A reader sent me a picture of a remarkable cup and saucer set. What made it so special? The cup has a hole in the bottom.
We are both trying to determine what it really is, and there are some suggestions that it held a can of sweetened condensed milk for tea time. There was supposedly a plate on the bottom of the cup to hold any moisture that might drip from the can. I am not certain why that would be necessary if the cup sat in a saucer. Conveyor Roller Chain
You can do a web search for “Wurttemberg saucer and cup with a hole in the bottom” to see if you can come up with anything beyond what my other reader and I have. Please let me know if you do.
No great segue into today’s column, so I will just begin. We are all familiar with the term “watershed” and what it means, but did you know that there were milksheds that developed in the late 1800s and early 1900s?
The concept of the milkshed evolved out of growing use of railroads to transport milk. Efficiency was a must since the milk had to be delivered in a short time and couldn’t be subject to multiple stops and delays.
I wrote a column about the butter trains that ran between western New York and Boston. The milk trains were not much different, relying on the same ice-in-the-walls refrigerated trains. Also, reliance on passenger trains to haul the milk cars ensured a quick delivery schedule.
The larger cities served by the milk trains had previously depended on local supplies. In New York City, a lot of milk was supplied by breweries that kept cows in “mash houses” where they were fed the remnants of the brewing process. The National Association of Dispatchers said that the milk produced in the mash houses was referred to as swill milk and had a “milk punch” flavor, whatever that is.
The surrounding farms and mash houses could not keep up with the demand of growing cities, and rail lines were put into place to help meet that need.
It was soon realized that railroads were having to travel longer and longer routes to deliver products to cities. In 1886, New York’s milk supply came from 95 to 195 miles away. By 1916, the distance was over 500 miles and multiple rail lines were involved in the transport — the Pennsylvania, New York Central, Erie and Lehigh Valley railroads to name a few.
When drawn on a map, the rail routes resembled rivers flowing into a major body of water, which was why they were called milksheds.
The demand for milk in the cities doubled between 1911 and 1921. About two-thirds of it was delivered by rail.
It was then discovered that new equipment was necessary to build the cars, load and unload the milk and provide maintenance. Attempts at developing a glass-lined tank that would fit inside a rail car had little success until Pittsburgher Thomas Otto perfected such a design, which made its debut in 1921.
The following year, production of 3,000-gallon tanks by Otto’s company, Pfaudler, and a few others in the Midwest helped carry milk to Eastern cities and other places, such as Chicago. Two of those tanks could be mounted on one rail car for shipment. Tanks were fitted with a “manway” for cleaning and agitators to pump water.
Milk train cars were owned by railroads and by private processing companies such as Borden and H.P. Hood.
The demise of the milk train as a chief transport for milk actually started at the same time the mounted tanks were being developed. Pioneers of the auto industry in Detroit began thinking about use of truck transport for milk and other agricultural commodities. In the Motor City, incoming train transport of milk declined from 84% to 11% by 1925.
But the advent of truck transport was not solely responsible for the demise. Decrease in quick-route passenger trains made milk deliveries reliant on freight trains, which were usually slower and made more stops.
The history of the dairy industry in Pennsylvania, our region and across the country is a rich one. I can only think that some Lancaster Farming writer 50 to 100 years from now will be sharing tidbits about what we currently do.
Whether we think of our history or our present, the commonwealth’s dairy industry is a large part of our heritage and is worth working to preserve.
PMMB is always available to respond to questions and concerns. I can be reached at 717-210-8244 and by email at chardbarge@pa.gov.
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Carol Hardbarger has spent a lifetime in agriculture from living on a family farm to a career in agricultural education. Later in her career, she focused on consulting and research, often in agriculture and related fields. Most recently she served as secretary of the Pennsylvania Milk Marketing Board.
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