SHELTONS CHRISTMASTOWN ORIGINS

SHELTONS CHRISTMASTOWN ORIGINS

Stella Wenstob, Fjord contributor

Shelton is typically branded as a logging community. Children were born in caulk boots and graduated to a peevee and pike pole when they were tall enough. The streets were built wide to accommodate the oversized logging trucks going down West Railroad Avenue to the mill. Sawdust made up the grit that produced many pioneer pearls. But trees weren’t just cut to make into boards or pulped into paper or cellulose products. Up until the 1990s, Shelton was known as Christmastown, USA – the Christmas Tree Capital of America.

Children were born in caulk boots and graduated to a peevee and pike pole when they were tall enough.

As early as the 1920s, wild-grown Douglas-firs (Pseudotsuga menziesii) were hand-cut to thin out already growing forests, such as logging cut-blocks and the Olympic National Forest. In 1918, G.R. Kirk was working as manager of a mill when he received word from his brotherin-law in El Paso, Texas requesting a train car full of wild-cut Douglas-fir trees for the Christmas market.

Initially doubtful, Kirk sent out the trees and was surprised to receive an order for two train carloads for the next year. Kirk cut three carloads instead and went down to Los Angeles to sell them himself, never returning to milling again. These wild Christmas trees were a major product shipped to markets in Seattle, Oregon, California, and Texas.

Trees being loaded on railroad cars bound for New York

WA Agriculture

Early Christmas tree cutters based out of Shelton included the John Hofert Company and the G.R. Kirk Company, who developed methods of “culturing” – trimming wild trees with long knives (look similar to machetes) to promote the fluffy, full growth consumers desired in their Christmas trees. Fertilizers, such as nitrogen, were also introduced to encourage deep greens of the tree boughs.

A serendipitous side effect of this fertilization is that it also boosted the growth of salal and evergreen huckleberries – two important harvested crops for the then budding floral greenery industry.

The superior quality of the trees of Mason County has long been recognized. In 1972 and 1977 noble firs (Abies procera) from the John Hofert Company were selected by the National Christmas Tree Association’s annual contest to grace the Blue Room at the White House. Trees from nearby Elma in Grays Harbor County (1999 and 2002) and Rochester in Thurston County (2004) were granted the honor of prominence more recently from the State of Washington. This year’s national winner was a Douglas-fir from Mahantongo Valley Farms in Pitman, Pennsylvania grown by Larry Snyder which will be delivered to the White House by horse and cart.

Shelton (1945) Railroad Avenue before Tollie took residence

Green Commonwealth, Stewart Holbrook

In the 1930s, the John Hofert Company and the G.R. Kirk Company diversified to Christmas tree farming, which had been popularized by growers such as Shelton’s own Fred Peste with his Douglas-fir Christmas Tree Company. Peste’s methods of trimming and fertilizing were very influential, with Peste often acting as an educator through programs such as 4-H. Peste founded the Pacific Northwest Christmas Tree Association, which still supports and educates Christmas tree growers and harvesters of Washington and Oregon. Peste was recognized for his distinguished service with the Herb & Helen Plumb award in 1975 by the Association.

Peste was also an avid rhododendron hybridizer and is responsible for many popular varieties, including the purple “Centennial Celebration” which was awarded the privilege of Washington State’s centennial flower in 1989.

Fred Peste trimming Christmas trees with a machete 1939

Forestry Service

Later in Peste’s career, he became a shareholder in the large-scale Noble Mountain Christmas Tree Farm near Salem, Oregon. The large scale 1,000-acre farm threatened to flood the western Christmas tree market in the 1970s with noble-fir, but partners Bob Stohr and Gary Bishop worked tirelessly to introduce the noble-fir to an Eastern market, where Douglas-firs and Scots pine had previously reigned supreme.

The Christmas tree market shifted in the 1990s from favoring the hardy natural Douglas-firs to the more perfect, cultivated noble-firs. This forced many growers to diversify and focus their growing operations in more agriculturally rich soils as Mason County’s glacial till soil could not provide the necessary nutrients. Jim Hunter of Hunter Christmas Trees has focused his business in Southern Washington. Whereas the Kirk Company has Christmas tree crops across the nation and even in Canada allowing them to offer a variety of Christmas tree species – such as the Colorado blue spruce (Picea pungens), Nordmann fir (Abies nordmanniana), and Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris).

Forester Firs Christmas Trees U-Cut

Large scale Christmas tree farms proliferate with trees being raised like crops in neat pipe-cleaner rows. To avoid disrupting the precious topsoil, many are harvested by chainsaw and transported in slings by helicopter to awaiting shipping trucks and packed in ice. Apart from being much quicker, helicopter shipments are also less damaging to the dirt tracks leading to the tree-fields during the muddy harvest season.

Hunter Christmas Trees still maintain a local Mason County connection with much of their sorting, packaging and selling still done out of their farm located outside of Shelton. Also family owned Hunter Farms in Union sells Hunter farmed Christmas trees and hosts a U-cut tree lot (located 1921 E Hwy 106). Other local farms include Brewer’s Christmas Tree Farm (located on 2382 W Deegan Road West), Northwind Tree Farm (located on 3601 E Agate Rd), and Bliss Manor Farm (located on 10924 Bliss Cochrane Rd NW, Gig Harbor).

Brewer Christmas Tree Farm is open again in 2019! This great shot was taken on their farm in November. Photo credit: Brewer's Christmas Tree Farm Facebook

Although, it seemed in the 1980s that the fake Christmas tree might be threatening the “real kind,” the popularity of a true, fresh Christmas tree seems as strong as ever. The National Christmas Tree Association’s 2018 Christmas Tree Report analyzing national tree sales using Square data has revealed that Christmas tree sales are enjoying a resurgence due to environmentally conscious millennials. Not only are natural Christmas trees compostable, they are produced locally with sustainable practices and their purchase supports local tree farmers. (And they are gluten-free!)

Plus, getting a Christmas tree is an experience. Many of the U-cut farms now focus on fostering an annual family tradition with photo-opportunities, hot apple cider, cart rides, and some even have petting zoos or gift shops selling wreaths and ornaments for your tree..

In December 2019 Shelton attempted to reignite the community spirit and Christmastown distinction with a Guinness World Record Attempt for the most lit christmas trees in one location. Numbering 797 trees in a giant maze, they were ablate beat the Hallmark Channel Record set in 2015 by over 200 trees! The record was recorded in the Guinness list in July of 2020.