57 



ico dresses to the sound of the church bell, and 

 that called young and old, rich and poor, to the 

 great co-operative fabrication. In farm wagons, 

 in Sundny wagons, in carts and all kinds of four 

 wheeled and two wheeled vehicles they wended 

 their way to the general rendezvous, all exhuber- 

 ant with the spirit of the occasion. It was not 

 only a threat glad gathering of all the people of 

 the town, but of half of their yoked oxen and 

 family horses, and these stepped off iu the march 

 with the animation of a holiday. 



An enormous hoop had been prepared, placed 

 upon the bed of the cider press, which bad been 

 well purified for the work, and covered with a 

 false bottom of the purest material. The hoop 

 resting on this formed a huge cheese box or seg- 

 ment of a cistern, and was placed directly under 

 three powerful wooden screws which turned up 

 the massive head block above. 



A committee of arrangements met the con- 

 tributors as they arrived and conducted them to 

 the great, white, shallow vat into which they 

 poured their contingents of curd, from the large 

 tubs of well-to-do dairymen to the six quart 

 pail of the poor owner of a single cow. When the 

 last contribution was given in, a select commit- 

 tee of the town addressed themselves to the nice 

 and delicate task of mixing and flavoring and 

 tinting such a mass of curd as was never brought 

 to press before. But the farmers' wives of Ches- 

 shire were equal to the duty and responsibility 

 of the office. 



All was now ready for the coup de grace of the 

 operation. The signal was given ; the ponderous 

 screws twisted themselves out from the huge 

 beam over head with even thread and line. And 

 now the whey ran around the circular channels 

 of the board bed in little foamy bubbling rivers. 

 The machinery worked to a charm. The stout 

 young farmers manned the long levers ; the 

 acrews creaked and posts and beams responded 

 to the pressure with a sound between a puff and 

 groan. It was a complete success. The young 

 men in their shirt sleeves, and with flushed and 

 moistened faces, rested at the levers, for they had 

 moved them to the last inch of their force. All 

 the congregation with the children in the middle 

 stood in a compact circle around this great 

 press. The Juue sun britrhtened their faces 

 with its most genial beams and brought into the 

 happiest illumination the thoughts that beat in 

 their hearts, then Elder Leland, standing up on 

 a block of wood, and with his deep-lined face 

 overlooking the whole assembly, spread out his 

 great toil hardened hands, and looking stead- 

 fastly with open eyes heavenward, as if to see 

 the pathway of his thanksgiving to God and the 

 return blessing on its descent, offered up the 

 gladness and gratitude of his flock for the one 

 earnest mind that had inspired them to that 

 day's deed, and invoked divine favor upon it and 

 the national leader for whom it was designed. 



When the cheese was well cured and ready for 

 use it weighed sixteen hundred pounds; but as it 

 could not be safely conveyed on wheels to its 

 destination, it waited until mid-winter, then it 

 was placed on a sleigh and no one but Elder John 

 Leland could be entrusted with the precious 

 load. He took the reins, driving all the way from 

 Cheshire to Washington, full five hundred miles, 

 receiving testimonials and varying acclamations 

 in the towns through which he passed. Arriving 

 in Washington, Mr. Jefferson received him in 

 state, the big cheese was duly presented and 

 speeches made, and the President's steward 

 passed a long, glittering knife through the 

 cheese, taking out a deep golden wedge, which 

 was served with bread and ale in presence of the 

 heads of Departments, Foreign Ministers and 

 many other eminent personages. It was highly 

 complimented for its richness, flavor and color, 

 and was the most perfect specimen cheese ever 

 exhibited at the White House. Then Mr. Jeffer- 

 son sent a great golden wedge of the cheese back 



to the makers, which they ate with double relish 

 as the President's gift to them as well as theirs 

 to him. 



THE OLDEST DAIRY DISTRICT IN AMERICA. 



Few years previous to this memorable event a 

 sturdy young farmer from New England, cross- 

 ed the Hudson and slowly made his way up the 

 valley of the Mohawk, which has been denomina- 

 ted the " Gateway of the Continent." He was 

 the first who began cheese dairying in Herkimer 

 county. He came into the country on foot. He 

 was rich in health and strength. He had eight 

 silver shillings in his pocket, an axe on his shoul- 

 der and two stout arms to swing it. 



Except along the Mohawk nearly the whole 

 country was then a dense forest. Brant, the fa- 

 mous Mohawk chief, and his bloody warriors had 

 been gone several years, but traces of their pill- 

 age and murders were fresh among the early 

 settlers in the valley and along the river. The 

 old Dutch heroine, Mrs. Shell, was then living 

 near Fort Dayton. She was a noted character 

 during the Revolution. Her husband being- 

 called out to fight the Tories and Indians, she 

 took her infant to the field and helped her eldest 

 son, a lad. to hoe the corn, with a musket strap- 

 ped to her shoulder. 



The savages in more than one encounter with 

 the Shell family had learned to fear and respect 

 Mrs. ShHl. Her aim was steady and her bullets 

 death. When the Indians beseiged her log house 

 she fought side by side with her husband all day 

 and all night, battering the guns with an axe as 

 they thrust them through between the logs, and 

 filing upon the assailants until help came from 

 the fort. The house stood on the black slate hills 

 rising near the Mohawk to the north, overlook- 

 ing a long line of charming scenery. Beyond 

 was a valley and a still higher elevation. Here 

 the sturdy young New Engiander picked his 

 land. His strong arms felled the timber over 

 many acres. He built his log house and estab- 

 lished his herd upon the soil. 



From such beginning sprang the mighty giant 

 that is now stalking over the Continent, dotting 

 the land with countless herds. 



From 1800 to 1826 cheese dairying had become 

 pretty general in Herkimer county, but the 

 herds were mostly small. So early as 1812 the 

 largest herds, numbering about forty cows each, 

 were those belonging to Wm. Ferris, Samuel 

 Carpenter, Nathan Salisbury and Isaac Smith, 

 in the northern part of the county, and they 

 were regarded as extraordinary for their size. 



About this time (1826) the business began to 

 be planted in the adjoining counties in single 

 dairies, here and there, and generally by persons 

 emigrating from Herkimer county. The imple- 

 ments and appurtenances of the dairy were then 

 very rude. The milking was done in open yards, 

 and milking barns were unknown. The milk 

 was curdled in tubs the curd cut with a long 

 wooden knife or broken with the hands and 

 pressed in log presses standing exposed to the 

 weather. The cheeses were thin and small. 

 They were held through the season and in the 

 fall when ready for market they were packed in 

 rough casks made for the purpose, and shipped 

 to different localities for home consumption. 

 The leading buyers previous to 1826, were Wm. 

 Ferris and Robert Nesbith, from Massachusetts. 

 Nesbith was a Quaker and had a long face. Fer- 

 ris, his partner, was of a gay and festive turn, 

 and the fact of their partnership was not known 

 to the dairymen. Their manner of conducting 

 trade was unique and very satisfactory to them- 

 selves at least. 



First, Nesbith, the Quaker went his rounds 

 visiting every dairy. Putting on a sad lugubri- 

 ous cheek, he knew how to impress dairymen as 

 to the inferiority of their goods, and to raise se- 

 rious doubt in their minds as to whether cheese 

 could be marketed at anything like living rates. 



