Cross Orchards, Mesa County, Colorado [1899-1910?] 1923 39.0990884 -108.483210 3073 F Road Grand Junction Mesa Colorado 81504 USA https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross_Orchards_Historic_Site Wikipedia entry for Cross Orchards Covering 240 acres, the largest operating ranch in the Grand Valley and one of the largest in Colorado during the early years of the 1900s. The land was owned and its financial affairs managed for many years by Walter B. Cross. His older sister Isabel Cross (shown living with Walter as children in Vermont in the 1860 U.S. Census), apparently bought the land on which Cross Orchards sits in 1896 along with her half-brother Daniel (shown living with Isabel as children in Vermont in the 1850 U.S. Census). She shortly consolidated holdings on the land by purchasing the acreage owned by Daniel. She offered public stock on Cross Orchards in 1899, but had no takers, and so incorporated the Red Cross Land and Fruit Company in 1909. The Red Cross Land and Fruit Company managed the financial affairs of Cross Orchards. Apples (Ben Davis, Ganos, Missouri Pippins, Winesaps, Black Twig, and Winter Pearman varieties) were packed during the winter time and placed in a large storage cellar with the aid of a wagon or a sled. Boxes would be made, on-site, for the shipping of orders of apples to Denver, CO. There was no sorting equipment in use in 1916. Apples, at the time, were sprayed with arsenic and lead, resulting in the packers wearing cotton gloves for protection. Roughly five hundred boxes of apples made a train-car-load. Elberta peaches were also grown and packed on the ranch. Hot lunch was provided in an on-site cook-shack for winter-workers. The ranch supported a pair of workhorses, some cows, and a variety of fowl (including Plymouth Rock and White Rock chickens). Corn was grown in some fields on the south end of the ranch and then stored in a large silo. Also, a garden (with both vegetables and flowers) was located on the south side of a large storage shed on the grounds. This garden was used to provide the cook-shack with ingredients. *The above photo of a barn on the Cross Orchards property was shared with permission of the Museums of Western Colorado. yes yes