In this Oct. 28 photo, amateur botanist David Benscoter of The Lost Apple Project stands near a tree in the Steptoe Butte area near Colfax that produces Arkansas Beauty apples, a so-called heritage fruit long believed to be extinct until Benscoter and fellow botanist E.J. Brandt rediscovered it, along with at least 12 other long-lost apple varieties over the past several years through their work searching in homestead orchards, remote canyons and windswept fields in eastern Washington and northern Idaho. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

In this Oct. 28 photo, amateur botanist David Benscoter of The Lost Apple Project stands near a tree in the Steptoe Butte area near Colfax that produces Arkansas Beauty apples, a so-called heritage fruit long believed to be extinct until Benscoter and fellow botanist E.J. Brandt rediscovered it, along with at least 12 other long-lost apple varieties over the past several years through their work searching in homestead orchards, remote canyons and windswept fields in eastern Washington and northern Idaho. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

Apple sleuths hunt Northwest for varieties believed extinct

Rare apple trees are dying. Others are being ripped out for wheat fields or housing developments.

  • By GILLIAN FLACCUS Associated Press
  • Thursday, November 21, 2019 5:06am
  • Northwest

By Gillian Flaccus / Associated Press

PULLMAN — The apple tree stands alone near the top of a steep hill, wind whipping through its branches as a perfect sunset paints its leaves a vibrant gold.

It has been there for more than a century, and there is no hint that the tree or its apples are anything out of the ordinary. But this scraggly specimen produces the Arkansas Beauty, a so-called heritage fruit long believed to be extinct until amateur botanists in the Pacific Northwest tracked it down three years ago.

It’s one of 13 long-lost apple varieties rediscovered by a pair of retirees in the remote canyons, wind-swept fields and hidden ravines of what was once the Oregon Territory.

E.J. Brandt and David Benscoter, who together form the nonprofit Lost Apple Project, log countless hours and hundreds of miles in trucks, on all-terrain vehicles and on foot to find orchards planted by settlers as they pushed west more than a century ago.

In this Oct. 29 photo, amateur botanist E.J. Brandt, of The Lost Apple Project, examines apples he picked from a tree in an orchard near Troy, Idaho. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

In this Oct. 29 photo, amateur botanist E.J. Brandt, of The Lost Apple Project, examines apples he picked from a tree in an orchard near Troy, Idaho. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

The two are racing against time to preserve a slice of homesteader history: The apple trees are old, and many are dying. Others are being ripped out for more wheat fields or housing developments for a growing population.

“To me, this area is a goldmine,” said Brandt, who has found two lost varieties in the Idaho panhandle. “I don’t want it lost in time. I want to give back to the people so that they can enjoy what our forefathers did.”

Brandt and Benscoter scour old county fair records, newspaper clippings and nursery sales ledgers to figure out which varieties existed in the area. Then they hunt them down, matching written records with old property maps, land deeds and sometimes the memories of the pioneers’ great-grandchildren. They also get leads from people who live near old orchards.

The task is huge. North America once had 17,000 named varieties of domesticated apples, but only about 4,000 remain. The Lost Apple Project believes settlers planted a few hundred varieties in their corner of the Pacific Northwest alone.

In this Oct. 28 photo, amateur botanist David Benscoter picks an apple that may be of the Clarke variety in an orchard near Pullman. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

In this Oct. 28 photo, amateur botanist David Benscoter picks an apple that may be of the Clarke variety in an orchard near Pullman. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

The Homestead Act of 1862 gave 160 acres to families who would improve the land and pay a small fee, and these newcomers planted orchards with enough variety to get them through the long winter, with apples that ripened from early spring until the first frosts. Then, as now, trees planted for eating apples were not raised from seeds; cuttings taken from existing trees were grafted onto a generic root stock and raised to maturity. These cloned trees remove the genetic variation that often makes “wild” apples inedible — so-called “spitters.”

Benscoter, who retired in 2006 after a career as an FBI agent and an IRS criminal investigator, pursues leads on lost apples with the same zeal he applied to his criminal cases.

In one instance, he found county fair records that listed winners for every apple variety growing in Whitman County, Washington, from 1900 to 1910 — an invaluable treasure map. In another, he located a descendant of a homesteader with a gigantic orchard by finding a family history she posted online.

Once he discovers a forgotten orchard, Benscoter spends hours mapping it. He has pages of diagrams with a tiny circle denoting each tree, with GPS coordinates alongside each dot. A lengthy computer database lists apples including the Shackleford, the Flushing Spitzenburg and the Dickinson— all varieties rediscovered by the project.

In this Oct. 29 photo, amateur botanist E.J. Brandt examines an apple tree in an orchard near Moscow, Idaho. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

In this Oct. 29 photo, amateur botanist E.J. Brandt examines an apple tree in an orchard near Moscow, Idaho. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

Apples from newly discovered trees are placed in a Ziploc baggie and carefully labeled with the tree’s latitude and longitude and the date the fruit was collected. The apples are then shipped to the Temperate Orchard Conservancy more than 400 miles away in Molalla, Oregon, for identification.

There, experts work to identify them using a trove of U.S. Agriculture Department watercolors and old textbooks. Once a variety is identified as “lost,” the apple detectives return to the field to take cuttings that can be grafted onto root stock and planted in the conservancy’s vast orchard, to be preserved for future generations.

The trees could eventually boost genetic diversity among modern-day apple crops as climate change and disease take an increasing toll, said Joanie Cooper, a botanist at the Temperate Orchard Conservancy who’s helped identify many of the lost varieties found in northern Idaho and eastern Washington.

She and two others founded the nonprofit conservancy in 2011, and operate it on a shoestring, after recognizing the need for a repository for rare fruit trees in the U.S. West.

“You have to have varieties that can last, that can grow, produce fruit, survive the heat and maybe survive the cold winter, depending on where you are,” Cooper said. “I think that’s critical.”

In this Oct. 28 photo, amateur botanist David Benscoter walks past an abandoned home on a remote homestead near Pullman, after collecting apples from the large orchard on the site. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

In this Oct. 28 photo, amateur botanist David Benscoter walks past an abandoned home on a remote homestead near Pullman, after collecting apples from the large orchard on the site. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

For Benscoter and Brandt, however, the biggest joy comes in the hunt.

Brandt, a Vietnam veteran and passionate historian, last year found a homestead near Troy, Idaho, by matching names on receipts from a nursery ledger with old property maps. Three wind-bent apple trees neatly spaced along the edge of a wheat field were all that remained of the orchard.

Brandt collected the apples, hoping one was the Enormous Pippin, a lost variety he saw listed in the sales ledger.

Months later, he learned he had instead found the Regmalard, a yellowish apple with vibrant red splashes on its speckled skin. It hadn’t even been on his radar.

“It’s a lot of footwork and a lot of book work and a lot of computer work. You talk to a lot of people,” Brandt said, savoring the memory. “And with that type of information, you can zero in a little bit — and then after that, you just cross your fingers and say, ‘Maybe this will be a lost one.’”

Brandt is still looking for the Enormous Pippin.

In this Oct. 28 photo, amateur botanist David Benscoter writes on a bag as he collects apples that may be of the Clarke variety in an orchard near Pullman. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

In this Oct. 28 photo, amateur botanist David Benscoter writes on a bag as he collects apples that may be of the Clarke variety in an orchard near Pullman. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Northwest

Alaska Airlines aircraft sit in the airline's hangar at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024, in SeaTac, Wash. Boeing has acknowledged in a letter to Congress that it cannot find records for work done on a door panel that blew out on an Alaska Airlines flight over Oregon two months ago. Ziad Ojakli, Boeing executive vice president and chief government lobbyist, wrote to Sen. Maria Cantwell on Friday, March 8 saying, “We have looked extensively and have not found any such documentation.” (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
FBI tells passengers on 737 flight they might be crime victims

Passengers received letters this week from a victim specialist from the federal agency’s Seattle office.

Skylar Meade (left) and Nicholas Umphenour.
Idaho prison gang member and accomplice caught after ambush

Pair may have killed 2 while on the run, police say. Three police officers were hospitalized with gunshot wounds after the attack at a Boise hospital.

Barbara Peraza-Garcia holds her 2-year-old daughter, Frailys, while her partner Franklin Peraza sits on their bed in their 'micro apartment' in Seattle on Monday, March 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Manuel Valdes)
Micro-apartments are back after nearly a century, as need for affordable housing soars

Boarding houses that rented single rooms to low-income, blue-collar or temporary workers were prevalent across the U.S. in the early 1900s.

Teen blamed for crash that kills woman, 3 children in Renton

Four people were hospitalized, including three with life-threatening injuries. The teenage driver said to be at fault is under guard at a hospital.

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee proposed his final state budget on Tuesday. It calls for a new wealth tax, an increase in business taxes, along with some programs and a closure of a women’s prison. The plan will be a starting point for state lawmakers in the 2025 legislative session. (Jerry Cornfield / Washington State Standard)
Inslee proposes taxing the wealthy and businesses to close budget gap

His final spending plan calls for raising about $13 billion over four years from additional taxes. Republicans decry the approach.

The Snohomish County Jail is pictured on Thursday, Oct. 26, 2023, in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
First bills drop ahead of WA’s 2025 legislative session

Permanent standard time, immigration policies and fentanyl penalties were among the proposals pre-filed Monday.

Teslas charging in Victorville, Calif., on March 11. Elon Musk, the chief executive of Tesla and one of President-elect Donald Trump’s biggest supporters, has said the government should eliminate all subsidies for electric vehicles. (Lauren Justice / The New York Times)
Once a must for wealthy Seattle-area liberals, Teslas feel Elon backlash

For many, Tesla has changed from a brand associated with climate action and innovation to something “much more divisive.”

The livery on a Boeing plane. (Christopher Pike / Bloomberg)
Boeing’s new CEO clips corporate jet trips in show of restraint

It’s one of several moves by Kelly Ortberg in recent months to permanently shrink Boeing’s costs.

Dorian Cerda, who was aboard a plane that caught fire over the Gulf of Mexico, in Lake Placid, Fla., on Sunday. Extreme turbulence, a blown-out door, an engine on fire: For passengers and crew members who have experienced in-air emergencies, the pain endures. (Saul Martinez / The New York Times)
‘Everyone thought we were going to die’: Life after flight trauma

After the midair Alaska Airlines blowout earlier this year, Shandy Brewer has had recurring nightmares. She’s not alone.

Snohomish County Superior Courthouse in Everett, Washington on February 8, 2022.  (Kevin Clark / The Herald)
WA court system outage means firearm sales on hold

Buyers must wait until the Washington State Patrol can access databases for background checks.

Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson speaks at the Snohomish & Island County Labor Council champions dinner on Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2023 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Ferguson, WA Democrats prepare for new era of showdowns with Trump

Gov.-elect Bob Ferguson and Attorney General-elect Nick Brown are readying their legal teams.

From left to right, Dave Larson and Sal Mungia.
WA Supreme Court race is incredibly close

Just 0.05% separated Sal Mungia and Dave Larson on Tuesday. More votes will come Wednesday.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.