February 2015 - Fall City Broccoli Gang 1944

Harold Badten recently shared this 1944 photo with us. The quality is not great, but it is a rare glimpse of summer work remembered by many from Fall City and elsewhere in the Valley.

Sotero Estepa came from the Philippines to the U.S. in about 1927, coming to Seattle because his sister lived there. He attended University of Washington and got a degree in Business Administration. In 1938 Sotero and his sister purchased land just west of Fall City and farmed that land and other leased areas until the end of the 1940s. A variety of crops were grown, but the major one was broccoli.

In Preserving the Stories of Fall City, Jack Kelley shares his memories of summer work in the broccoli fields during most of his high school years.