Eernst Dairy's last delivery truck. (Courtesy photo) [Click to enlarge]

As with so many commodities, the way we purchase our milk has changed over the years. In the very early days of McCook most families had their own cow. During the summer a cow-boy (Ray Search was one during his youth) would gather up milk cows from family barns in the neighborhood (after the morning milking) and drive the cows to a common pasture north of the city, where they would graze all day. The cow-boy usually did this chore on foot, but sometimes he was lucky enough to have a pony to ride).

In the evening he would drive the cattle home again in time for the evening milking. It was a rather easy job, as the cows knew just where they were going and would automatically leave the herd when they came to their "home" barn.

As cities grew the family cow was gradually banned from city properties. After that farmers and a number of small dairy men delivered milk to their few customers in buckets or jars. Beginning about the time of World War I, milk delivery dairies became more sophisticated, and for many years milk and cream came to us in the bottle -- milk in pints and quarts for the most part. Half-gallons and gallons of milk were rare. Cream came in half-pint bottles. And "came to us" was a literal phrase. Grocery stores had limited space, especially refrigeration space, and for the most part did not sell milk retail.

We had our milk delivered, from fewer but larger dairies, to our individual doorsteps each morning. In the cities a housewife could put out a little sign in the window, signifying her order. In rural areas we weren't as fancy. A hand written note was stuffed in an empty bottle notifying the milk man of any changes in the regular order.

In the early days a horse-drawn milk-wagon was the delivery vehicle of choice, which was very efficient. The horse quickly learned the route and would automatically stop at a customer's home. The milk man could walk to two or three houses before he needed to return to the milk wagon to return empty bottles and pick up more milk.

Each home had a little wooden box on the porch with the dairy's logo painted on the lid, very neat and trim. The milk was raw (unpasteurized) in McCook until after the flood in 1935 when people began to take "germs in milk" seriously.

But for years after that whole milk was still not homogenized, and for this reason a good many homes never bought cream, using instead the cream that came to the top of the milk (referred to as "top-milk") for their coffee and breakfast cereal. The dairies didn't bother to sell "skim milk." This was considered almost a "throwaway product," only good for slopping hogs.

Since milk was delivered fresh each morning women did not buy very much ahead. Many households were still using the old fashioned "ice boxes" until after World War II. Milk soured quickly, and every housewife had numerous recipes for using sour milk and cream in cakes, soups, and casseroles.

In the wintertime the milk on the doorstep would freeze in the bottles, pushing up the little cardboard caps two or three inches above the lip of the bottle, looking like little hats on long skinny necks of frozen milk.

Milk delivery men were important men in the community. They often became like a trusted member of the family. Amor Huff, a long time employee (and later owner along with George Walter) of Ernst Dairy, took special care of his customers. If the weather was freezing he brought the milk into the house and put it in the refrigerator, picking up the empty bottles on the way out the door -- just a bit of extra service.

Another milk man, Earl Butterfield (my favorite name for a milk man) in Plainview, my home town, saved a fellow's life with his quick response to a situation. Earl was making his deliveries when he came upon a young fellow who had taken poison and was writhing on the porch of a house where Earl was delivering milk. Seems the fellow had been spurned by the love of his life and chose to end it all on her front porch.

Earl quickly assessed the situation and forced at least two half pints of pure cream into the fellow's stomach. He retched and vomited and was extremely uncomfortable, but he was already feeling better by the time Earl got him to the hospital. The doctor praised Earl for his quick work and credited him with saving the young man's life. In time the fellow came to realize his mistake. He married another and lived a long and happy life, and Earl became his all-time hero.

Ernst's Dairy was originally located at 105 West N Street in McCook, which in 1920 was several blocks north of the city. There he had his home and a barn for his three cows.

By 1926 his operation had grown to 75 cows, and to avoid the urban growth to the north, had moved his cows to a pasture south of town. In 1928 a tornado leveled Mr. Ernst's home and barn at the N Street location.

When Ernst rebuilt his operation he eliminated the barn, but gradually upgraded his dairy with a modern hot water boiler, bottling machine, homogenizer, clarifier, pasteurizers---and ice cream making equipment. During WW II (when sugar was available) the Ernst ice cream store (on N. St.) was a popular place on summer evenings.

In the mid 1950s Mr. Ernst sold his milk cows and began to buy his milk for rebottling (about 900 gallons every other day) from the Nebraska-Iowa Co-op. This arrangement continued with Walter and Huff until the 1970s when the partnership sold their routes to Roberts Dairy, who subsequently discontinued milk delivery in McCook.

Two other dairies played significant roles in providing milk to the citizens of McCook. The Cloverleaf Dairy was started in 1922 by Charles Miller Sr. and his son, Dale. After the devastating flood of 1935, in which Dale lost his wife, four children and his sister-in-law, Dale moved out of the area and the dairy was taken over by his brother, Ralph. The Miller Dairy produced milk, chocolate milk, cheese and buttermilk, while the adjoining Miller Creamery produced as much as 5,000 to 7,000 pounds of butter per day.

The Ravenswood Dairy was originally located on Ravenswood Road in South McCook. That facility was destroyed by the 1935 flood, in which owner Glenn Bell lost his life while attempting to open the gates to save his cattle. Later, Bell's widow, Anna, and Joe Frank reopened the Ravenswood Dairy in a very modern facility at C. St. and West 3rd in McCook. In 1950 Ravenswood Dairy bought out Miller's Cloverleaf Dairy. In 1956 Ravenswood Dairy, in turn, closed down and the equipment sold.

(Note: In order to stay in business a bit longer European dairies began delivering other needed commodities to households along with milk. One time on a trip to Germany we stopped by our relatives' home to visit. Their "milk man" had just made his delivery. On their doorstep he had left 2 cases of beer, one case of wine, and two quarts of milk")

Today milk is a grocery store item and there are no more local milk delivery enterprises, but that does not mean that milk cows are gone from the McCook area. For a number of years, just before and after World War II, the population of milk cows in Red Willow County fluctuated between 3000 and 5000 cows. By 1980 that number had dropped below 700. However, since the turn of the Century, thanks to the presence of two large, modern dairies north of McCook, the population of dairy cows in the County has once again grown to impressive numbers. But the-processing of milk, and milk delivery to our doorsteps each morning in McCook are things of the past.

Source: Gazette Centennial Issue, McCook Economic Development handouts.