Orange Cove’s Groves

“Town Wants More Than Citrus Trees” (Feb. 10), about Orange Cove, left the impression that the orange-growing business in that town began in the 1960s when growers were forced out of the L.A. area. My father and his family moved from North Whittier Heights to Orange Cove in about 1914 by wagon over the Old Ridge Route. When they arrived, my grandfather helped clear land for the groves.

The classic “California Place Names” by Erwin Gudde reports that Orange Cove was named in 1913 by the owners of the Orosi Lands Co. While there may have been an influx of orange growers in the 1960s, they came to a place long known for its orange groves.

William H. Deaver

Mojave