The History of the Yakima Valley, Washington, Comprising Yakima, Kittitas and Benton Counties, The S.J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1919, Volume II, page 1003 MARK M. PIKE. Marie M. Pike, occupying a prominent position among the leading wholesale fruit dealers of the Yakima valley, is a man of undaunted enterprise, of laudable ambition and of unfaltering perseverance. He was born in Friendship, New York, February 25, 1867, a son of Mark W. and Hattie E. Pike. In the acquirement of his education he was graduated from a college at Lansing, Michigan, and afterward entered the lumber business in northern Michigan. He became an important factor in Michigan wholesale lumber circles. conducting business for a considerable period at Wolverine, that state. In 1900 he made a trip to the northwest to investigate the country, for he believed that he might enjoy still broader opportunities in this section. He had for a time been engaged in the wholesale meat business while in Michigan, but in 1906 he disposed of his interests there and came to Yakima. Soon afterward he purchased three ranches and also made large investments in city property. One of his ranches is situated in the Selah valley and comprises forty acres of land which is devoted to fruit. He also has a ranch of sixteen acres on the Naches, on which he is engaged in fruit raising, and his third ranch is on Nob Hill. In 1911 he organized the firm of Pike & Blood for the conduct of a wholesale fruit business and purchased a large wooden building one hundred by one hundred and eighty feet. This he utilized until 1916, when he moved the building from the ground and erected a fine brick structure one hundred by one hundred and eighty feet and three stories in height. He has storage capacity for two hundred cars and there are railway tracks at each end of the building. In 1917 he handled four hundred car loads of fruit and his products are shipped all over the United States under the name of the "Liberty Bell" brand, his posters shoving a picture of the old liberty bell. In 1916 the firm of Pike & Blood was dissolved and the business was reorganized under the name of the Washington Fruit R Produce Company, with Mr. Pike as the president, Fred B. Plath as secretary and treasurer and M. J. Hafener as vice president and manager. While the firm owns some fine fruit ranches, they are also large buyers and their business constitutes an excellent market for fruit producers in this section of the state. There were thirty thousand car loads of fruit produced in Idaho, Oregon, Washington and Montana in 1917 and fifteen thousand car loads of this fruit came from the Yakima valley. In addition to his other interests Mr. Pike is connected with the Western Meat Company of Albuquerque, New Mexico, and with an On company in Allegany county, New York, and he has very extensive land holdings in Michigan. From the age of two years Mr. Pike lived with his maternal grandfather, by whom he was reared. In 1902 he married Margaret Jewell, who was born in Toronto, Canada, and later lived in Sheboygan, Michigan. Mr. and Mrs. Pike have four children: Mark, eleven years of age; Ruth, aged nine; Alice, seven; and Donald, four. Mr. and Mrs. Pike attend the Presbyterian church and they occupy an enviable position in the social circles of Yakima, where the hospitality of their home is greatly enjoyed by their many friends. Politically Mr. Pike is a democrat and fraternally is connected with the Elks Lodge No. 318. He likewise has membership in the Yakima Commercial Club and is much interested in all that has to do with the welfare and progress of the city and the advancement of its commercial and business interests. He made no mistake when be became identified with the wholesale fruit trade. In this he has found a congenial field of labor and one which offers excellent opportunities. In utilizing, the chances that have come to him for legitimate success he has steadily worked his way upward and is now at the head of a gratifying and growing business. ******************************** Submitted to the Washington Bios Project in January 2008 by Jeffrey L. Elmer. Submitter has no additional information about the subject of this article.