Peterson & Dering

In 1922, E.C. (Butz) Peterson and E. P. (Mike) Dering started a general nursery near Fairview, Oregon. In 1932 they moved their nursery to the Scappoose Drainage district. In 1934 they built a 40,000 square foot fireproof warehouse with a 14 foot storage cellar and a packing and shipping shed directly overhead. This Scappoose facility located on the S.P.&S. railway siding, shipped to wholesalers in 30 states, mainly east of the Rocky Mountains. In 1936 the nursery comprised 60 acres and employed 50 men at the peak of the season. At its apex, Peterson and Dering, Inc. employed 250 and was the largest rose growing operation in the United States. In 1960, an advertisement in the Oregon Journal noted that the business was known internationally, and had a $500,000 share of the annual $2,000,000 revenue of the rose industry. In 1965 the nursery closed after 2 successive years of crop devastation from freezes, ending 33 years of operation in Scappoose.