The Butter Wars: Kittitas Dairymen Fight to Keep Their Good Name

The good neighbors over the crest of the Cascades come with bitter complaint because others are awarded credit where credit is really due to them, and their fame and good name are placed in jeopardy. With commendable spirit the newspapers of Washington have advocated home industries and the building up within our own state enterprises that would keep money at home and at the same time give employment to local people. The sensible suggestions of the press were listened to and acted upon in various portions of the state, and splendid results were achieved. Among the enterprises suggested more particularly were creameries, as thousands of dollars were being sent away yearly for the products of the creameries of Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin, when a better article could be made in Washington, which is naturally one of the best dairy states in the Union, with its rich and nutritious grasses, its pure water and cool climate. Nature could not have provided better for the dairyman.

The first to comprehend the situation and to avail themselves of it were the farmers of Kittitas valley. After thoroughly posting themselves on the business, in order to work intelligently, they stocked their farms with the best cows, purchased the most improved machinery used in the celebrated Eastern creameries and adopted the latest methods of butter making. Their purpose was to manufacture a gilt-edged article that would always command a good market and at the same time reflect credit upon themselves and the state. They were honest in their purpose, and they have demonstrated by their faith and their works that Washington leads all other states in the manufacture of pure creamery butter.

There are now six or eight well-established creameries in Kittitas valley within a short distance of Ellensburg, and their market is chiefly in the Sound cities, where their product commands the highest prices by reason of its superior quality. Their brand is standard and its reputation splendid. But others are endeavoring to appropriate it, hence the protest of these pioneer dairymen. They are naturally jealous when they see their favorite brands quoted as 'Yakima' or 'Eastern Washington' in the city market reports, when the correct name could as easily be given. Kittitas and Yakima valleys are as distinct and separate as White River and Snohomish valleys, so there is no occasion for confusion or confounding of names.