Chapter 27

When the settlers came, they soon acquired one, two or more cows to provide them with milk, cream and butter. When they had a surplus of these products they looked for a market to turn them into cash. Mr. Marlette saw an opportunity and built a creamery, down near the creek, in Seven Persons. He purchased cream and milk and made butter. He shipped these products to nearby cities. A big gasoline motor powered the huge churn and the water pump. The creamery operated for a number of years but succumcumbed to declining population. For a long period of time it remained unused.

In 1925 a scourge of grasshoppers moved across the country to ravage what little crop there was. Again the big churn was put to use to mix grasshopper poison. Mait Dinsmore and Joe Flood were the operators.

They mixed a bait of wheat bran, sawdust, molasses and arsenic with water. This was taken out by the farmers and scattered over the infested fields, in early mornings. It was an effective control.

"By Yiminy! It is good to see those pests lying dead between the rows of grain."

"Let me tell you. I told my wife not to wear her green hat outside. I bought a new wagon box, painted green, and left it in my field. When I came out last Tuesday, I found only a few pieces of iron and some bolts. The grasshoppers had eaten up my whole wooden box. They go for anything green," said Jack McDonnell.

The creamery served as a bait-mixing centre for several seasons. Then after awhile it was torn down and moved to a nearby farm to be rebuilt into a stable.

Return Seven Persons