resor, publisher Benjamin and sculptor Hiram Powers, clockmaker Luman Watson, artist Mary Menessier Beck, educators Alexander Kinmont, Frederic Eckstein, and M. M. Carll, and theatrical agent Sol Smith. [Ibid, 120.] In the Swedenborgian church 18 year-old Eliza Lovell married James Summons, a steam boat captain, the father of her son James, her only child to survive to adulthood. [Esther H. Klotz, “Eliza Tibbets And Her Washington Navel Orange Trees” in Riverside Municipal Museum, "A History of Citrus In the Riverside Area", rev. ed. (San Bernardino: Franklin Press), 13-14.]

Eliza Lovell Tibbetts was also a spiritualist. [Klotz, 14 citing "Illustrated History of Southern California", (Chicago: Lewis, 1890).] When the Spiritualism spread throughout the nation and the globe during the mid-1800s, her father Oliver Lovell became President of the spiritualist society in Cincinnati. Her sister Clara Lovell Smith's sealed letter was divined by spiritualist physician John Redmond, who discussed the family in one of his books. [G. A. Redman, M.D., "Mystic Hours; Or, Spiritual Experiences" (New York: Charles Partridge, and Boston: Bela Marsh, 18590, 284-89.] Eliza herself was considered an accomplished medium. [ Emma Hardinge Britten, " Modern American spiritualism", (New York: The author, 1870) 352-53. See also Redman, 284-89.] Lovell’s second husband, James Neal, was a commerce merchant who became a famous magnetic healer. [ Britten, 355.] Noted Spiritualist lecturer Thomas Gales Forster his family lived with James and Eliza Lovell Neal in Clifton, Ohio in 1860. [United States. "1860 Federal Census", 8th Ward Cincinnati, Hamilton, OH, p. 164 l. 34-40.] Eliza Lovell Tibbets was a member of group of spiritualists and free thinkers" among Riverside pioneers in the 1870s. [Klotz, 13, quoting Robert Hornbeck, 1913, "Robidoux's Ranch in the '70's" (Riverside, CA: Press, 1904).] She died while visiting the spiritualist colony in Summerland, California in 1898. [ Tom Patterson, 1984, "Spiritualist Introduced Seances, Navel Orange Farming to Riverside," "Press-Enterprise", July 14, 1984.] The Neals moved to New York with her father and her son James Summons about 1861. James enlisted in New York State infantry at 17 under the name James B. Lovell. [Klotz, 14; [http://www.itd.nps.gov/cwss/soldiers.cfm Film Number M551 roll 85 Service Record card 683b-684. Service Card James B. Lovell] ] Accessed 4 March 2008.] He completed his three year enlistment and was honorably discharged as the regimental postmaster. [Ibid, and Log book of the 132nd Infantry, 1864, available at NARA, College Park, MD.] After the War Lovell married merchant Luther Tibbets. [ Klotz, 15.] Like Riverside founders John Wesley North and James Porter Greves [Judge John Wesley North, a staunch temperance-minded abolitionist from Tennessee who was ostracized back home after he talked a crowd out of lynching a black man. Dr. Greves worked at Beaumont, the colony of freedmen in South Carolina until his health failed.] , the Tibbetses moved into the South to with dreams of building a more racially tolerant society there and were driven out by unwelcoming locals. [Luther Calvin Tibbets, "Spirit of the South" (Washington, DC.:1869). ] In 1867 they moved to Fredericksburg, Virginia, and opened a local store. [Ibid.] Luther campaigned for office as a Radical Republican and attempted to create an integrated community outside Fredericksburg. [Ibid.] When they were driven from Frederickburg, the mother of a young African-American girl convinced them to take her child with them. [Ibid.See Tom Patterson, "Whatever Became of Nicey, Riverside's First Black Resident?, "Riverside Sun"]

In Washington Eliza and Luther Tibbets worked with Josephine S. Griffings, Congressman Benjamin F. Butler and other progressives on universal suffrage, freedmen’s rights and other social issues. [ E. C. Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, Matilda Joselyn Gage, "History of Woman Suffrage", vol. 3, 808 – 113.] After Luther left in 1870, Eliza continued her activism, especially in the area of woman suffrage. Woman suffrage activists were then using an ingenious legal argument, claiming that the U.S. Constitution already enfranchised women citizens. [ Angela G Ray, Cindy Koenig Richards. "Inventing Citizens, Imagining Gender Justice: The Suffrage Rhetoric of Virginia and Francis Minor," "Quarterly Journal of Speech," 93, 4, November 1, 2007, 375-402.] For a brief time in 1870s citizens of the District of Columbia were enfranchised. DC woman suffrage activists argued that they were “citizens” and therefore enfranchised under that law. ["The Ladies Hold A Meeting," "National Republican", April 19, 1871.] In 1871 seventy women tested the law in Washington, D.C. They marched to the regis­trar's office to register to vote, but were repulsed. [ [http://ecssba.rutgers.edu/resources/wompolls.html Women Who Voted, 1868 to 1873] Cady and Stanton online, accessed 4 Mar 2008; Ann D. Gordon, ed. "The selected papers of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony", (New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers, 1997), 649.] Frederick Douglass accompanied the group which included Eliza M. Tibbets, Belva Lockwood, the first woman admitted to the Supreme Court Bar, educator Sara Spencer, Dr. Susan A. Edson, physician to President Garfield, pioneer Julia Archibald Holmes, and author E. D. E. N. Southworth, and founder of the Freedman's Bureau, Josephine S. Griffing. [ [http://ecssba.rutgers.edu/resources/votenames.html#April71 Voter Names] , Cady and Stanton online, accessed 4 Mar 2008; "Justice For Women," "(Washington, D.C.) Daily Morning Chronicle" (April 15, 1871); Gordon, 650. ] At the election, they attempted to vote, but were again re­fused. ["The Ladies Hold A Meeting;" Gordon, 649.] Their test cases, "Spencer v. Board of Registration", and "Webster v. Judges of Election" were heard in the Supreme court of the District of Columbia. [Spencer v. Board of Registration, 1 McA. 369. Stanton, E. C., Anthony, S. B., & Gordon, A. D. 1997. "The selected papers of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony", New Brunswick, N.J., Rutgers University Press, 813.] Women throughout the United States, including Susan B. Anthonyand Virginia F. Minor, demonstrated in this way, testing the law with civil disobedience. [Ray & Richards, 375.] In the infamous "Minor v. Happersett" decision of 1875, however, the Court formally dissociated citizenship from voting rights. [ Ray & Richards, 375.]

The Washington Navel Orange

Orange history

The navel orange was not new when Eliza Tibbets introduced it to United States agriculture. [USDA, "Yearbook 1937", 770.] A kind of navel was described and pictured by John Baptisti Ferrarius in 1646. [Ibid.] Early Brazilian publications often referred to the Navel orange, or "lavanja de ombigo". [ CA State Board Of Horticulture, "Culture Of The Citrus In California", rev. ed. (Sacramento, 1902) 53, 52.] The Washington navel is sterile - truly seedless and utterly devoid of pollen with pistils deformed in a way that makes seed production from the pollen of other varieties impossible. Hence, the Washington navel orange is propagated by grafting a bud from an existing tree onto separate (genetically distinct) rootstock. [Michael T. Clegg, “Genetics Of Crop Improvement,” "American Zoology", 26 (1986), 825.] The Washington Navel orange is particularly prone to a type of mutation in which one branch or “sport” differs genetically from the rest of the tree. [Clegg, 825] It first appeared as a sport on a Selecta sweet orange tree in Bahia, Brazil. A desirable sport like this enables growers to avoid the complications of genetic segregation and recombination by spreading the species through asexual propagation. [Clegg, 825] Although asexual propagation required a certain amount of effort and level of expertise, [USDA, "Citrus Fruit Improvement: How to secure and Use Tree-Performance Records", (Washington D.C.: GPO, 1917),] this sport was extensively propagated in the vicinity of Bahia. [ USDA, "Yearbook 1937", 770.] >. Nowadays many important fruit

crops that are propagated asexually, including oranges, grapes, avocados, bananas and apples. [ Clegg, 824] In fact, all commercial citrus trees are grafted onto rootstock selected for adaptation to the soil, resistance to disease, and influence on fruit quality. [David Karp, “An Orange Whose Season Has Come,” "New York Times". Jan 22, 2003, F.1 ]

Introduction of the Navel Orange

The citrus industry in California had also begun before Eliza Tibbets’ introduction of the Washington navel orange. However, there was no outstanding early and midseason variety of sweet orange generally adapted to the climate. [USDA, Yearbook 1937, 771.] Extant citrus was mostly seedling trees grown from seeds obtained locally or from the Missions. Growers experimented, but there was a lack of standardization in quality. [USDA, "Yearbook 1937", 771; State Board, 13: “Some of the earlier settlers, with foresight enough to see that there was profit in fruit, secured some of the mission orchards, and under skillful treatment and fostering care these were made productive again by careful pruning, cultivation, and irrigation. These enterprising orchardists reaped a golden reward for their labor.”]

Meanwhile, in his greenhouses on the Capitol Mall, Saunders experimented with imported plants for possible incorporation into American agriculture. [U.S. Senate Report 2522, "Message from the Department of Agriculture", outlines department procedures and the duties of the Superintendent. 72-73] He built an orange house on the Department grounds around 1867 and reported in 1871 that he was attempting to secure complete collections of citrus. [Beverly T. Galloway, “An Historic Orange Tree,” "The Journal of Heredity", 163.] In 1869 the Commissioner of agriculture, brought him a letter about a fabulous local orange from a woman in Bahia, Brazil. [Saunders' journal; USDA, "Yearbook 1900", 628.] It took some time and perseverance, but by 1871 Saunders was able to obtain from Bahia twelve newly budded navel orange trees in fairly good condition. [Saunders' journal; USDA, "Report of the Commissioner", 64.] He had prepared a supply of young orange stocks into which he inserted buds from the new trees. [ Saunders' journal.] When the orange trees were ready, Saunders mailed the first two out to Eliza Tibbets in Riverside. [Ibid: “That lady called here and was anxious to get some of these plants for her place, and I sent two of them by mail;” Galloway, 163; State Board, 38.

About twenty years after Eliza and Luther Tibbets had died, a daughter of Luther, who had grown up with her mother campaigned to establish Luther Tibbets as the introducer of the Washington Navel orange. See Luther C. Tibbetts, Founder of the Naval Orange Industry, ] After that hundreds of Bahia orange trees were sent to Florida, but none flourished. [ Saunders, journal; C. N. Roistacher, "A History of the Washington Navel Orange" in "Proceedings of the Global Citrus Germplasm Network Meeting, December 2000". ] Eliza Tibbets planted the two trees in her garden in 1873. [USDA, "Yearbook 1937", 771. There have been discussion, debate, and even demonstrations regarding this date. For their reviews of the existing evidence, see: Shamel & Pomeroy, "Washington Navel Orange", 4-7, ff.; C. S. Pomeroy, “1873 Washington Navel Orange Came to Riverside”; W. A. Taylor, Chief of the Bureau [of Agriculture] . Letter to James Boyd, September 15, 1920. unpublished, available from the USDA Library; U.S. House, Report of the Commissioner of Agriculture for 1884, 48th Cong. 1st Sess. Ex. Doc 178, (Washington: 1884) 7: “Distributed about 12 years ago”; Klotz: The local press of March 28, 1885, printed the following, "Mrs. L. C. Tibbets exhibits a branch from the original orange trees imported from South America to Washington, D.C. and thence to Riverside in 1873."] It is widely accepted that she took care of the two remaining trees using dishwater to keep them alive because the Tibbets lot was not connected to canal water. [ Roistacher, "PGCGN", 60. Klotz, “Eliza Tibbets,” 17.] Agriculture officials attribute the success of the two trees that did flourish to Eliza Tibbets’ care. [In 1933 two USDA officials wrote: “The very fact that the trees sent her survived the climatic and other hazards of those pioneer days is in itself remarkable and is probably due to the particular care given them by her.” Shamel & Pomeroy, "The Washington Navel Orange", 31. See also: A. D. Shamel, “History of Origin and Introduction of the Washington Navel Orange,” "The California Citrograph", (April 1933) 171: “These trees survived the climatic and other hazards, largely, I think, through the systematic care of Mrs Tibbets....”] he first fruits borne by these trees were produced in the season of 1875-76. [Shamel, 1915, 3.] When the Washington navel orange was publicly displayed at a fair in 1879, the valuable commercial characteristics of the fruit, including their quality, shape, size, color, texture, and seedlessness, were immediately recognized. [ USDA, "Bud Selection", 2; Shamel, 1915, 3; USDA, "1937 yearbook"] Tibbets’ orange was also ideally suited to Riverside’s semiarid weather, and its thick skin enabled it to be packed and shipped. [Shamel & Pomeroy, "Washington Navel Orange", 9.] The contrast between this new fruit and that of seedling trees was so striking that most new grove plantings were of Washington navel oranges. [Roistacher, "PGCGN", ?; Shamel & Pomeroy, "The Washington Navel Orange", 8.] Tibbets sold budwood from her trees to local nurserymen, which led to extensive plantings of nursery trees cloned from hers. [USDA, "Bud Selection", 2; Shamel, 1915, 3; USDA, "1937 yearbook", 771.] Since then Washington navel orange budwood and trees have been taken from California across the seas to Japan, Australia, South Africa, and other tropical or semi-tropical districts. [Shamel, 1915, 3.]

Legacy of introduction

Tibbets’ success with the navel orange had led to a rapid increase in citrus planting, [Dumke, "Boom", 14.] and the citrus planted was predominantly the Washington navel orange. The commercial success of these early orchards soon led to a wide-spread interest in this variety, so that by 1900 it was the most extensively grown citrus fruit in California. [USDA, A. D. SHAMEL, C. S. POMEROY, and R. E. CARYL, Bud selection in the Washington navel orange progeny tests of limb variations. Washington, U.S. Dept. of Agriculture;1929. USDA "Yearbook 1937".]

The growth that the Washington Navel orange produced in Riverside spread throughout the state, driving the state and even the national economy. Citrus assumed a major place in California's economy. [ Gerald D. Nash, "State Government and Economic Policy: A History of Administrative Policies in California 1849-1933" (New York: Arno Press, 1979 ©1964) 140; State Board, 13. The discovery of the fact that citrus fruits could be produced successfully and profitably, gave an impetus to the growth of a most important industry in our State, and especially in the southern counties, which is almost unprecedented in the history of our Union…. to Riverside is due the great impetus that brought the industry into national prominence. State Board, 20: It is also largely to Riverside that the orange industry is indebted for its present importance, from the success attained in the cultivation of the Washington Navel, an orange which achieved widespread fame for itself and the location (Riverside) where it was first successfully grown.] By 1917 WNO culture was a $30 million per year industry in California. [Dorsett & Shamel, 1917.] By 1933 the WNO industry in CA had grown to an industry with an annual income of $67 million. [Cal Statutes.] From one million boxes of oranges in 1887 to more than 65.5 million boxes of oranges, lemons, and grapefruit in 1944, despite the depression years of the 1930s, the California citrus industry experienced nothing short of explosive growth. [Tobey & Wetherel, “Corporate Capitalism,” 13.] , [State Board, 13.]

The success of Eliza Tibbets’s orange inspired irrigation projects which converted more desert to orange groves. [State Board, 14; Shamel, 1915, 3. ] The size, scale, and ingenuity of the irrigation structures in Riverside and surrounding area are considered one of the agricultural marvels of the age. [ Nash, “Economic Growth,” 319 citing Nash, "State Government,"] By 1893 Riverside was the wealthiest city per capita in the United States. Money poured into California. [ Tobey & Wetherel, “Corporate Capitalism,” 13. “From $10.7 million earned in 1900, to $83.2 million in 1920, to $144.6 million in 1930, cit­rus literally sucked eastern money west.”] Tibbets’ orange led to an estimated $100 million of direct and indirect investment in citrus industry over the next 25 years. [Ibid., 72. But see: Michael A. Lane “Scientific Work of Government,” "Making of America" Vol VII, ed. Robert Marion La Follette. Robert Marion La Follette, Charles Higgins, William Matthews Handy (Chicago,: Making of America, 1906.) ] But Eliza Tibbets’ orange did not merely feed the wealth and growth of existing towns; new cities and towns popped up whose birth, existence, and future depended upon the condition of the orange market. [State Board, 13-14.] In 1886 alone new citrus towns were laid out in Rialto, Fontana, Bloomington, Redlands, Terracina, Mound City (Loma Linda), and South Riverside, (Corona). [Esther Klotz and Kevin Hallaren, "Citrus Chronology," in "A History of Citrus in the Riverside Area". 2nd ed., (San Bernardino, CA: Riverside Museum Press, 1989) 27.] Irrigated communities like Etiwanda, Redlands, Ontario and many others were launched. [Tom Patterson, “The Tibbets, the Navel Orange, and the Dishpan,” in Landmarks of Riverside and the Stories Behind Them (Riverside, CA: Press-Enterprise Co., 1964) 31.]

The rapidly expanding citrus industry also stimulated the cap­ital market for real estate. [Tobey & Wetherel, “Corporate Capitalism,” 20.] As the industry grew, land which had been regarded as worthless dramatically increased value. Not only did orange culture feed the land boom of the 1880s in Southern California; it allowed Riverside to survive when the land boom collapsed in 1888. [Klotz Hallaren, ] The success of Tibbets’ orange stimulated related industries. Citrus built the foundations of the region's economic modernization before the great flood of defense funds began in World War II. [ Ronald Tobey and Charles Wetherel, (1995) The Citrus Industry And The Revolution Of Corporate Capitalism In Southern California, 1887-1994. "California History," Spring 1995, 6. Analyzes “California's history in the half-century between 1890 and 1940 in terms of economic development in the context of the revolution in corporate capitalism” "To explain the region's history we must look beyond the rhetoric of speculative growth to the reality of investment-led growth, using models of economic development. For these we turn to Douglass North's Nobel-Prize-winning explanation of industrial revolution in the United States, and Albert Hirschman's theory of development that informed much of North's analysis. Textiles drove the antebellum North into sustained economic growth. We believe that the citrus industry, with its staple export crop of fresh table fruit, was a similar foundational indus­try that powered southern California' economy in the fifty years before World War II.] Tibbets’ introduction of the Washington navel orange was largely responsible for the fruit packing houses, inventions in boxing machines, fruit wraps and the iced railroad car. [Roistacher ]

By the mid 1880s five packing houses sprang up in Riverside. [Klotz & Hallaran, .] Many methods developed in the course of the growth of this industry, which had a wide application, to other fruit growing industries as well to citrus. [Shamel, 1915, 3.] The study and efforts of pioneers in the development of the California citrus industry led to the invention of fumigation, of orchard heaters, and of many other methods of culture. [Shamel, 1915, 3.] In 1897-1898 Benjamin and Harrison Wright invented and patented a mechanized orange washer. By the end of 1898, two-thirds of Riverside’s packinghouses were using the machines. [Klotz & Hallaran, 30.] At the turn of the centuring Stebler and Parker began manufacturing citrus packing machinery in Riverside independent of each other. The companies, which merged in 1922, became the California Iron Works, and later still Food Machinery Corporation (today’s FMC). [Klotz & Hallaran, 30.] The Santa Fe Rail Road opened a direct to Riverside in 1886 allowing direct shipment to the east. [Klotz & Hallaran, 27.] Eight years later the first refrigerated rail cars shipped oranges from Riverside to the east on the Santa Fe Rail Road. [Ibid.]

Another illustration of the results of the success of the citrus industry in California was the organization of the growers into an exchange for the co-operative handling of their crop and its distribution. [Shamel, 1915, 3.] California Fruit Growers Exchange, a cooperative marketing association made up of local growers was founded in 1893; it is now known as Sunkist. [Klotz & Hallaran, .]

A key feature of the growth of the Washington Navel orange industry was a scientific approach to improvement. Study of propagation culture handling, transportation and other phases of producing distributing and marketing the crop was largely responsible for advancements used not only with citrus but also in other fruit industries. In 1893 Cyanide gas was used to fight citrus scale. [Klotz & Hallaran, 29.] A U. S. Department of Agriculture scientist helped growers to harness nature's biological wrath during the "decay crisis" of 1905-1907, when alarming proportions of fruit spoiled in transit, and wed the industry to the scientific expertise of the USDA. [Tobey and Wetherel, 10.] Growers, scientists, and workers transformed the natural and social landscape of California, turning it into a factory for the production of millions of oranges. [Douglas Cazaux Sackman, "Orange Empire: California and the Fruits of Eden" (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2005).] Orange growers in California developed the commercialized agriculture that only spread to the rest of the country a generation later. [Sackman, 67.] In 1906 University of California established in Riverside its Citrus Experiment Station, the beginnings of the Riverside of the University of California. Originally located on the slope of Mt. Rubidoux, the station [Klotz & Hallaran, 33 .] insti­tutionalized the scientific expertise, support, and presence of the state's university and the federal gov­ernment in the citrus industry, and brought quality control to the first link in the corpo­rate agricultural chain. [Tobey and Wetherel, 10.] In a field department was created which provided member growers with scientific and practical horticultural advice and direction that ultimately led to huge gains in productivity. [Tobey and Wetherel, 10.]

Tibbets’ orange allowed agriculture in California to survive transition from wheat. Wheat had been the single most profitable crop statewide between 1870 and 1900 as California became one of the largest grain producers in the nation. [Nash, "State Government" 117. ] Sometime about 1880 many agriculturalists in the central valley and social began to convert to fruit. Soil and climate were obviously conducive to such a conversion. [Nash, “Economic Growth,” 318.] After the turn of the century wheat exports began a rapid decline prompted by intense Canadian and Russian competition and declining grain yields due to soil depletion. [Nash, “Economic Growth,” 318.] As the soil became depleted by wheat growing, they were subdivided and used for horticulture. Agriculture thus came to provide a firm foundation for the state’s economy.

Conclusion

The progeny trees derived from this parent source tree continues to be the most popular navel grown in California. [Roistacher] In the estimation of many, the fruit of the Washington navel remains the finest in size, flavor, quality, lack of seed, low rag and excellent holding capacity when the fruit is held on the tree. The navel orange remains as one of the most popular of all of the varieties of fresh fruit whether produced in California, Peru, South Africa, or Australia. [Ibid.] Millions of trees were propagated from progeny of this mother tree, not only in California, but worldwide. [Ibid.]

See also

* Mother Orange Tree

Notes

References

*A Citizen. "The Cincinnati directory containing the names, profession and occupation of the inhabitants" ... , (Cincinnati, Ohio: Oliver Farnsworth, 1819).
*"Annals of the New Church." Philadelphia: Academy of the New Church, 1898.
*Bailey, L. H. [http://books.google.com/books?id=72EDAAAAMAAJ&printsec=titlepage&source=gbs_summary_r&cad=0#PPA1594,M1 "The Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture"] , 2nd ed. (New York: Macmillan, 1930).
*Barron, Hal S. "Citriculture and Southern California New Historical Perspectives, An Introduction," "California History", Spring 1995, 3-6.
*Galloway, Beverly T. “An Historic Orange Tree,” "The Journal of Heredity", 163-66.
*Gordon, Ann D ed. 2000. "Against an Aristocracy of Sex, 1866-1873", vol. 2 of "Selected Papers of Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton" New Brunswick, N. J.; Rutgers.
*Hartig, Anthea Marie "Citrus growers and the construction of the Southern California landscape, 1880--1940". Ph.D. diss., University of California, Riverside, 2001. In ProQuest Digital Dissertations [database on-line] ; available from http://www.proquest.com/ (publication number AAT 3034700; accessed January 31, 2008).
*Hartig, Anthea Marie "Citrus growers and the construction of the Southern California landscape, 1880--1940". Ph.D. diss., University of California, Riverside, 2001. In ProQuest Digital Dissertations [database on-line] ; available from http://www.proquest.com/ (publication number AAT 3034700; accessed January 31, 2008).
*Barron, Hal S. "Citriculture and Southern California New Historical Perspectives, An Introduction." "California History", Spring 1995, 3-5.
*California State Parks. "California Citrus State Historical Park". (Sacramento: 2002) Available at: www.parks.ca.gov Accessed: 20 Oct 2007
*Britten, Emma Hardinge. " Modern American spiritualism a twenty years' record of the communion between earth and the world of spirits" (New York: The author, 1870).
*Cist, Charles. "Cincinnati in 1841: It's Early Annals and Future Prospects"(Cincinnati: The Author, 1841).
*Hornbeck, Robert. "Robidoux's Ranch in the 70's" (Riverside, CA: Press, 1913).
*Karp, David “An Orange Whose Season Has Come,” " New York Times" . (Late Edition (East Coast)). New York, N.Y.: Jan 22, 2003. pg. F.1 available on line at: http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=279311771&sid=5&Fmt=3&cli entId=1566&RQT=309&VName=PQD
*Klotz, Esther. "Eliza Tibbets and Her Washington Navel Orange Trees." In A History of Citrus in the Riverside Area. 2nd ed., 13-25. San Bernardino, CA: Riverside Museum Press, 1989.
*Klotz, Esther and Kevin Hallaren. "Citrus Chronology." In "A History of Citrus in the Riverside Area". 2nd ed., 26-29. San Bernardino, CA: Riverside Museum Press, 1989.
*Labossier, Regine. "A Navel Worth Gazing At: Tree Made History; Here stands the last of the two original Washington navel orange trees. Their buds spawned much of the region's citrus industry.; "Los Angeles Times", August 5, 2004 OC, B5.
*Ray, Angela G and Cindy Koenig Richards. "Inventing Citizens, Imagining Gender Justice: The Suffrage Rhetoric of Virginia and Francis Minor." "The Quarterly Journal of Speech" 93, no. 4 (November 1, 2007): 375. http://www.proquest.com/ (accessed January 31, 2008).
*Redman, G. A., M.D., "Mystic Hours; Or, Spiritual Experiences". New York, Charles Partridge, and Boston, Bela Marsh, 1859.
*Reynolds, Jeremiah N. [http://books.google.com/books?id=1ckCAAAAYAAJ "Voyage of the United States frigate Potomac: under the command of Commodore John Downes, during the circumnavigation of the globe, in the years 1831, 1832, 1833, and 1834; including a particular account of the engagement at Quallah-Battoo, on the coast of Sumatra; with all the official documents relating to the same"] (New York: Harper & Bros., 1835).
*Rhodes, May Lovell and Thomas D. Rhodes. "A biographical genealogy of the Lovell family in England and America" (Asheville, N.C.: Biltmore press, 1924).
*Riverside Municipal Museum. "A History of Citrus In the Riverside Area", rev. ed. (San Bernardino: Franklin Press, 1989. ).
*Roistater, Appendix 6 in Global Citrus Germplasm Network & Albrigo, L. G. (2000). Proceedings of the Global Citrus Germplasm Network Network meeting held during the 9th Congress of the International Society of Citriculture, Orlando, Florida, USA 7-8 December 2000. Rome, Food and Agricultural Organization, United Nations, Seed and Genetic Resources Division.
*Douglas Cazaux Sackman, "Orange Empire: California and the Fruits of Eden" (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2005).
*William Saunders, "Experimental Gardens and Grounds," in USDA, "Yearbook of Agriculture 1897", (Washington: 1897)180 ff;
*Shamel, Archibald D. 1915. "Washington navel orange - Important California citrus fruit originated in Brazil nearly a century ago, brought to United States in 1869 - Comparison of culture in California and Brazil - Importance of bud mutations," "The Journal of Heredity" 22, no. 6 (1915) 435 -445.
*Shamel, [Archibald] D. and Carl S. Pomeroy. 1933. "The Washington Navel Orange". Citrus Pub. No.3 . Riverside, CA: Riverside Chamber of Commerce.
*Shamel [Archibald] D. USDA. "History of Origin Introduction of the Washington Navel Orange." "California Citrograph", Apr. 1933, 171.
*Tibbets, Luther Calvin. [http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/S?ammem/rbaapcbib:@OR(@field(AUTHOR+@od1(Tibbets,+Luther+Calvin+))+@field(OTHER+@od1(Tibbets,+Luther+Calvin+))). "Spirit of the South; or, Persecution in the name of law, as administered in Virginia. Related by some victims thereof. Also its effects upon the nation and its general government." ] Washington, D.C., Published for the trade and the people, 1869.
*Tobey, Ronald and Charles Wetherel, "The Citrus Industry And The Revolution Of Corporate Capitalism In Southern California, 1887-1994". "California History", Spring 1995, 6-20.
*U.S. Congress. House. Congressman Ketnner of CA "Remarks on the Washington Navel Orange Anniversary Celebration", Cong. Rec. 63rd Cong. 2d Sess. (3 Sep. 1914), 3
*Saunders,William. "Experimental Gardens and Grounds." In USDA "Yearbook of Agriculture 1897", (Washington: GPO, 1897)180 ff.
*USDA "Yearbook of Agriculture 1900", (Washington: GPO, 1900)
*USDA, A. D. SHAMEL, C. S. POMEROY, and R. E. CARYL, "Bud selection in the Washington navel orange progeny tests of limb variations". Washington, U.S. Dept. of Agriculture; 1929.
*U.S. Dept of the Interior. "Pioneers of American Landscape Design II: An Annotated Bibliography" (Washington, DC: GPO, 2000), 132-137.

Further reading

* [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9902EEDC163CE433A25757C1A96F9C946197D6CF "William Saunders"] , "The New York Times", (September 14, 1900), p. 6.
*Alamillo, Jose Manuel. 2000. "Bitter-sweet communities: Mexican workers and citrus growers on the California landscape, 1880--1941". Ph.D. diss., UC Irvine. In ProQuest Digital Dissertations [database on-line] ; available from http://www.proquest.com/ (publication number AAT 9954170; accessed January 31, 2008).
* [http://ecssba.rutgers.edu/docs/sbatrial.html Remarks by Susan B. Anthony in the Circuit Court of the United States for the Northern District of New York.]
*Gordon, Ann D., editor. "Selected Papers of Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton." Vol 2: "Against an Aristocracy of Sex, 1866-1873".New Brunswick, N. J.; Rutgers, 2000.
*McBane, Margo "The house that lemons built: Race, ethnicity, gender, citizenship and the creation of a citrus empire, 1893--1919". Ph.D. diss., University of California, Los Angeles, 2001. In ProQuest Digital Dissertations [database on-line] ; available from http://www.proquest.com/ (publication number AAT 3063947; accessed January 31, 2008).
*Livie, Kyle Mitchell "Wide open spaces: Rural communities and the making of metropolitan California, 1870--1940". Ph.D. diss., University of California, Los Angeles, 2007. In ProQuest Digital Dissertations [database on-line] ; available from http://www.proquest.com/ (publication number AAT 3280982; accessed January 31, 2008).
*Riddle, Albert Gallatin and Carrie Chapman Catt. [http://books.google.com/books?id=Sic1e7d9N3kC "Suffrage Conferred by the Fourteenth Amendment".] (Washington, D.C.: Judd & Detweiler, 1871).