The History of the Yakima Valley, Washington, Comprising Yakima, Kittitas and
Benton Counties, The S.J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1919, Volume II, page 999 

C. JOSEPH DA VISE.

C. Joseph Da Vise, manager for the Yakima Rex Spray Company, with office in the
city of Yakima, was born in Wales in 1868, his parents being George and Roberta
Da Vise, the former a miner, but both have now passed away. The son was
graduated from the Imperial College of Science with the class of 1890 and for
three years was a student in Yale University, where he pursued the scientific
course. Later he was in the government service in Oklahoma, Texas, Louisiana and
other states, being employed as entomologist and plant pathologist until 1908,
when he came to Yakima. He then accepted the position of directing manager for
the Rex Company in the northwest. The Yakima Rex Spray Company was established
in 1907 as a branch of a chain of Rex plants which had been founded by the Rex
Company of Omaha, Nebraska. The Yakima plant covers two and a half acres of
ground. The buildings are sixty by one hundred and forty feet and three stories
in height and basement. The company has its own railway sidings and is engaged
in the manufacture of lime, sulphur and oil sprays. The capacity is from eight
to ten thousand barrels of spray per year, with a six months' run and employment
is given to fifteen people in Yakima. The product from the Yakima plant is sold
throughout the territory from Ellensburg to Walla Walla and this plant has its
own tank car distribution and also truck distribution for supplying local
demand. They have established numerous local stations with steel tank storage.
H. C. Kilgour is the local manager at Yakima, with Mr. Da Vise as the directing
manager of the northwestern plants, which include plants in Wenatchee,
Washington. and Payette, Idaho. The broad scientific training and the previous
experience of Mr. Da Vise well qualify him for the responsible duties which he
has assumed in this connection. His labors are of an educative as well as of an
executive character and he is doing much to bring about a thorough understanding
of the use and value of sprays in connection with the development of the
orchards of this section of the country.

On the 20th of July, 1908, Mr, Da Vise was married to Miss Alice Newton, of
Kansas City. Fraternally he is connected with the Benevolent Protective Order of
Elks, being a charter member of the lodge at Guthrie, Oklahoma. He is identified
with several organizations of a scientific nature, including the American
Chemical Society and the American Entomological Society. He belongs to the
Yakima Country Club and to the Arctic Club of Seattle, to the Western
Automobile Club, the Interstate Highway Association, the American Automobile
Club, and the Yakima Good Roads Association, of which he is an executive member.
He is also a member of the National Evergreen Highway Association. He has
motored all over the world and is a most enthusiastic champion of the good roads
movement. His winter seasons are devoted to travelogue work as a lecturer in the
interests of the national parks and he is a personal friend of Stephen T.
Mather, director of the National Parks. Actuated in all that he does by a
progressiveness that is continually reaching out to broader fields and larger
opportunities, his life work has been of great benefit in connection with the
horticultural interests of the state and also in the way of awakening the public
interest and public conscience concerning public needs and opportunities.

********************************
Submitted to the Washington Bios Project in January 2008 by Jeffrey L. Elmer.
Submitter has no additional information about the subject of this article.