More than 100 years of typically American enterprise lies behind the worldwide prominence of I.P. Callison & Sons, Inc. as a primary supplier of peppermint oil, spearmint oil, and such botanical drugs as digitalis and cascara.

It is a story of humble beginnings, of foresight, perseverance and above all, unfailing respect for the rights and interests of others in personal and business relationships.

The father who founded the enterprise is honored and referred to with deference by the four sons who have since participated as partners in its expanding development. Top executive responsibilities are now delegated to non-family members, no less devoted to the reputation of the firm.

Hundreds of farmers and other residents of the Pacific Northwest rely year after year on I.P. Callison & Sons, Inc. to buy their production of mint and raw botanicals. They know the firm as a champion of progressive farming and marketing practices, always cooperative toward scientific advancements. Customers the world over know I.P. Callison & Sons Inc. as a dependable source of essential oils and botanical drugs, distinguished for conscientious service, appreciative of technical complexities, and consistently striving to improve product quality.

I.P. CALLISON (left), 1870-1961, founder and president of I.P. Callison & Sons, inc. until retirement in 1933. H.A. CALLISON (right), 1879-1954, brother of I.P. and president, 1933-1942.

How I.P. Callison, shortly after 1900 founded the enterprise makes interesting reading. He had arrived in the small town of Chehalis, Washington, a few years earlier as a schoolteacher, then found himself struggling against odds to publish a weekly newspaper.

With the newspaper business at low ebb and faced with critical financial problems, Callison was invited by a stranger to become a partner in a cascara business venture. The stranger displayed an order from Parke, Davis & Co., drug manufacturers, for two carloads of cascara bark. Like other Chehalis residents, Callison knew that cascara trees grew in large groves near the town and that bark from the cascara tree was recognized as an effective laxative. He was not aware that the tree was found only in the Pacific Northwest, nor that its bark had commercial value as a pharmaceutical ingredient.

A partnership was formed, the stranger to round up the supply and Callison to underwrite the several hundred dollars of capital required. On the strength of the Parke, Davis order, a local bank agreed to advance the money. As wagonloads of bark arrived, Callison doled out the borrowed money as payment. The 60,000-pound shipment of cascara, largest ever made toe date, was soon on its way. The bank was paid off, the stranger left with his share of the profit, but Callison was convinced there were further opportunities in cascara. He offered Parke, Davis and other drug companies a continuing supply of all the crude cascara bark they could use. They accepted; a receiving station was established in a feed store where farmers could

	DR. DON CALLISON (left), partner and doctor of medicine in Seattle, Wash. HENRY CALLISON (right), retired as partner in 1951, now operator of the largest and best-equipped spearmint farm in the world at Sunnyside, Washington.

exchange cascara bark for hay and grain, the newspaper was relegated to a hobby, and Callison shortly became the world's biggest supplier of cascara.

Digitalis, or foxglove leaf, became an added product in 1916 when World War I cut off U.S. imports from Europe. Like cascara, foxglove grew wild in scattered Pacific Northwest areas and could be gathered by the same people engaged in locating and stripping cascara bark. Callison began to establish the network of agents and buying stations still used today to assemble both botanical products and the wild greens supplied the wholesale florist industry through another Callison operation.

The name I.P. Callison & Sons, Inc. was adopted in 1920 when Cecil, Clarence, and Henry Callison, all sons of I.P., were taken into the firm. Dr. R. Donald Callison, physician and youngest brother, later became a partner.

I.P. Callison served as president until retirement in 1933. He was succeeded as president by his brother and associate since early days, H.A. Callison, who retired in 1942. H.A. died in 1954. I.P., still vigorous, died at the age of 90 in 1961.

CECIL CALLISON, chairman of the board of I.P. Callison & Sons, Inc., active head of affiliated Callison operations.

After the retirement of H.A., Cecil Callison became president. Larry Givens joined I.P. Callison & Sons, Inc. in March 1942 as the first executive employee not a member of the family. In 1961, Cecil Callison became chairman of the board, actively supervising the various Callison enterprises, while Larry Givens became president as well as general manager of I.P. Callison & Sons, Inc. Assistant manager is George Sears, who joined the firm in 1949.

Experience in the marketing of peppermint oil began for I.P. Callison & Sons, Inc. in 1941 with the purchase of W.J. Lake & Co. This firm had made a small beginning in handling peppermint oil, then produced in only small quantities in Washington and Oregon. Pacific Northwest oil faced severe marketing handicaps, due to limited production as compared to established growing areas in Michigan and Indiana, indiscriminate blending of natural oils from different districts, and limited facilities for rectification.

	CLARENCE CALLISON (left), partner and president of Callison's, Inc. GEORGE SEARS (right), assistant manager, I.P. Callison & Sons, Inc.

I.P. Callison & Sons, Inc. recognized at once the need for improved growing and marketing practices and, in 1949, installed at Chehalis the first equipment of its kind for the continuous rectification of essential oils. Laboratories and a qualified staff were set up for continuing research and scientific control of all stages in the handling and processing of peppermint oil.

A spearmint column was later added to the continuous rectification equipment in the Chehalis plant. Laboratory and technical equipment no includes the latest gas chromatography apparatus. Transportation equipment has been augmented and storage facilities for essential oils now include field warehouses at Sunnyside, Washington; Madras, Oregon, and Jefferson, Oregon.

Also in 1949, equipment was installed at Chehalis for the production of cascara as a water-soluble concentrate. In 1950, I.P. Callison & Sons, Inc. purchased the long-established firm of Allaire Woodward & Co., pharmaceutical manufacturers at Peoria, Illinois since 1873. The Peoria facilities were thereafter moved to Chehalis and supplemented with modern equipment for the production of fluid, powdered and solid extracts; syrups; whole, powdered and ground drugs; concentrates; resins and tinctures.

LARRY GIVENS, president and general manager of I.P. Callison & Sons, Inc.

Larry Givens, as president of I.P. Callison & Sons, Inc., knows personally hundreds of the Pacific Northwest mint growers whose fields he has visited and whose oil the firm has purchased and marketed over the years. he is known as an expert in essential oils by the top executive and technical personnel of all major domestic manufacturers of dentifrices, chewing gum, and confectionary products.

I.P. Callison & Sons, Inc., through representatives in other countries, now extends the marketing of "Callison," "Cascade" and "Glacier" brands of essential oils around the world.

I.P. Callison & Sons
600 Stewart Street, Suite 2000
Seattle, WA 98101
Phone: (206) 441-7752
Fax: (206) 728-9041
info@ipcallison.com