J.M. Wade first came to the Wenatchee Valley in the early 1900's as a cash buyer for a Philadelphia Produce company.  While here, J.M Wade formed a partnership with A.Z Wells.  The Wells and Wade fruit company bought apples for shipments east and then also purchased packed as well as loose fruit for their own packing operation.

J.M Wade’s brother, Ike Wade came west after World War I and enrolled at the University of Washington.  He married in 1921 and moved to Palisades to operate one of the Wells and Wade orchards.  He became a father in 1925 to a daughter and then had a son, Jim Wade, in 1926 that would later became an important figure in the history of Columbia Fruit.