sheriff

Sheriff originated in Pennsylvania before 1874 and is thought to be a seedling of Gilpin. It was re-discovered by nurseryman and fruit explorer, Scott Skogerboe, in an old abandoned orchard in the little town of LaPorte, northwest of his hometown of Fort Collins, CO along the Cache la Poudre River. The local commercial apple industry died off long ago, but a 1936 aerial photograph of LaPorte shows how extensive the orchards once were along the irrigated valley. Scott rescued Sheriff from one of those orchards. A map on a piece of plywood identified the varieties in the orchard as Wealthy, McIntosh, Black Ben Davis and Sheriff.  The current owner told Scott that nobody used the apples except a neighbor who often came to harvest the apples and his favorite of the four was Sheriff. The apple which is medium-sized, roundish-oblate, and red-striped, is a pleasant tasting, fall-winter, dessert fruit, Introduced to us by Scott who provided us with the scionwood.