History of Stemilt Growers

Stemilt Growers' company roots trace back to 1893 when the Mathison family homesteaded 160 acres on Stemilt Hill overlooking the Columbia River and the town of Wenatchee, Washington. The original homestead was a subsistence farm producing staples for the family, plus enough wheat for commercial sale to sustain a modest living. In 1914, Thomas Cyle Mathison, recognizing the area's soil fertility and high elevation microclimates, planted the family's first 10 acres of cherries, apples, and pears. His son, Chris Mathison, farmed and gradually expanded the family's tree fruit business until his untimely death in 1947. Just back from World War II, Thomas "T.K." Mathison (Chris's son and Thomas Cyle Mathison's grandson) assumed responsibility for the family operation.

For years, the Mathisons relied solely on the local cooperative to market their fruit, by this time, predominantly cherries. The practice of the cooperative was to load the ripe, freshly harvested cherries onto a railcar, ship them to terminal markets in the eastern states, and sell on delivery. Most of these railcars were not refrigerated, but, rather, packed with ice. Not surprisingly, the spoilage factor was often high, but never as high as in 1958. That year, Tom's gross sales for his 100 ton cherry crop amounted to only $88! Were it not for his wife's modest businesses of selling eggs and cream and painting houses, the family would have been forced to sell the farm and orchards to service their $20,000 bank note. Faced with the choice of working hourly at the local factory or improving his cherry business, Tom decided he must significantly change his marketing practices.

In 1959, Tom Mathison followed the railcar shipment of his product to the New York City Terminal Market where he witnessed how poorly his cherry crop had survived the journey. The following year, Tom went to San Jose, California, to examine how cherry growers managed their operations and noted how these third generation Italians harvested their crops. They picked early in the morning, hydrocooled the cherries prior to packing, and kept them cold before shipment. The California operations were in stark contrast to those in Washington where the family would milk the cows, pick cherries until 5:00 pm, have dinner, then drive the cherries 15 miles to the Wenatchee rail loading station in unrefrigerated trucks. Armed with this new information, Tom returned to Washington to discuss better shipping techniques with the grower cooperative. But, the cooperative showed no interest in, nor inclination toward, making Tom's suggested changes.

So, in 1961, Tom entered the cherry packing business. He constructed a small-scale packing facility to follow the packing practices he learned in California. In his first year as a grower-packer, Tom followed the railcar with his product to the same New York market. There his cherries sold for $40 per 20-pound box. When, the following year, a few neighbors asked Tom to pack their cherries, Tom began packing for other growers. He constructed the family's first controlled atmosphere room and formally incorporated Stemilt Growers in 1964.

Expansion continued and by 1975 the Mathisons built a state-of-the-art apple, pear, and cherry packing storage facility at Olds Station in Wenatchee. The family moved the company headquarters from Stemilt Hill to the new location, and Olds Station became the hub of Stemilt Growers' operations.

Today, Tom's grandson West Mathison leads the company as president and interim Chairman of the Board. West has taken many steps to make Stemilt an even stronger business entity. New packing plants, storage facilities, orchard operations and marketing partnerships have transformed Stemilt into a major player in the tree fruit industry.

Stemilt Timeline

1964	Tom Mathison formally incorporates Stemilt Growers.
1975	Olds Station facility in Wenatchee completed, becoming Stemilt's main operation.
1984	Stemilt Management, Inc. forms serving as an orchard management firm.
1986	Stemilt purchases the Columbia Street plant in Wenatchee from Welch Fruit.
1988	Cherry fumigation added to Olds Station plant enabling cherry exports to Japan.
1989	R & D department established; Responsible Choice program launched.
1990-1995	Receiving/storage facilities constructed in Pasco and Quincy, Washington, to service Stemilt's growers in the Columbia Basin.
1997-1998	Complete revamp of Olds Station plant adds a new hand pack line, two tray-fill lines, and a bagging line, bringing state-of-the-art automation to the apple industry.
1999	Exportadora Stemilt Chile Limitada - Stemilt forms an export company in Chile for apples and cherries.
2000	After several years of research and development, non-destructive sweetness testing based on near-infrared technology (NIR) is put on line.
April 2003	Stemilt purchases majority ownership of Chinchiolo Fruit Co. in Stockton, California, one of the largest shippers of California cherries; Company is named Chinchiolo Stemilt California.
May 2003	Stemilt forms an agreement with Sierra Hills in Stockton, California, to market their apples and pears. The former Sierra Hills Marketing team becomes part of the Stemilt sales & marketing staff but remains based in Stockton, California.
May 2003	Marketing alliance formed between Stemilt and Douglas Fruit Co. of Pasco, Washington, one of the state's largest soft fruit shippers; Douglas sales staff joins Stemilt sales & marketing, most of which remain based in Pasco.
July 2003	Stemilt dedicates its newly purchased packing and storage plant, a former Dole Fruit Co. operation located in Chelan, Washington, as a facility solely for organic fruit handling; Organic apple varieties begin to be packed in the fall of 2003.
August 2004	Stemilt acquires the exclusive rights to market and propagate the Pinova apple variety. Stemilt renames the apple Piñata!®
October 2004	Stemilt creates a marketing alliance with Pepin Heights Growers, a fruit grower-packer-shipper in Lake City, Minn.
March 2005	Stemilt earns the Diamond Crystal Award for its health-related promotional programs in 2004. The honor is the highest award given by the Produce for Better Health Foundation, representing the produce industry nationwide.
April 2005	Chinchiolo Stemilt California installs an all-new Rainier cherry line in Stockton.
June 2005	Stemilt launches cherry promotion with Sesame Workshop and features Elmo from the children's program Sesame Street.
June 2005	Stemilt installs a blueberry line at its Miller Street facility and begins packing, shipping, and marketing Stemilt Hill Blues.
July 2005	Tom Mathison, Stemilt founder, becomes Chairman of the Stemilt Board and transfers the presidency of the company to grandson West Mathison.
November 2005	Stemilt launches Bountiful Fruit, an on-line gift fruit business.
September 2006	Stemilt begins the three-year process to transition its entire peach and nectarine crop to organic production.
May 2006	Stemilt signs an agreement with Warmerdam Packing LLC of Hanford, Calif., allowing Stemilt exclusive rights to grow, pack, and market all cherries from the Sequoia™ group produced in Washington.
January 2007	Stemilt launches AppleSweets®, a line of sliced apple products. The value-added products feature both traditional and naturally flavored sliced apples.
April 2007	Stemilt and Peshastin Hi-Up Growers form a partnership and become one of the largest pear shippers in North America. From 2007 onward, Stemilt markets 100 percent of Hi-Up's pear crop.
August 2008	Stemilt opens a state-of-the-art pear facility in Wenatchee. The facility features two commit-to-pack lines, a post-harvesting ripening center and a network of cold storage rooms.
December 2008	Stemilt founder and industry pioneer Tom Mathison dies at the age of 82. Stemilt president West Mathison is named interim Chairman of the Board.