Place of Origin: A hillside bank of Potter's Creek, nearest Odessa in Clay County, WV.
Year: 1890, commercial release in 1916.
Parentage: Chance seedling, 'Grimes Golden' a likely parent.
Uses: Eating, Baking, Juice
History at Three Springs: This variety has been a staple in our orchards for as long as we can remember.
A discovery attributed to one A.H. Mullins whose claim would later be disputed by his nephew J.M. Mullins who claimed to have discovered and mowed around the volunteer seedling in 1891. Later, in 1914, A.H. Mullins, then-owner of the land on which this seedling was growing, sold the tree and thirty feet of soil in all directions from it for a sum of $50, according to J.M. speaking to the Charleston Daily Mail in 1962, rather than the $5000 reported. Stark Brothers named it Golden Delicious as a companion tree to their sucessful 'Delicious' variety and the rest, as they say, is history. While I shouldn't need to take up defense of Golds, I'll use this opportunity to do just that. Golds have been victimized by poor produce managers in retail groceries who store them for weeks at room temperature, giving them a "mealy" reputation they don't deserve. Golds are lovely apples when matured on the tree and stored properly - an apple that would be a runaway success were it to be discovered today, rather than in 1891 by then 15-year-old J.M. Mullins.
