Alberta's First Cheese Factory - Springbank, Alberta
Posted by: 
wildwoodke
N 51° 05.178 W 114° 28.793
11U E 676495 N 5662442
This sign was placed close to the location of Alberta's First Cheese Factory in Springbank, Alberta.
Waymark Code: WM8N99
Location: Alberta, Canada
Date Posted: 04/22/2010
Views: 9
From the Sign...
When the Canadian Pacific Railway arrived at Fort Calgary in 1883, the cattle industry in the region was given a great boost. The CPR also made it possible for homesteaders to settle in the foothills, and a number of small mixed farming operations developed in addition to the large cattle ranches. One of the first homesteads in Springbank was begun by Ebenezer Healy.
Healy was a Nova Scotian who had learned the dairy business on his family's farm in the Annapolis Calley. He traveled to Winnipeg in 1882, and the following year filed for a homestead north of Regina. Drought conditions there ruined his crops and helped persuade him to move further west to the foothills. Here he filed for another homestead where he could concentrate exclusively on raising cattle.
With Calgary's growing population, Healy decided that the market for diary products could be expanded to include chees in addition to milk, cream and butter. With the co-operation of his neighbours, he decided to build a cheese factory and sent away for the equipment necessary to process the milk from 300 cows. In July 1888, he hauled his first shipment of cheese to the I.G. Baker store in Calgary where it retailed for 20 cents a pound. By 1890 his cheese factory produced 10 tons of cheese. This success encouraged the construction of other cheese factories in the area. Cheese production soon became a viable local industry in the southern foothills.