The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

WAITSBURG – "Apple Detective" David Benscoter will visit Waitsburg on Sat. Sept. 30 and is looking for some help in learning the location of the Columbian Orchards and Nursery (Babcock Orchard) and the Taggard and Dickinson orchards prior to his visit. The Columbian Orchards grew a variety of apple that Benscoter has been searching for.

Hockersmith and Benscoter have pieced together some information on the Columbian Orchard. The owner, Col. E.F. Babcock was born in New York on Jan. 8, 1831 and died in Orting, Wash. on June 17, 1996. He was an orchardist and nurseryman in Tennessee and Arkansas before the Civil War. He served the entire Civil War and ended up in Missouri after the war.

Babcock is said to have discovered Washington-grown fruit at the World's Fair Pomologist exhibition in 1893. He moved to Walla Walla County while in his 60s and established Columbian Orchards and Nursery near Waitsburg.

Courtesy Photo

Benscoter has found several lost apple varieties at the base of Steptoe Butte in Whitman County. The grey trees at the base of the butte are apple trees.

The orchard was 15 acres and had 1,000 trees. Babcock grew all kinds of fruit trees but specialized in apples. He won second and third premiums on his apples at the Paris Pomological Exposition and won two gold medals for his fruit produced in 1900.

Benscoter is also seeking information on the Taggard and Dickinson Orchards here in Waitsburg, that first produced apples in 1907 and had about 20 acres of fruit trees.

Plans are still being finalized for Benscoter's visit but a rough itinerary has been set. A fundraiser will take place at Ten Ton Press on Main Street at 5:30 p.m. followed by a lecture at the Lion's Club Building at 6:30 p.m. The lecture location was moved from the elementary school library due to the large number of people who have expressed in attending. Tours of the area will also take place over the weekend.