You can keep your Bermudas, Texas Sweets and Vidalias, too. We’re good with our Walla Walla Sweets, which came to the Walla Walla Valley at the end of the 19th century and were first harvested in 1900. Walla Wallas are only grown in the Pacific Northwest, must be 95% water and must be harvested by hand, not machine. Onion lovers can thank a French soldier, Peter Peiri, for bringing Italian sweet onion seeds with him when he emigrated from the Isle of Corsica. Careful cultivation and breeding created the super sweet and extremely hardy onions that have earned the Walla Walla Sweet Onion name. Today, only 30 farms on less than a thousand acres produce these highly prized onions.
More than one sewing project came unraveled before the arrival of pinking shears. These little beauties cut fabric on the bias, which is a 45 degree angle to the weave. This zig-zag pattern, made possible by the saw-tooth design, keeps the fabric threads from unraveling. Used by hobbyists, quilters and professional tailors worldwide, the first pinking shears was the brainchild of Louise Austin of Whatcom County who received U.S. patent #489,406 on Jan. 3, 1893 for her invention.
Edmund Smith was obsessed with finding a way to automate the process of cleaning salmon. After getting a stroke of brilliance, he went to work in his workshop, turning out the prototype in just 10 days. The resulting invention could gut, clean and can a salmon 55 times faster than humans could. Canneries were skeptical at first, but the raw processing power of the Automated Fish Cleaner was hard to argue with. In the time it took an experienced worker to process two fish, Smith’s machine could process 110.
At the Alaska Yukon Pacific Exposition, a young inventor, William Dubilier, demonstrated his compact wireless phone.
Celebrating fatherhood and fathers, Father’s Day was the brainchild of Sonora Smart Dodd, a Spokane native. After hearing a sermon about Mother’s Day she told her pastor that fathers should have a similar holiday. She initially suggested her father’s birthday as he was a single parent who raised Sonora and her five siblings. There’s wasn’t enough time to promote June 5 as the date, so the third Sunday of June was chosen instead. It wasn’t until the 1930s, when Sonora had finished school and returned to Spokane, that the celebration of all things father took off at a national level. Some folks were cynical at first of the idea of a day for fathers, feeling it was an attempt to replicate the commercial success of Mother’s Day. The day was finally made an official national holiday in 1972 when President Nixon signed it into law.
Long before the nation had a health craze, a Washington State baker was creating bread that offered outstanding nutrition and solid health benefits. Based on a hot breakfast cereal of whole grain wheat, rye, bran and flaxseed, the bread was based on the diet Roman soldiers lived off of as they conquered the world – two pounds daily of wheat or rye. Though Dr. Robert Jackson came up with the cereal, it was master baker Henry Matthaei who created the bread recipe, which remains largely unchanged. Today, Roman Meal Bread is produced by 90 bakeries across the United States and abroad and is still a family owned and operated business that was dedicated to the health of families long before it was fashionable.
In a world where fashions change daily, it’s refreshing to know that the Filson Cruiser remains a popular fashion statement today. Patented in 1914, the jacket is named after its inventor, C.C. Filson. Still manufactured in Seattle, the Filson Cruiser (it’s also known as the Alaska Tuxedo), continues to be the company’s bestseller. It was originally designed for loggers who appreciated the tight woven fabric that kept them dry and warm on the job.
Yes, the British invented dry little biscuits known as scones, but the Fisher Flour folks created the iconic Fair Scone, a must-have at state fairs throughout Washington State. In 1915, O.D. Fisher was looking for a way to showcase his flour, which was milled in Seattle. His unique creation blended the very best of Northwest agriculture: wheat from Eastern Washington, red raspberries from the fields of Western Washington, and butter from the dairies that dotted the countryside. Selling for a nickel a piece, they were an instant hit with fairgoers. Over the years, Fisher Scones have taken their rightful place as fair food musts, along with elephant ears and Krusty Pups. It should come as no surprise that the company has sold more than 100 million scones over the last century, including 1.3 million last year alone. If you’re a foody or love big numbers, Fisher goes through 75 tons of flour, 12 tons of butter and 40 tons of raspberry jam during in four weeks during the Washington State Fair in Puyallup. Yum!
While the Oberto Sausage Company has been known for its salami, sausage and pepperoni over the years, it’s the jerky that has earned it lasting fame. Though the company didn’t invent jerky, they perfected it over the years, not only creating a world-class jerky, but the market for it as well. Demand soared once Safeway began to sell its products nationwide, becoming the leader in the natural beef jerky category within just five years. Six members of the Oberto family still run the company, which has become a national business legend with very local roots.
William Ruttle’s butter cutter could slice one-pound blocks of hardened butter into 54 perfectly formed and sized pats of butter, so Betty Botter could buy that bit of better butter and make better squares with a Ruttle Butter Cutter. Sorry, we couldn't resist.
