Mount Adams is on the left and Mount Rainier on the right in the distance. “G and I” stood for Grandview Inland Fruit Company and its principals Garrison and Inman.
As World War I ended in the fall of 1918, a young man named A.M. "Art" Garrison from Comanche, Texas, was finishing up his training as a Navy radioman at the Great Lakes Naval Training Center. He was just 20 years old. A friend of his told him of the better opportunities to be had in Washington State. So, after being discharged, he and the friend came to Yakima.
Art had completed a correspondence course in accounting and so got a job with the W.E. Roche Fruit Company as a bookkeeper. In 1925, after he had spent a few years with Roche, he was hired by C.F. Schaefer (who had cold storage plants in Yakima and Grandview) to run his Grandview plant. Art gradually acquired stock in C.F. Schaefer –Company, and when he had one third of the total stock, he traded it in for the –Grandview cold storage plant.
This was around 1928, and it was at this time that Art took in a partner, Rolland D. Inman, who was an orchardist from Grandview. Inman was the "cider king" of the lower Yakima Valley. He pressed enough cider on his ranch to sell it commercially. The partners renamed their company Grandview Inland Fruit Company. The firm packed mainly apples and pears. They operated in Grandview until 1940, when they finally closed their doors—having operated throughout the Depression.
Grandview is located about 40 miles southeast of Yakima and was one of the earliest areas to receive water from the Sunnyside Valley –Irrigation District. This was the first and largest canal taking water from the Yakima River in the early 1900s. This area was known in those days for its 250 days of sunshine per year and for being frost-free. The Grandview-Sunnyside area is also known for a couple of other interesting facts. The Boston-to-Seattle highway, Highway 410, runs through the center of each town and is also known as "The Yellowstone Trail." In addition, the 120th meridian, one third of the way around the world from Greenwich, England, runs down the main street of Sunnyside. Legend has it that as the early settlers arrived and looked out over the lower Yakima Valley, one of them said, "What a grand view!" and this was the way that Grandview acquired its name.
The G and I label shows this "grand view." In the background, you can see Mount Adams on the left and Mount Rainier on the right, with orchards in the foreground. While "G and I" stands for Grandview Inland Fruit Company, it also stands for its principals, Garrison and Inman. Even though the apple labels were printed in all three grades, the Yakima museum staff have not yet found a red Fancy or a green "C"-grade label. So, if either could be found, it would be a rare find indeed.
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