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18 Dairy on the Prairie
Early Jones County Dairy ASA BOWEN BUILT A CHEESE HOUSE WHICH WAS COMPLETED ON JUNE 1, 1863. T H E FOL-
Industry Leaders L O W I N G YEAR, HE BEGAN ACCEPTING MILK FROM SURROUNDING FARMERS. BOWEN PRO-
VIDED THE FOLLOWING DESCRIPTION OF HIS FACTORY TO THE NEWSPAPER:
The production of cheese on a large-scale surplus A building for a cheese house I completed this year, the first of June; size on the ground 20
basis in Jones County began around 1858. A few farm- by 40 feet, posts 10 feet high, built expressly for the dairy. Its position is north and south,
ers and their families shifted from production-for- and partitioned into two rooms, the north part twenty-eight feet for a curing room, and the
home-consumption to production-for-trade, which south part for a work room, where the cheese is made. The apparatus in this room consists
launched a period of economic growth that had sig- in a cheese vat, to hold the milk, in which the cheese is made, a press, sink, a five bladed (15
nificant consequences for the county and region. Soon, inch) curd knife for cutting the curd, thermometer, etc. The cheese vat is a great improve-
this home-made surplus production evolved into for- ment in the dairy—labor saving, and of great utility. The tin vat of less size is placed in a
mal cheese factories that pooled together the milk re- water tight box, leaving a space all around it for holding water. A small copper furnace is
sources of neighbor-patrons. Between 1864 and 1878, attached with pipes connecting with the water, and the furnace is made to encase the water
several cheese factories organized in Jones County. around the fire, and the water is thus heated and the curd scalded with a little fire in the
furnace. A proper connection with pipes should conduct the whey from the vat to save all
Perhaps most remarkable about the earliest large- dipping and carrying it away. The press is Kendall's patent, made in New York, is a power-
scale cheese producers in Jones County was that they ful press and is easily managed. A large sink containing a rack of slats is used for the final
all hailed from New York State, then the leading dairy drainage of the curd, although it could be drained in the vat, that having a hinge leg at one
producer in the country. Soon after, numerous men end, it may be thrown out of a level with ease.64
from Ohio also made their mark on the Iowa indus-
try. The New York-Ohio-northeast Iowa migration consolidating many smaller factories into the Dia- facture of cheese from the supply of his own dairy
route reflects farmers exploiting newly available and mond Creamery and becoming the first Dairy Com- herd. By 1863, he was producing more than 10,000
cheap dairy lands across the rapidly growing United missioner of Iowa. pounds of cheese per year. Bowen was one of the few
States landscape. The interior front cover of this pam- large-scale home producers of cheese in the county
phlet depicts the top dairy producing regions of the ASA BOWEN who made the transition to factory production. The
United States in 1880. following year, he began accepting the milk of his
New York native Asa C. Bowen settled on Bowen's neighboring Bowen's Prairie farmers at his cheese
Following on the heels of the cheese factory move- Prairie and opened the first cheese factory in Jones house.65
ment were butter factories, also known as creamer- County, and arguably, the State of Iowa. A "factory"
ies. The first in Iowa was John Stewart's 1872 Spring is defined as an organized group of neighboring farm- Asa Bowen utilized the Bowen Brothers' Store in
Branch Creamery, in neighboring Delaware County. ers, pooling their milk resources to manufacture a Chicago, a well-known business of his brothers, to sell
Four years later, the first creamery in Jones County large quantity of dairy product. four tons of his "choice cheese." The Chicago Post pro-
opened, and was an immediate success. claimed:
In 1858, Bowen embarked on the surplus manu-
Although the list of prominent early dairymen is Judges who examined the article, pronounced it
manifold, three men stand out in the dairy industry equal to the best samples from the celebrated dair-
of Jones County. Asa C. Bowen was the proprietor of ies of Herkimer Co., New York.. .so far as we can
the first cheese factory in Jones County, and probably learn, it is the first instance of an Iowa farmer [Asa
the State of Iowa. John Stewart, a Delaware County
butter maker with business interests in Jones County,
was almost single-handedly responsible for popular-
izing Iowa butter on the East Coast. Henry D. Sher-
man took the dairy industry to new heights,
