The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1915-03-11
YOUNG GIRL DISPLAYS
LITERARY ABILITY

Miss Vera Gsno, a student of the
Oak Grove school in a letter written
describing the Hood River institutions
displays a marked literary ability.
Miss Hazel Stanton. teacher of the Oak
Grove school, has brought her pupils to
the city on tours of inspection this
winter. Miss Gsno's letter follows:
Hood River, Ore. Feb. 25, 1915.
Dear Jack: This is the dandiest
place. | have been here just week
and have several nice looking jobs in
sight. AS still have funds enough,
guess III take in the scenery a little
while longer. Talking about scenery,
well, ] never saw anything like it;
looks just as if it came out of picture
book
Two of the places | visited today
were the creamery and the telephone
office. | saw so much butter at that
Hood River creamery | won't need to
eat any for month. like the cream
cry very well, but the job seems to call
for only one man, and he has to make
all the butter, only about $50 pounds to
a churning, and that, two or three
times week; to make a daily test of
all cream brought in; to tend to the
boiler in the basement; to make boxes
to ship butter in; to answer the tele.
phone, which is no small item; to wait
on customers, and to be polite to the
numerous visitors like yours truly.
Guess they won't need my highly un-
skilled services there; not while Mr..
Bluhm remains the artist he seems to
be.
However, it was very interesting to
learn how it was all done.
The farmers of this valley bring in
their cream, but some is shipped from
Cascade Locks, Wasco and other far
away points. A small quantity of
cream is taken out of each can brought
IN and tested. The farmers are paid
according to the percentage of butter
fat per pound. They use a Babcock
tester for this. You remember, we had
one in the school for a while, only that
was for testing milk and this one is for
cream. The process is very much the
same, but mabye I'd better explain it
to you for ! know you have forgotten.
The bottles containing the cream are
placed in hot water so the cream stick
ing to the sides of the bottle will mix
with the other and give an even test.
The cream is sucked up in the pipe and
put in the TASKS which have been set in
a scale for the cream is weighed in
stead of measured. Then sulphuric acid
is poured in, and the TASKS shaken. |
tried to make myself useful as we'll as
ornamental by shaking a few of these
for Mr.. Bluhm. Then the TASKS are
set in little brackets in side the Bah
cock testers, which looks like big red
pumpkin. 1t is run by steam. When
that tester is going full speed it is al
most as good as an electric fan. After
it has been whizzing away for about
three minutes the TASKS are taken out
and hot water added to the cream and
sulphuric acid mixture. to bring the
butter fat up III the neck of the flask
SO the percentage can be read. Most
of the cream tested from 20 per cent to
80 per cent.
My observing eye had sighted a big
box or chest upon platform at one
side of the room and was very curious
to know what it was for. Friend
Bluhm kindly informed me that it was
the ripener, with capacity of 900 gal
Ions, which is used to Pasteurize the
cream. This is done by the revolving
of coil of pipes through which steam
passes, heating the cream to about $50
degrees for Is or 20 minutes. The
cream is cooled by chloride of calcium
brine pumped through the coil of pipe.
The cream is Pasteurized to kill all the
germs. Then the good ones only are
supplied by means of a starter. This is
made in the following way-a small
tank is filled with Pasteurized milk.
One bottle of Tactic acid germs is put
into one quart of this milk and allowed
to stand until thick; then it is added
to the Pasteurized milk in the starter.
This mixture is added to the Pasteur-
lied cream in the ripener, which gives
the right sourness to the cream.
I Now the cream is ready to churn. 1t
flows through long tin spout to the
churn, which is large cylinder shaped
churn and butter worker
run by motor. 1t takes from 80 to
40 minutes to churn about $50 pounds !
Of butter. The temperature of the |
cream when churned differs according
10 the weather, but today it was 62F. |
After the butter is churned the but
Lermilk is drained off and put in a
customers. Water is put in the churn
and the butter is washed by the revolv-
ng of the churn. Finally the salt is
put in, Il ounce to a pound of butter.
By the way. | saw several barrels of
Jutter salt in the store room. The |
,hurn revolves once more and works
The butter.
1t is then ready to take out, which |
Friend Bluhm did with his hands and a
lutter paddle. The butter is put in |
1utter boxes which hold 81 pounds
each, and pounded down with a big |
;tamper that looks like giants potato |
nasher. This makes the butter solid, |
with no holes in it.
When a box is full it is leveled off !
with string. When the churn was
inally emptied there were seven butter
1oxes full and little left over, which |
Mr.. Bluhm said was the cooks s share. |
These boxes of butter we're covered |
with a wet vegetable parchment paper
and placed in cold storage until hard, |
when the cutting machine makes the
lne and two pound rolls we find on the
market. They are wrapped with print
I'd paper, and packed in 60 pound boxes.
MIR. Bluhm said that from 83 pounds
IF pure fat he expects to make 100
pounds of butter. Salt and water make
lp the balance. There is a national law
which allows only l6 per cent moisture
IN butter.
Another bit of information | gathered
was the cause of hard crumbly butter.
If the COW is fed dry feed the butter
will be hard and crumbly, but if the
cow is fed green feed the butter will
be more soft and easier worked. AS
most of the cows in this valley are fed
Try feed, the butter is much harder to
make than in the Willamette valley.
When you want to start a creamery
all you have to do is refer to this let
ter and you'll have the whole thing.
spent most of my afternoon with
Friend Bluhm, but he had told me