Coop's Corner: Cheese

Sunday, April 14, 2019

Cheese

You're already excited, admit it!!

This one all started back in mid-March, well the Posting part of it started in mid-March. As you'll see, this goes back a ways.....

In April 1955 I was an extraordinarily wee lad. In fact, when the story itself was written, there's a very good chance that I wasn't. These brochures were full of travel locations, ideas with of course a great number of ads for Ford autos. April 1955 as an example highlighted Last of the Klamath Wilderness, Walt Whitman's Long Island, Custom Conversions (very cool profile of a '34 Convertible reborn), Trombone Choir at Easter Sunrise, Pleasures of a Detour, The Bily Brothers' Clocks (been there) and so on...you get the idea. In other words, I could spend a lot more time with these than I could with the Digest. On page 48, ".....The plans shown on the next page were made by Stephen Hustvedt of Washington, D.C. to convert his '51 Ford Country Squire into a traveling base of operations for a prolonged painting-writing tour of the country....". I had to give these away or I'd spend most of Spring into early Summer reading instead of riding, if not reading then enjoying the artwork.

This one was addressed to dad's place of employment back in '55 and I have no idea if these were sent automatically or otherwise to Ford car owners.

Love this cover by John Warren, a typical Wisconsin farmstead not unlike the ones we so enjoy riding past on most of our rides.

We were at coffee and I had brought a number of pieces from dad's 'collection' of books, brochures and old records. I took them to hand out, share and then leave. Mike grabbed a couple of these Ford Times and then noticed a story in this one (that I had not), pointing out a couple of the pages, knowing full well my interest would be piqued.

Mike knows me very well.

The light bulbs, buzzers and alerts went off in my head, "a blog Post AND a ride...an excellent combination!" What follows was inside on page 38. Mr. Jerome Palms wrote the story, the map created by Mal Young and the beautiful paintings of the Factories done by John Warren and Byron C. Jorns. The story is focused on the abundance of small cheese factories in the Madison, Wisconsin area and the challenges for the One-Man enterprises to stay viable.

The map covering some though not all of the cheese factories present when the story was written in the mid-1950's. This is an area, especially the northwestern corner that we spend a ~~fair amount~~ lot of motorcycle riding time in. Mount Horeb, described by me as a bedroom community for Madison, the progressive college town is the dot on the map's far right.

Factories around Mt Horeb.....map by Mal Young

Elvers Cheese Company----painting by John Warren

Google Street View

Google Earth

The Vermont Cheese Factory-----painting by B.C. Jorns

Google Street View

Google Earth

The Malone Cheese Factory-----painting by B.C. Jorns

Google Street View

Google Earth

The Ridge Cheese Factory-----painting by John Warren

Google Street View

Google Earth

The Holum Cheese Factory-----painting by John Warren

Google Street View

Google Earth

These are the 5 Cheese Factories mentioned in the article, or their former location in one case, not all that far apart and are loosely centered around Mt. Horeb, Wisconsin as the author Mr Palms states.

The Evers and Vermont Cheese factory locations are ridden past by we Slimey Crud'ers during almost every event. The 3 locations south of Hwy 151 have not been. Throughout our (Wisconsin and Minnesota) rural areas, remnants of the many former cheese factories still exist. Now often utilized as homes, sometimes businesses and even a few of them still actually sell cheese, they are scattered in various densities, their locations seem to have depended on local customs, family backgrounds/nationalities and access to local milk, likely how well there was access was to creameries (competition?) located in nearby towns.

Here's the fun part from my point of view. One of my great resources for locating these places was a website I've bookmarked and turn to often. Historic Map Works is my go-to place for plat books, especially the historic versions. I have in my collection a good number of the actual books not only from our County but from many others as well. The largest part of the collection is on the D:/ hard drive with many sub-folders that include plat books from States and Counties around the USA. HMW makes them available for sale and over time, I've only purchased a handful. I mostly take screen grabs that I can print, mark-up and the most important part, save digitally for my 'projects'.

I learned a lot while working on this little 'project', namely that my old reliable Rockford Map Company isn't always my preferred source. I have and look at more of their maps than anyone else's. They've been great but there was a new discovery made this time during my hunt for information.

Here's a typical 1957 Rockford Co. plat from Sauk County, Excelsior Township, Wisconsin. Most of my actual platbooks are indeed Rockford's and look like this. Township map colors revolve, blue, pink, yellow and white making it easier for residents to quickly flip through their county books and keep track of neighbors. :)

Typical township of 36 Sections, 6 x 6 and considered 'normal'. Topography, boundaries and various other things sometimes leave townships oddly shaped, especially those that are bordered by water features, unlike this 'normal' one. The dark lines are roads, the lightweight lines property boundaries....Sections, Half Sections, Quarter Sections, and so on. The focused on item for this study are the black dots which designate farmsteads/dwellings. Additionally, in some locations, a small circled X (Cemetery), a small rectangle with a cross above (School), a larger cross-only (church). Sometimes named, normally just the symbol marks the spot.

Here's an example of the Derr Map Studio map, this a 1954 version of the Dane County (Madison) Wisconsin plat. Just lovely, easy to read and from all I've seen, spot on accurate. I've noticed over time that on some of my newer books (available free via advertising) that the facts and locations can often be flexible.

Take a look at Geo. Chole's 39.9 acre parcel at the bottom...."K Ch. Co." Based on all of the townships and all of the Sections on the Derr maps of Dane County, the cheese factories have been designated in much the same way. Dots, sometimes small rectangles 5,10 acres in size with various verbiage, often just a couple of initials, possibly with the actual name if there was room on the page. Whomever the actual mapmaker, that person obviously a kindred spirit; marking schools, cemeteries, churches and cheese factories. The only thing missing were the breweries.

So, I went through Dane County's 1954 Derr Plat Book Range by Range, Section by Section and after exhaustive and highly enjoyable study, I found this.......56 cheese factories, 7 northeast of Madison, the rest absolutely covering the SW corner of Dane County. My eyes were soon Where's Waldo-trained.

In almost every one of these found, I used a combination of Earth and Street View to confirm. By far the vast majority of them still stand! The location that the map maker specified very accurate.

A view focusing on the area SW of urban Madison.

I've spent a lot of time over my life riding near and past these cheese buildings and have come to recognize their look. There were many up in far northern Wisconsin that I saw when young and now these that are so predominant in the areas we often ride in are not that difficult for me to spot. They were well built with solid walls and most are still standing, their design and location making discovery all that much easier.

Slimey Crud weekend is coming up.......a strong chance that some photos and highlights may be documented.

A number of theme-style Posts have been started and have been cooking in Draft-form for awhile now. Due to timing and the luck of the draw this one got bumped to the front of the queue.

4 comments:

motormikeApril 16, 2019 at 5:05 AM
Look'n forward to a interest'n update !
ReplyDelete
Replies
Paul HApril 19, 2019 at 3:45 PM
Hmmm.... sounds like a GR3 ride in the making
ReplyDelete
Replies

Add comment

Others say....

"it was auspicious to approach any situation from a deferential, inquisitive place. Conceding that there is much to learn is the best blueprint for discovering something new." ----B. Fuller

The Man straightened stiffly above the block of salt fixed to the stake and looked at the young cattle ringed about him. The pasture was holding out well and the stock was looking good. This bunch would be ready to sell in another month, maybe sooner if the market was right.

A stir among the cattle down near the river brought him round to face the swinging bridge he'd built years before. Someone was coming toward him from the bridge. Someone in breeches, but it didn't look like a man, somehow. What was a woman doing in his pasture this time of night?

He bent over the salt again; maybe if he paid her no heed she'd go on past and let him mind his own business. He heard her footsteps come nearer and stop. "Good evening," she said.

Her voice was smooth with book learning but friendlier than most, and somehow almost shy. When he made no answer she went on, "I've been sitting on your swinging bridge....I thought I'd like to say thank-you...." Her voice stumbled a little, then she tried once more.

"You are Mr. ____". His name sounded strange in her voice, but she went on to tell her own.

"That's what they've called me the last sixty-eight years," he said, looking past her face to the hills fast darkening under a single star. "I reckon the woods are free for those that like to walk there."

The unfamiliar voice laughed a little. "That's what Emerson said: the grove belongs to the man who walks in it with an open heart....On that basis I guess I've owned part of your woods for a good many years.....". She made a final effort. "I've always wanted to thank you....."

Something deeply hidden stirred in him. "There's a stump up there, in the notch of the woods", he said slowly, "that before the timber grew so tall you could stand on it and see all over this country."

He kept still a minute, remembering, then, "I used to stand up there an' look at things, an' wonder how they come to be like they was, an' how the hills was created, an' all the things in Nature.... I told my wife I guessed all the religion I ever had I got standin' on that old stump, a-wonderin'..." He turned his face away from her.

She helped him out. "I know about that, a little. This afternoon I saw......." Her account of a thing she had really taken time to look at eased him, and he answered with telling of the badger den at the foot of the swinging bridge.

When she had gone, he turned to watch her. After a moment she stood clear and unmoving against the sky. You could hear the sounds of the river where she stood. She was one that could stand still long enough, he thought, really to hear what a body was saying, or a river.

Then she walked down the farther side of the slope and was gone. ------Margaret Snyder from A Chosen Valley

Fall was the end of harvest, end of the growing season, a burst of color and sun-warmth before killing frost turned the land gray and cold. Fall was a moody time, full of both life and death, a time when we were reminded of the power outside of us, reminded that the seasons happen to us. We do not invite the change to come.-------Ben Logan, from The Land Remembers

When you get those rare moments of clarity, those flashes when the universe makes sense, you try desperately to hold onto them. They are the lifeboats for the darker times, when the vastness of it all, the incomprehensible nature of life is completely elusive. So the question becomes or should have been all along, what would you do if you knew you only had one day, or one week, or one month to live. What lifeboat would you grab onto? What secret would you tell? What band would you see? What person would you declare your love to? What wish would you fulfill? What exotic locale would you fly to for coffee? What book would you write? ------- Ben Tyler

We were also cautioned about journeying far from home. As an example of the dangers, the town had a badly crippled lady named Lucy, who as a girl had traveled to New York City. As she traveled along a sidewalk, sightseeing, she was struck by the outstretched hand of a suicide who had leapt from high above. Her spine had been shattered and for the rest of her life, she was to walk bent forward at the waist, tapping the sidewalk with two black canes. Whenever the subject of travel to a big city was raised, someone would say, "Just remember what happened to Miss Tripp." ---- Ted Kooser, from Local Wonders

"Steamboats are like wedding cakes without the complications...." ----Mark Twain

"It's not about having lots of money, it's about having lots of options......." -----Chris Rock

As the very proud father of three former ponytail wearers, hopefully I can get away with this....."For the past few years it's been fashionable for young women to wear ball caps and to snap the strap on the back under their ponytails. I like the looks of that, their shiny ponytails jauntily swinging, but it's hard not to think of the rear ends of horses. There's a piece of harness called the crupper that goes just under a horse's tail to keep its nose down. If the horse lifts its head to look for a way out of whatever predicament it's in, the crupper tightens and hurts the horse. But it's foolish for parents to think that a ball cap might keep a young woman from running away. Anybody can see they're made for running." ------Ted Kooser, Local Wonders

"I tell the guy's girlfriend that the only difference between the book's main character Phaedrus and myself is that I am neither brilliant, tortured or insane, she looks at my bike and there is an uncomfortable silence." --------ahendepe (a.k.a. Vermin)