Chapter 33
-- Compiled by the Cumberland Women's Club
and Published by the Cumberland Advocate
1874-1974
(used by permission of the Cumberland Advocate)
Donated by Linda Mott
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The Hines Company
In the early days of the Cumberland area, it was found that rutabagas (Swedish turnips) was one of the crops that the soil and weather conditions of this part of the country were suited for. The bagas grew especially well on newly broken, and rather rough ground which made them a popular crop during the time of breaking open new farms.
The farmers would store some of the rutabagas for their own winter use, and then haul the balance of their crop to Cumberland, with a wagon and team of horses, to be sold for cash, or to trade with the local stores. At this time, the Miller-Waterman Company had a wooden shed on the north end of town and the S.W. Hines Mercantile Company had two sheds on the south end. These were used for storage of hay, and potatoes, and were suitable to be used for the storage of the early day rutabaga crops. From here, the bagas were shipped out in bulk lots by railroad car, well before the freeze up in the fall, and the majority were sold to the market in Chicago. At this time the rutabaga business was a side line for both of these business concerns. At the turn of the century the S.W. Hines Mercantile Company bought out the Miller-Waterman Company.
In 1915, Bert Hines returned to Cumberland, from Sand Point, Idaho, where he had managed a store for the Humbird Lumber Company. He worked with his father and five brothers in the retail business, as manager of The Company Store, and with his father, S.W. Hines in the rutabaga business. Originally the bagas were shipped out just as they had come from the fields. Mr. Hines was instrumental in developing a system of washing the rutabagas as they came in from the field, and were put in winter storage. In the 1930s, the demand for waxed bagas called for more experiments to develop a method to coat each baga with wax fast enough to make it profitable. The present method of conveyor running through a thermostatically controlled tank filled with hot wax is the result.
In the early 1940s, The Hines Company started to rent land, and raise their own rutabaga crops in order to fill contracts for the U.S. government. In the period from here to the 1960s, they raised as many as 600 acres of rutabagas in a year, earning Cumberland the title of "rutabaga capital of the world." During this period the crops were shipped to all sections of the United States mostly by rail, and the "Circle-C", and "Wisconsin Chief" brands of rutabagas were well known, and in high demand.
The later
years have found problems with mechanization, packaging, insecticides,
and herbicides to be challenging, and steady progress has been, and will
continue to be made in these areas. With new methods of growing and packing,
the high costs of other foods, new recipes, and the nutrition packed in
the vegetable, the future of the lowly rutabaga is bright indeed.
to 3M
Company
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