he apple that symbolizes the Washington state apple industry is the Red Delicious, which began life as a foundling named Hawkeye.

Hawkeye originated on a farm in Peru, Indiana from a seedling rootstock whose top had broken away. The farm's owner, Jesse Hiatt, tried to kill the tree several times but each year the root sent up new shoots. He finally let it grow and when it produced its first fruit in 1872, named it Hawkeye.

After tasting Hawkeye twenty-two years later at the Stark Fruit Fair in Missouri, the nurseryman C. M. Stark purchased the sole propagation rights to Mr. Hiatt's apple. He then gave it a snappy new name, Delicious, and spent three quarters of a million dollars (at least $10 million in today's economy) on promotion to American fruit growers. By World War II, the Red Delicious was the most popular apple in the country.