The tale of the Fuerte avocado starts in the year 1911 in Puebla, Mexico, 80 miles east of Mexico City. On behalf of the West Indian Nursery in Altadena, California, American, Carl Schmidt, 21 at the time, traveled to Mexico City and Puebla in search of quality avocados, specifically avocado trees. He cut budwood from the best trees, numbered them and shipped them back to Altadena. Most of the buds refused adaptation to the soil and climate, but number 15 flourished. It survived the great freeze of 1913 and hence it was given its name, Fuerte, Spanish for “strong”. That single tree is responsible for spawning California’s avocado industry.