Page 22 - DairyOnThePrairie

20 Dairy on the Prairie

Archaeology at a Cheese Factory and Creamery

Excavations were conducted at archaeological Site 13JN168. The Oneida Cheese Factory was erected "Cooley can."69
here in 1873 by Alfred Doxsee, an Ohio native. In order to survive as a business, this factory had to
convert to butter-making by the mid-1880s. Around 1893, local farmers, mainly those of German and Luxembourg

descent, renaming it the "Star Co-operative Creamery." The equipment was sold off, the buildings were moved
off-site, and the land was converted to pasture in 1904.
Shipping stencilfrom site.

Several "features" or building remnants were present below the surface of the plowed farm field here: the foundation of the main
factory building (24-x-48-feet), a well, trash pits, and an outhouse pit. A drainage line (similar to modern, plastic drain line) was buried below the farm field and
connected a wood-lined trough to a hog lot. The manufacturing waste (the whey) was dumped into the trough. The whey ran down the drain line and emptied
into the hog lot, providing food for livestock kept immediately west of the factory.

Also present on the site was a milk cooling chamber, adjacent to the well. This chamber was not needed at cheese factories, and was built after the factory
shifted to butter production. Water was pumped constantly into the limestone-lined pool. "Cooley cans" full of milk were set into the pool: the surrounding
water cooled the milk quickly and cream rose faster this way. Once a mechanical separator arrived on site by 1893, this pool was no longer needed.

The Oneida Cheese Factory is the only cheese factory to receive extensive archaeological excavations in Iowa. Site 13JN168 reflects several trends discussed
throughout this booklet, particularly the inability of the cheese industry to compete with the myriad advantages of butter production. Also, small creameries
had great difficulty competing with larger operations. Finally, the short usage of the cooling chamber represents the rapidly changing technology of the dairy
industry.

Site overview.

Trough at site Reconstruction
13JN168. drawing of the
creamery at site
13JN168.