Crate Label: Mountain Goat Brand Apples, Lake Chelan Growers Union, Washington, 1940s

A mountain goat perches on a rocky ledge against snow-capped peaks on this crate label, its shaggy white coat bright against a blue-green alpine sky — one of the more striking wildlife designs to come out of Washington's apple country.

• Brand: Mountain Goat
• Produce: Apples
• Packing House / Grower: Lake Chelan Growers Union
• Materials: Lithographed paper
• Dimensions: 9 x 10 in
• Origin: Chelan, Washington, USA
• Era: 1940s
• Condition: Excellent, New Old Stock — never applied to a crate. Age-appropriate yellowing on the reverse only.  Please review photos closely before purchasing, as all sales are final.

Warehouse stock that never made it onto a box: the colors are bright and the corners are crisp, exactly as it came off the press.

The Lake Chelan Growers Union was one of several competing cooperatives packing fruit from the Lake Chelan valley in the early-to-mid twentieth century, alongside outfits like Lake Chelan Fruit Growers. Each brand name gave growers a way to distinguish their fruit in a crowded national market, and wildlife imagery — eagles, trout, mountain goats — was a favorite shorthand for the rugged, high-country origins of Washington's apples. The Cascade goat pictured here would have been a familiar sight to Chelan-area growers, native to the steep alpine terrain above the lake. Like most crate labels, production of this design ended as fruit shipping shifted to printed cardboard cartons by the 1950s, leaving the surviving paper labels as collectible relics of the era.

A natural pairing for a cabin or lodge wall, or for anyone building a collection of vintage Pacific Northwest wildlife art.

Pairs beautifully with our other Lake Chelan crate labels for a themed grouping.