Is the young girl Frank Shields’s sister? Walla Walla County in the southeastern corner of what is now Washington State is credited with having the first commercial apple orchard in Washington. In 1855, Ransom Clark filed a claim on a 640-acre tract, the first such claim under the provisions of the Oregon Territory (of which present-day Washington State was then a part) Donation Act. His intention was obviously to farm the land, though there is no evidence of a written record. No action can be confirmed until March 1, 1859, when Clark reportedly left Portland, Oregon, with eight boxes of […]