Eagle Point, Ore., laid claim in the early 1900’s to producing Bosc pears fit for a king.
The specific king was George of England, who heard that the pears were top quality and placed an order for 45 boxes with the Michael Hanley farm on Little Butte Creek.
Eagle Point had many businesses and had become well known in the Rogue Valley for its farming, ranching and agriculture. It was best known for its fruits and vegetables and was nicknamed the onion capital. The Rogue Valley, in general, was celebrated for apples, pears, peaches, and grapes. Southern Oregon held the record at the time for the highest price ever received for a carload of pears.
At the Spokane Apple Show held in November 1909 in Spokane, Wash., the Tronson and Guthrie Farms of Eagle Point won a $100 first prize for the best three-box exhibit of Spitzenburg apples, considered the highest priced apples grown. In addition, the farm received the Grand Sweepstakes Prize of $1,000 for the finest carload of apples of any variety exhibited at the show.
After that, the company’s label logo included the phrase, “Apple Kings of the World.”
Sources: LaPlante, Margaret. Eagle Point. Charleston, SC, Arcadia Publishing, 2012; Tronson, H B. “Apple Kings of the World” Sunset Vol. 24 Part 2, 1910, p. 598, https://books.google.com/books?id=02UpAQAAIAAJ. Accessed 20 May 2017; Wolf, Wolf, August. "The National Apple Show Held at Spokane." Better Fruit Better Vegetables Vol 4, Jan. 1910, pp. 15-22, https://books.google.com/books?id=2jg7AQAAMAAJ. Accessed 20 May 2017.
