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(403) 358-9848 4912 – 50th Street · Alix · Alberta

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Central Alberta Dairy Pool

April 29th 2016
From “Some Memories of My Years in Alix, and Its People” by Alice Whitfield

Art Foster was the engineer in charge of the boiler room and machinery.  Bert Smith also worked there…. Around 1932 Poultry and eggs were added to the business, and in the fall turkeys were loaded onto the dray from the farm trucks or wagons.  They were piled as high as was possible and as many as would stay on. (Very sanitary delivery in those days!) Needless to say, it was not unusual for a few to fall off and be spoiled in transit….  I remember Jack Pears, Frank Brooker, and Gene Deen driving the old team with the dray.

One of the girls doing the egg candling was Katie Walper, and you could find her in the darkroom looking through the egg against a light to see if it was fresh or had a chicken in it. A lot of the eggs came in cracked, and they tried making what they called Melange from the cracked eggs by beating them and freezing the mixture, but it didn’t work out too well.  Another product was powdered buttermilk which did have a really good market while there was plenty of cream.

When the new mechanical printer was installed, Mary Deen took over and worked there for many years….  The creamery story wouldn’t be complete without the mention of Okey Lundberg, who came with his wife, Ruth, from Rimbey where he had been the manager. He was active in the Alix Athletic Association which was responsible for building the arena…. Ruth Lundberg served as 4-H Girls Club leader for a number of years….

This article is taken from Gleanings, (the follow-up book to Pioneers and Progress), Alix-Clive Historical Club, 1981. Both books are available for sale at Alix Wagon Wheel Museum, Alix Public Library, and Alix Home Hardware.

Butter-flavoured aluminum? Yes, that’s what was left when a fire destroyed the Central Alberta Dairy Pool in 1976. The fire was so hot that it melted the butter and the aluminum vats it was contained in. The liquid then moved into the sewer system and congealed – and we have a piece of it!

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