06. Lettuce

Like with other crops, Chandler’s long growing season contributed to the success of the lettuce industry in the Salt River Valley.  In 1931 it was a ten million dollar industry in the East Valley, and brought business to lumber mills, trucking companies, ice factories, railroads, garages, and other support industries.  These photos come from a promotional booklet for the Chandler Improvement Company.  The photo above shows workers picking and packing leafy heads of lettuce into crates.  Below, truck beds full of lettuce packed crates haul the leafy vegetable from fields to packing sheds.