Who were the transient fruit packers, and what lay behind the giant migration of people who took to the road back in the 1920s?
    One of these people whose numbers are dwindling rapidly is Bertha Hayman, Talent. She has completed over 50 years of packing up and down the Pacific Coast. She has packed oranges at Porterville and Redlands, Calif., and pears in Southern Oregon, Courtland, Lake County and Walnut Creek, Calif.
    She started packing in 1913. Then they didn't have graders. The crew packed out of lug boxes. Then the fruit was dumped into square canvas bins and was sized and packed out of that. Later sorters were hired to pick out culls. The mechanical graders came about the middle '20s.
    Mis Hayman has had the same tiny cottage each year she has returned to work for the Apple Growers Association at Odell near Hood River. She has continued to pack all these years because she likes the people, she said.
    The depression started most transient packers in their careers. It was in 1929 when the vast immigration to the fruit and vegetable industry began.
    Before then the bulk of the transient packers were men. These were found mostly in the melon industry, such as cantaloupes and honeydew that were packed in California, Arizona and Colorado. According to a former melon packer living here in Medford, there is more money in the melon packing industry than in any of the others. But for a newcomer to break into this field, his chances are practically nil. These jobs are handed down from father to son. Sort of an inheritance.
    Many of the unemployed were able to find work in the packing houses during the early years of the depression. Since no two kinds of fruit or vegetables are packed alike, packing is a skilled type of employment. It requires a lot of patience and hard work. In those days each piece of fruit was individually wrapped in paper; no sloppy packs were acceptable. Each box was carefully inspected as to grade and pack. The most successful packer was the speed ball, who was constantly in demand. Some of the packing-house foremen were paid the exact wages as the high packer.
    It was nothing to see a packer from Washington packing tomatoes in Florida, or someone from Florida packing apples in Washington or Virginia. From the lower Rio Grande Valley the migrant packer spread out and covered the entire country from coast to coast. He followed the harvest, which may be apples, pears, apricots, peaches, citrus or vegetables. Some of the packers took their living quarters along, pulling house trailers; others accepted the quarters supplied by the employers.
    Throughout the years of the depression the number of migrant packers increased. But when World War II began the packers seemed to disappear from the road as fast as they had come. Where once there had been such a surplus of packers, there was now a tremendous shortage. The shippers were now faced with the problem of looking for other methods and means to process their crops. For a time anyone who could pack at all was acceptable.
    With the addition of transportation shortages (box cars) the worries of the growers increased. The citrus fruits had for some time been packed in wire-bound boxes, none of the fruit was wrapped, and [it] had reached the far-away markets in good condition. What could prevent many of the other fruits and vegetables from being shipped in a similar manner?
    Probably the greatest boom to the growers and shippers was the new means of refrigeration now furnished by the railroad and the fast trucking service. The growers today don't have to hold their breath and pray their commodity will reach its destination in good condition. The bulk form of shipping has improved, also. It can be carried out with little or no loss at all. The tomato, which once was believed to be so delicate, can now be shipped successfully thousands of miles in the bulk form.
    Since the last war relatively few transient packers are found in the country. The packers leaving the Rogue Valley are persons like Miss Hayman, packers that have for years gone back to their old jobs.
    The majority of the former transient packers have returned to their places of employment they held before the depression, or they have relocated on other projects. Most of the college students, who for a time had to follow the road, have either been able to finish their education, or they have found gainful employment in fields of their own choosing.
    Packers in this area seldom migrate any farther than to Washington for apples, or to California for pears and the citrus. Needless to say, none of these packers have packed any longer than Miss Hayman.
    Here in the valley are a considerable number of both men and women who once traveled with this great fruit and vegetable industry. Some are native Oregonians; others are people that came here and have made the valley their permanent home.
    Many of the former transient packers have happy and humorous stories to tell. Some remember the heartaches. But they all seem to have one thing in common with the growers, on the road or off, that is, the desire for favorable weather and a good market for the produce.
    They all agree they were able to see and visit places that otherwise they would have never seen. Many made friends with which they still correspond.
    One of the local packers when asked if he could consider returning to the road replied, "Oh, no sir-ee. My wife and I had 15 years of that, from Medford to the Eastern Seaboard. Our children had to be left with my parents in order to attend school. All we made was a living. There was no security. The only thing I learned was the value of the dollar."
    Another said, "Yes, I would readily go. The only thing that bothers me is my age. Sure there were times when the road was no bed of roses. But I enjoyed meeting new people. The road was a challenge, especially when the next move meant a new place. Really I would love to visit all the people I once worked with."
    Many changes have come to the shippers of fruits and vegetables throughout the country. All have been improvements, most of which have been necessary. A product that is perishable has to be harvested at harvest time in the quickest way possible. There is still a great number of people here annually employed in the packing and processing of the pear industry. And with the harvest come some of the transient packers from Washington and California. But the number is comparatively small, remembering the depression days.

    When Tom Escamilla wrapped up his last box of pears for the season at the Gordon Green Company on South Fir Street, he was wrapping up exactly to the day a career of 40 years as a fruit packer.
    From coast to coast this soft-spoken man of Spanish descent, a native of Texas, has traveled, packing tomatoes, citrus, melons, peaches, lettuce and green vegetables. But in all the years he has packed, when the pears were ready in Oregon he was already packing in another district.
    In July he was packing grapefruit at Indio, Calif. for the Betz Packing Company. Bill Lamon, packing boss at the Green plant here, is the superintendent at the Indio packing house. Bill asked Tom to come to Medford to pack pears.
    Tom believed that since he had packed a bit of everything else, he might as well try pears.
    Tom's first day: The tubs at Green's are the big double type. Tom has packed off belts and out of bins, tubs and nearly everything known to the veteran fruit packer. But he's never seen tubs like these.
    The rotation was far different from any method he had ever worked. The packers moved ahead every 15 minutes. Instead of following the packer directly in front of him, he was told to follow the packer across the machine, in a zigzag fashion. The packers on the front side of the machine were given preference over the packers on the back side.
    "Always count the number of packers on the front side, then count the packers on the back. If you are number four on the back side, follow number four on the front. If you are number four on the front side follow number three on the back," he was told.
    Sound confusing? It was for Tom. When he wasn't being told to "get out" he was being told to "move up." It was coming from all directions.
    Before he quite savvied the rotation problem, he was informed that pears are packed by weight. He no more than got a box on the conveyor than it seemed he had another box coming back, either too light or too heavy. But with Bill's help, the box was repacked and was on its way back to the scales.
    After a couple of days and a few hundred boxes later, Tom fully believed he had mastered the art of packing pears, even the rotation and weight problems.
    Tom's only handicap at the packing house was the grading machine. It was set up to accommodate packers that pull the paper with their left hand and place the fruit in the box with the same hand. Tom pulls paper with his right hand and likewise places the fruit in the box with his right.
    Not only does the fruit fall in the bins backwards to him, the conveyor overhead that brings the packing boxes and packing paper is also in reverse.
    He was continually glancing over his shoulder looking for the paper. The packers nearest him sensed his difficulty. When he paper was near they would tell him.
    He had little trouble with the D'Anjous, Comice or the Seckels. When the Bosc were ready so was Tom, he thought. Until he hit the fancy section (number twos). The foot tub filled to capacity, little brown and green pears, some completely round, others like gourds with necks three and four inches long.
    Tom looked up at Bill in wide-eyed dismay. "What do I do with these?" he laughed.
    "Your best," Bill answered.
    His best in the Bosc was good enough for the man on the scales and the inspector. Before leaving, Tom told George Anderson, superintendent, and Gordon Green he hoped to be able to come back next year.
    His next job is at Patterson, Calif., packing pink tomatoes. After that he will go to Pompano, Fla., for another pink tomato deal. In the spring he'll return to Indio for the grapefruit.
    Tom is a veteran of World War II. The time he spent in the United States Army overseas was the only time he has been off the road. He is married and in between jobs lives at Monterey, Calif. with his family. He is the father of three grown children, a son and two daughters.
    "It's always great to get back home," Tom said.
Medford Mail Tribune, October 12, 1965, page 7


    Thirty-nine years ago, Mrs. Catherine Jay was hired by Frank (Pug) Isaacs to sort pears for one of the local packing companies.
    Superintendent of the company then was Ray Reter. The foreman was Clarence Pankey. Maggie Ping was sorting boss. The year was 1926.
    Two years later, Reter acquired ownership of the company, and Mrs. Jay, or "Mom Jay," as she is affectionately called, was kept on, as were all the other employees.
    This pear season, Mrs. Jay was found still at the Reter Fruit Company, seated next to the head sorter on the first machine. At the age of 78, she was still smiling, and just as chipper and alert as the first day she went to work. Although her work is somewhat easier now than in the early days, sorting pears is no child's play.
    In recalling those first days, she says, the pears were placed in field boxes by the sorters. They wiped the fruit with their gloves and carefully placed it on a conveyor made of wooden rollers. The pears were carried into the washer, where they were washed, and then moved out on belts and taken to the packing bins. The hours were extremely long through the peak of the harvest. There were a lot of 10-hour days, and many nights the workers returned after supper to work until midnight, sometimes all day on Sunday.
    Mrs. Jay was paid 25 cents an hour those first years.
    During the last world war, she and a daughter took a full-time day job with the Kay Lithographing Company here. Through pear season, they filled in at night for the Myron Root Company. Saturdays they sorted pears at Reter's.
    She is the mother of three children, all grown, a son and daughter here and a daughter at Bend. She has four grandchildren, one grandson now attending the University of San Francisco. Her bright blue eyes sparkle with admiration as she talks about her family. She says she is never happier than when they drop in unexpectedly for a visit or to take her for a ride.
    Much to her family's disappointment, she lives alone in apartment at 435 South Grape St. The location is ideal for her, as it is within walking distance of the packing house and she can go home for lunch. She seems to radiate with untiring energy, spending many of her off-work hours preparing tasty favorite dishes for her co-workers when they go home with her at noon.
    "I actually look forward to each pear season," Mrs. Jay remarked. "There are some of us who don't see one another from season to season. It's quite exciting to hear about the new babies, the children's accomplishments, hubby's promotion and all the many other developments related to the family and home. It usually takes about a week for us to renew old acquaintances and to meet the new employees.
    "The packing house at Reter's is as modern and convenient as a person could want. The working hours are shorter. This season, we had all nine-hour days. The pay is considerably higher; sorters receive $1.53 an hour. Now, we can either stand up and sort or sit down. In the early days, we stood up all through the season.
    "The management, in my opinion, is unbeatable. Phil McCormick, our superintendent, and Mrs. Walter Jensen, the floor lady, are the most patient people. Regardless of all the mistakes we make, they are always willing to help us correct them. There's never a harsh word from either of them.
    "Ray Reter knows all the regular employees by name. It's always a big cheery greeting. 'Hi-yah Joe,' Bob, Mary or whatever your name may be. He takes time to inquire about our welfare and members of our family. He makes a person feel like he is really important to the company. There's not another man like him," Mrs. Jay said.
    Besides her family and work, she has other interests. On Sunday mornings, she is always found at the 6 o'clock mass at Sacred Heart Church.
    After each packing season she takes a vacation, sometimes to relatives in Arkansas and Illinois. Idleness holds no fascination for Mrs. Jay, and this year when she returns from her visit she plans to take a job, babysitting.
    As for packing pears [as opposed to sorting], Mrs. Jay says she had never tried it, but this season when she heard of some of the wages packers were making, she kind of wished she had. Cynthia Wooten at Reter's in nine hours packed 255 boxes. Norman Bursing at the Nye and Naumes packing house packed 250, also in nine. At the Myron Root company, the entire crew averaged 200 boxes a day for two consecutive days in 10-hour days. All of the packers are local. They were paid 18 to 18½ cents a box.
Medford Mail Tribune, October 12, 1965, page 7