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Up the Gatineau! Article

This article was first published in Up the Gatineau! Volume 20.

The Farrellton Butter Factory

Stuart Geggie

Thanks are extended to Raymond Daly of Farrellton. interviewed in December 1993, who provided information included in this article.

Any industry that came to a newly settled area was probably eagerly patronized by the early settlers, if for no other reason than to decrease the drudgery of everyday living.

In the Pocket and Weekly Commercial Gazette, a newspaper published in Bytown and dated February 1850, J. Maclaren and Co. Ltd., stated that their newly refitted mill and store in Wakefield was prepared to buy or exchange surplus production of butter, hides, tallow and grain for cash. While most of the necessities of life could be produced on the small mixed farm such as existed along the Gatineau River, very little cash was available. Also, where travel was by horses, a trip to the only store or mill could take half a day or more; for that reason, businesses such as butter factories or cheese factories were sited fairly close together.

The Farrellton Co-operative Creamery
The Farrellton Co-operative Creamery in 1937.

At various times there were butter factories up the Gatineau at Ste. Cécile de Masham, Rupert, Cascades, Alcove and Farrellton. That at Farrellton was the most recent, having been started by a cooperative of local farmers in the mid-1930s. The Farrellton Creamery was established about five miles north of Wakefield, on the main highway, about half a mile south of the Roman Catholic Church. It occupies a small niche between the Gatineau River and the road. The original building, with some enlargements, is still there. This was also the site of a number of other enterprises, such as, in succession, two or three small sawmills, and probably a cheese factory. On the hillside above the butter factory is a very reliable spring, bubbling forth cold clear water, which was used to cool the cream after it was heat pasteurized. During the 1930s a number of dairies operated in the Lower Gatineau, while being based in Hull and Ottawa. The raw milk and cream were shipped to a dairy in Ottawa twice a day by rail. Later, as trucks and roads improved, milk and cream were picked up in large milk cans at the farm gate for delivery to the processing plant in the city. It is not difficult to understand that often the milk or cream were not of good quality when they arrived at their destination.

About 1935, with the urging and assistance of the Provincial Agronomist, Mr. Walter Delaney, a group of local farmers collected memberships to form a cooperative. The shares in the co-op, which cost $50.00 each, were to be paid for in three years. The group included Messrs. Millar Gibson, Howard Johnston, Ken Moncreiff, Jo Nesbitt, Joey Pritchard, Elie Scharf, Jo McGooey, Gilbert Wills, Larry Plunkett, Dominic Mahoney and Josh Rusenstrom. The exact number is not known, but at its peak, there were more than 300 members.

>Mr. and Mrs. Beaucharnp
Mr. and Mrs. Beaucharnp in front of the butter factory, about 1940. Photo courtesy of Mrs. M. Renaud.

Mr. Patterson Bourne, of Ottawa got the contract to build the butter factory, about one third the size it is now. Since then, two further sections have been added to the original. Pay for working on construction at that time was 25 cents per hour. It must be remembered that in the midst of the Great Depression, none of the men was working, so that a work day of four hours for one dollar was not to be scoffed at. When the men arrived for work in the morning, they sat on the bank beside the road waiting for Mr. Bourne to come and choose those who were to work that day.

Finally, when the factory was finished, the Executive of the co-op found and hired a very good buttermaker. Monsieur Jean Beauchamp of Buckingham. He was a very particular man, and probably created some dissatisfaction among the farmers by not accepting cream that he found to be of low standard. He stated that high grade butter could not be made from low grade cream.

During its life of some thirty—five years, there were only two presidents of the butter factory: the first was Ed McNally, followed by Clifford Canavan of Low. The first secretary-manager was Gilbert Wells, followed by George Pritchard, Ken Moncreiff, Neil McCrank and Keith Nesbttt, the present owner of the Wakefield General Store. Keith Nesbitt was also responsible for beginning the shipping of cattle to stockyards in the Montreal region. The last secretary-manager was Ray Daly.

The members were paid a competitive price for the cream on a regular basis, and at the end of the year a bonus or dividend was calculated per pound of cream supplied, and paid to each supplier. Mr. Daly proudly stated that many members collected more cash in dividends than the amount they had paid on entry for each share.

former Farrellton Co-operative Creamery
Surplus store in the former Farrellton Co-operative Creamery, January 1994. Photo C. Martin. (GVHS 1302/9)

Provincial inspectors frequently visited the butter factory, testing cream and butter, as well as the conditions that prevailed within the plant. The amount of salt and the amount of water found within the butter were frequently checked. There was no way to get around the inspectors. And finally, why did it close, and when? By the late 1960s a number of contributing factors became evident that spelled the end of such a successful enterprise. The most prominent was the advent of quality margarine at a low price. With the increasing demand for milk with low butter-fat content, more butter-fat became available for production of butter for which there was very little market. Eventually the butter-fat subsidy was removed and the problem became worse. The smaller butter factories amalgamated with factories in Gracefield, Maniwaki, Shawville and Quyon in an attempt to realize cost savings, without much success, heralding the closure of small butter factories across the country. The factory at Farrellton closed soon after.


Volume 20 table of content.

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