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Wealthy (apple)

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Peter M. Gideon

Peter M. Gideon, creator of Minnesota's wealthy apple, c.1890.

The Wealthy apple was the first apple to thrive in Minnesota's humid continental climate. Horticulturalist Peter Gideon grew it first in 1868, after years of trial and error with various apple varieties.

Before 1868, only crab apples grew reliably in Minnesota. American Indians in the area harvested other crops, but they did not grow apples. Early white settlers to Minnesota tried to grow apples using seeds and seedlings from their former homes to the east and the south, but their plants died, usually because of the region's harsh winters.

In 1853, Peter Gideon moved to Minnesota for health reasons and took a homestead with his family on the shores of Lake Minnetonka, near Excelsior. He had learned fruit growing as a child, and when he arrived on his new land, he planted a bushel of apple seeds he had brought with him from his former home in Illinois. In the years that followed, Gideon experimented with apple and fruit growing, planting thousands of trees. But most of his trees died within a few years, if not right away, and none of them bore much fruit.

By 1861, Gideon and his family had only one surviving apple tree, a Siberian crab apple, and they were down to their last eight dollars. Determined to find an apple that would grow in Minnesota, Gideon sent the family's last dollars to an apple grower in Bangor, Maine, and got a bushel of apple seeds in return. Just one of these seeds, crossed with Gideon's Siberian crab apple, produced the apple that Gideon later named the Wealthy, after his wife, Wealthy (Hull) Gideon.

Year after year, Gideon's Wealthy apple trees yielded large, tasty apples for eating. He was a member of the Minnesota State Horticultural Society, and he shared his knowledge and his trees freely, giving seedlings away to anyone who asked for them. Soon, Wealthy apples were growing in many locations in Minnesota, as well as in other states, especially states in the Upper Midwest with similar climates. By the early twentieth century, the Wealthy apple was one of the top five apples grown nationally.

In March 1878, Minnesota established a State Experimental Fruit Farm by act of the Legislature. The state farm was located near Gideon's land on Lake Minnetonka, and Gideon was appointed to head it, under the jurisdiction of the University of Minnesota.

Gideon ran the State Experimental Fruit Farm for eleven years, planting many thousands of apple trees and distributing his best seeds across the state. When the farm closed in February 1889 due to conflicts with the University, Gideon lost his job.

Beyond his employment at the state farm, Gideon never made any money from the Wealthy apple. However, his apple made commercial fruit growing possible in Minnesota, and it was the most profitable apple in the Northwest for decades, contributing to the livelihood of many other people. The Wealthy apple also was the parent of other successful Minnesota apples, such as the Haralson, which was developed at the University of Minnesota's Fruit Breeding Farm in 1922.

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© Minnesota Historical Society
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Alderman, W. H. Development of Horticulture on the Northern Great Plains. [St. Paul]: Sponsored by the Great Plains Region American Society for Horticultural Science, 1962.

Duin, Edgar C. "Peter M. Gideon: Pioneer Horticulturist." Minnesota History 44, no. 3 (Fall 1974): 96–103.
http://collections.mnhs.org/MNHistoryMagazine/articles/44/v44i03p096-103.pdf

Hedrick, U.P. A History of Horticulture in America to 1860. New York: Oxford University Press, 1950.

"Peter Gideon, Pioneer, Kept on Raising Apples." Minnetonka Record, September 20, 1935.

Related Images

Peter M. Gideon
Peter M. Gideon
Tablet to Peter M. Gideon
Tablet to Peter M. Gideon
Peter M. Gideon and the Wealthy Apple historic marker
Peter M. Gideon and the Wealthy Apple historic marker

Turning Point

In 1861, horticulturalist Peter Gideon spends his family's last eight dollars on a bushel of apple seeds from Bangor, Maine. One of these seeds, crossed with a Siberian crab apple tree, produces the Wealthy apple.

Chronology

1853

Horticulturalist Peter Gideon moves to Minnesota and begins planting apple seeds on his land.

1861

Gideon buys a bushel of apple seeds from Maine, one of which helps create the Wealthy apple.

1868

Gideon's Wealthy apple first thrives in the Minnesota climate.

1878

After the success of the Wealthy apple, Minnesota establishes a State Experimental Fruit Farm, which remains open until 1889.

1922

The University of Minnesota uses the Wealthy apple to develop the Haralson apple.