The History of the Yakima Valley, Washington, Comprising Yakima, Kittitas and
Benton Counties, The S.J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1919, Volume II, page 568
A portrait of Ira D. Cardiff appears in this publication.

IRA D. CARDIFF.

Ira D. Cardiff has established and is conducting a most important business at
Yakima under the name of the Washington Dehydrated Food Company. His enterprise
is of value to the community in that it furnishes a market to many producers as
well as furnishing work to many employees in the city. His plans have been most
carefully formulated and his enterprise and initiative have carried him steadily
forward in the conduct of his business interests.

Mr. Cardiff was born in Galva, Illinois, in 1873, a son of E. A. and Latrobe
(Sellon) Cardiff. The father, a farmer by occupation, has now passed away, while
the mother is still living. The son, Ira D. Cardiff, after mastering the
branches of learning taught in the public schools of Galva, Illinois, continued
his education in Knox College at Galesburg, from which he was graduated, and
then became a student in the University of Chicago. Later he entered Columbia
University and won his Ph. D. degree on graduating with the class of 1906. At
that time he took up educational work and in 1913 he came to Washington as head
of the department of botany in the State College. In 1914 he was made head of
the Washington Agricultural Experiment Station and organized the county
agricultural agent work of this state and also the Boys and Girls Club work of
Washington. He also established a station for experiments in dry land problems
at Lind, Washington, and one for the study of animal diseases at Methow,
Washington. He raised the money for these institutions by private subscription.
In other words, he entered upon an educational campaign of great scope and of
untold value. He was made a member of the governing board of the first state
department of agriculture but in June, 1917, he left the State Experiment
Station and came to Yakima, where he organized the company now operating under
the firm style of the Washington Dehydrated Food Company. They are engaged in
the evaporation of fruit and vegetables, using both dehydrating and evaporating
processes. They treat all kinds of vegetables and fruits, preserving all the
food values, the appearance, taste and other desirable qualities. Thus are
preserved food products that could not otherwise be shipped. Mr. Cardiff
recognized the opportunity to make very high grade foods and his factories are
characterized by the utmost cleanliness and sanitary conditions. His products
are sold to the government and all over the United States and the plant handles
over three carloads of fruit and vegetables per day. The factory, a two-story
and basement structure, built of concrete, is one hundred and eighty by one
hundred and seventy feet. The company has also leased two cold storage plants
and in the spring of 1917 they handled two hundred and fifty carloads of
potatoes, used for potato flour. They bought more potatoes than all the other
dealers in the valley together. In the factory employment is furnished to from
forty to one hundred people. They have sidings of both Northern Pacific and
Union Pacific Railways to the factory, thus facilitating shipments. The business
has grown with remarkable rapidity owing to the excellence of the products sent
out and the success of the enterprise has been assured from the beginning.

In 1902 Mr. Cardiff was married to Miss Myrtle Sherman, of Galesburg, Illinois,
and they have a son, Edward Sherman, now nine years of age. Mr. Cardiff is
identified with various scientific organizations. He is a fellow of the American
Association for the Advancement of Science and he was a charter member and the
first president of the Utah Academy of Sciences. He also belongs to the
National Agricultural Society and he is a frequent and valued contributor to
many scientific journals.

Mr. Cardiff has a military record covering service in the Spanish-American war,
for which he raised a company at Kewanee, Illinois, becoming captain of this
organization, which, however, was not called upon for active duty. Later he
enlisted as a private and served throughout the period of hostilities with
Spain, being in active duty in Cuba and Porto Rico. Mr. Cardiff belongs to the
Commercial Club of Yakima. In politics tic maintains an independent course, not
allying himself with any party. It was he who secured the passage of a bill
through the state legislature giving the Yakima valley a state experiment
station for irrigation purposes that has been established near Prosser,
Washington. He stands for all improvements of agricultural conditions and of
kindred interests and his life work has been of great educational value, not
only when he was directly connected with colleges and experimental stations, but
also since entering upon his present business connection. He has given practical
demonstration of theories and beliefs which he held, proving his ideas to be of
real worth in the preservation of food, making shipments possible to all
sections of the world. At all times he has  held to the highest standards of
production until the name of the Washington Dehydrated Food Company is
everywhere recognized as a synonym for excellence in the processes of
dehydrating and evaporating fruits and vegetables.

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Submitted to the Washington Bios Project in December 2007 by Jeffrey L. Elmer.
Submitter has no additional information about the subject of this article.