THE DAIRY INDUSTRY 19 



farms entirely devoted to dairying, and the milk is either shipped to Chicago 

 per rail or sold to the numerous factories where it is manufactured into butter 

 and cheese. 



About the year 1860 the number of dairy cows kept had in- 

 creased to such an extent that more milk was produced than could be 

 handled as such, and with this oversupply came the temporary rise of 

 the cheese industry in Illinois. The cooperative system was soon 

 inaugurated, and instead of the manufacturer looking for a purchaser, 

 the purchaser came to the manufacturer. The Elgin Board of Trade 

 was established in 1872, where purchaser and producer could meet 

 on middle ground. 



The rivalry between the factories as to the price they would pay 

 for milk led to the practise of taking off a little cream. Another 

 dealer, in order to meet this kind of competition, would dip off a little 

 more; and so on. They added the buttermilk, cooked very slightly, 

 salted but little, and hurried up the curing as fast as possible. The 

 dealers soon began to complain and there was no longer the great de- 

 mand for Illinois cheese. The reputation of Illinois cheese was gone. 

 In 1865 Illinois had seventeen cheese factories; this number had in- 

 creased to forty-six in 1870. By 1890 many factories were engaged 

 in the manufacture of filled cheese, which increased rapidly until 

 about 1896, when a law was passed prohibiting filled cheese. Within 

 a few months Illinois dropped almost to the bottom as a cheese pro- 

 ducing state; and today there are only about fifteen factories making 

 cheese. 



Following closely on the fall of the cheese industry we read of 

 the development of the creamery industry; which, in the main, is 

 familiar to most of you. About 1870 the matter of establishing a 

 creamery in Elgin began to be discussed, and it was Dr. Joseph Tefft, 

 of Elgin, who was instrumental in establishing the first butter factory 

 west of the Lakes. It was here, in a factory superintended by J. H. 

 Wanzer, with the help of some of the stockholders' wives, that the 

 first creamery butter west of the Lakes was made. The second season 

 this factory made 80,000 pounds of butter. For a time many factories 

 made both butter and cheese; and even now we find, scattered over 

 the state, creameries which were originally designed for the dual pur- 

 pose of manufacturing both cheese and butter. The second creamery 

 was probably that of I. A. Bois, of Marengo. Thus the industry de- 

 veloped until in 1883 there were about four hundred factories. In 

 1885 one of the first creameries opened in southern Illinois at Sparta. 

 From this time on, the industry grew rapidly until 1898, at which 



