Cheese Factories

In the same way that grist mills or flour mills were an obvious way to convert local product into food, butter and cheese factories were an early attempt to process milk locally. Most of these were small operations focusing on the local market.

The Morton Dairy

The most notable effort however was much more than that. George Morton was dreaming big when he purchased a large tract of land north of Whitewater Lake. He had his eye on a national market.

He came with the right experience. He had earned the title Cheese King of Canada while working as a cheese factory owner in Kingston, Ontario.

When he came to the Turtle Mountain area in 1878 he saw the potential for large-scale cheese production in this the rich hay land that borders the shoreline of the lake.


Locations

Wakopa

A more modest attempt to process milk into a value-added form was also short-lived.

John Hettle came from Ontario. After starting a successful farming operation he formed a company in 1885 with T. A. Sharpe and the Young brothers to operate a steam-powered butter and cheese factory on Sharpe's Creek near Wakopa. HettIe brought the dairy herd from Ontario. Later the herd had to be destroyed because of disease and the factory was dismantled.

Lauder

In 1895 the farmers of the Lauder area met to discuss the idea of a cheese factory. June 1 was set for the start of cheesemaking. The factory was located just east of the village.

Deloraine

Not much is known about the Deloraine Cheese Factory, but an item in the local paper in 1894 notes that: “5100 lbs. of milk were received at Deloraine Cheese factory on one day. Deloraine cheese was shown at the Winnipeg fair.”

Conclusion

It would appear that cheese making, which appeared to be a logical was to add value to local products, and which had seemed to work well in the Ontario homeland, was not a winning idea the southwest corner.