Kiwifruit industry in New Zealand and Growers, who were calling the berries "melonettes", because the local name for the fruit, "Chinese gooseberry", had political connotations due to the Cold War, and to further distinguish it from real gooseberries, which are prone to a fungus called anthracnose. An American importer, Norman Sondag of San Francisco, complained that "melonettes" was as bad as "Chinese gooseberry" because melons and berries were both subject to high import tariffs, and instead asked for a short Maori name that quickly connoted New Zealand. In June 1959, during a meeting of Turners and Growers management in Auckland, Jack Turner suggested the name
Gooseberry River the state park lists both as plausible explanations. Gooseberry River has no lake or reservoir serving as its headwaters, rising in a gully in T. 56 N. R. 10 W. at an elevation of 1700 feet. From here it falls 1100 feet over 23 miles until it enters Lake Superior in Silver Creek Township. The main branch of the Gooseberry River drains a watershed of 27.3 square miles, approximately one quarter wetlands and three quarters forest. The total area drained by the Gooseberry river, including all tributaries, is 85 square miles. Major tributaries include the Little Gooseberry River, Skunk Creek,