The Creamery Shuffle
A major dairy operator moves his business, leaving a vacuum in the Kittitas Valley market.
The creamery and cheese factory of Ward Emigh has removed from Ellensburg to Walla Walla. The latter town is getting one of the best creamerymen in the state, while his removal from Ellensburg will tend to lessen the competition among the factories and creameries of Kittitas valley. It has been a regrettable fact that the keen rivalry on prices paid for milk has kept the standard of Kittitas butter down for some time because to come out even the necessary attention and time could not be given to turning out first class products. Sound dealers express the hope that an adjustment in the scale of prices can be now made more satisfactory, so that there will be a fair margin of profit for the creameries, enabling them to make of Kittitas dairy products the standard of the Pacific Coast.
“It has been a regrettable fact that the keen rivalry on prices paid for milk has kept the standard of Kittitas butter down for some time.”
The struggle for market dominance and the subsequent impact on product quality is a classic economic narrative. This story highlights how regional competition—then in the dairy industry—shapes the economic identity of towns like Ellensburg and Walla Walla.
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