On the 14th of April the directors met again, this time at J. B. Crosby's, and Peter McDonald and J. B. Crosby were directed to draw up plans for the required building. A notice calling for tenders was drawn up, requiring the price by the 19th of April and a building ready to use on or before May lst! J. B. Crosby was awarded the building contract and was paid $185 on May 3 lst, so the building was constructed quickly.

Whether the building was ready by May 1st is unknown. Work on the foundation for the boiler was noted in May and collection routes were laid out on May 24th and milk cans were being sold to the shareholders in June, so operation probably started in late June or July. By October it was certainly in operation, as a meeting of shareholders was held on Oct 25th at the courthouse. The topic of concern was the draying (hauling) of the milk to and from the dairy. Some individuals wanted to haul their own, others take turns hauling and still others wanted to contract out the haulage. The result of much discussion was that the patrons would haul their own milk (13).

An article in the Guardian on April 12th 1901 notes that the separating station would be opening May 1st and expected to do a larger business than the previous year under the management of D. McNevin (14). Whether Mr. McNevin was the manager in 1900, or was new for 1901, is not clear. The company does not appear to have expanded to produce cheese or butter, as it was not listed under cheese factories and creameries in the Journals of the Legislative Assembly for 1898- 1915. This supports the recollection of Billy Potts that the milk was separated into cream and milk and the resulting cream sent to Crapaud for further processing. The skim milk was then returned to the farmers (15).

Annual meetings of the Dairying Company are noted in March 1900 and January 1906. It was believed that the company closed circa 1915 (16,17,15).

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Creamery staff (names unknown)courtesy of Peter Hicks

62