When I was a kid migratory beekeepers only went north to south like Florida to New England or Texas to the Dakotas or Califonia to Washington and then you have a lots of the Canadian beekeepers would come to southern USA for the winter.
In 1988, Merrimack Valley Beepunchers AKA Merrimack Valley Apiaries became the first commercial outfit to ship bees to California from Florida and South Carolina for the almond pollination.
I did work for Andy Card Sr. in the early 80's in Billerica Massachusetts.
http://mvabeepunchers.com/pollination.html BEE HAPPY Jim 134 :)