70 Dig Deeper: BetterFarming.com Better Farming January 2017 RURAL ROOTS Reflections on the Holstein Creamery As a boy, Jack Cockburn loved spending time with his father at the Holstein Creamery. He vividly recalls his long walk from Mount Forest one winter during the 1930s. by CAMPBELL CORK J ack Cockburn and his family lived in Mount Forest, but his dad operated the creamery in the village of Holstein, about eight miles away. The Holstein Creamery was one of the oldest around, dating back to 1876 when it was known as the Egremont Creamery Company. The local farmers brought in their cream, and four or five trucks picked up cream from the outlying farms. On its arrival, workers poured the cream into a large vat that held up to 2,100 pounds. After the cream sat for 10 minutes, workers churned the cream for 40 to 50 minutes, turning it into butter. Workers always wrapped sweet butter with no salt and 18 per cent moisture in red paper. They used blue wrappers for salted butter with 3 per cent salt and 16 per cent moisture. One day, in the 1930s, sparks from the boiler landed on the roof, setting the creamery on fire. Bill Calder, who farmed at the other end of the village, hurried down his lane to help the bucket brigade fighting the roof fire. As he got to the road Mrs. George Hostetter, a neighbour, yelled, “Hurry up Bill, the cream- ery is on fire.” Bill said later that if he had any breath he would have told her to go to h..., “as I was go- ing as fast as I could.” The creamery survived the fire and Jack’s father continued to operate it. Every Friday after school in Mount Forest, Jack wanted to get to Holstein in the worst way to be with his dad at the creamery. There were two ways to get there. One was the CNR night train headed for Durham which passed through Holstein. The fare was 35 cents one way. The other way was to ride a bus operated by Frank Hunt. Now, this bus was not at all like any bus you have probably ever seen – it was a horse-drawn bus. The passengers sat in a little tar paper shack set high on a sleigh. There was no heat inside the windowless bus, but there was a coal oil lantern which offered precious little light and just a whiff of heat. The bus trip to Holstein cost 15 cents. Both methods were a little pricey for a young boy in the Hungry ‘30s. On this particular winter Friday, Jack learned that John Calder, a farmer from Holstein, was making the trip from Mount Forest back to the village with a team pulling a sleigh of coal. Jack figured this was the perfect opportunity to save some money and he accepted the offer of a free ride from John. Jack rode on the sleigh for a short time but quickly realized he was not properly dressed for the ride. John was warm under his buffalo robe. When John saw how cold Jack was getting, he told Jack he better get off and walk or else he would surely freeze to death. So, Jack wound up walking most of the way to Holstein on that bitterly cold winter afternoon. He said he had never experi- enced pain like what he felt when his frozen fingers and toes started to thaw later at the creamery. But nary a complaint passed his lips. Jack said: “I didn’t say a word about it. Dad was mad enough at me as it was for doing such a stupid thing.” As for Jack, the suffering was worth it. He said, “I was in Holstein and I was happy.” Years later at his dad’s funeral, Jack ran into John Calder. John asked Jack if he remembered the winter day he walked to Holstein. Jack told John: “I’ll never forget that day.” BF Campbell Cork lives and writes in Mount Forest. Butter wrapper from the Holstein creamery. Making the most of your OFA membership Better Farming is your trusted source for insight, analysis, and investigative reporting on Ontario agriculture. RATES AT A GLANCE One-year subscription for non-OFA members $41 Your OFA member subscription cost per year $0