In the Beginning

The year 1932 was the worst of times for practically everyone, and to a small farmer like Ben Briggs, it looked as if things would get much, much worse before they got better. If they ever got better.

Because of the Red River Valley's short growing season, some farmers like Ben supplemented their income by keeping small dairy herds. Their only market was the "centralizer," a large plant in Moorhead, Minnesota, that bought their dairy output for local and national distribution.

However, the centralizer had no competition and could pay the farmers whatever it wished. Its prices dropped until they barely covered the cost of feed and labor. The dairy farmers were faced with a brutal choice: take it and like it, or get out of the business.

Ben Briggs was approached by Charles Ommodt, a field man for the Land O' Lakes Dairy Cooperative, about setting up a local creamery to compete with the centralizer. "Whether or not you join Land O' Lakes is up to you," Ommodt told him, "but at least you'll have yourselves a creamery."

Intrigued by the idea, Ben cranked up the party line and invited local dairymen to a meeting. With his friend Andrew Headland, he completed the signup of dairy farmers a year later, in the fall of 1933. Together, they persuaded a group of Fargo-Moorhead businessmen to pledge a matching amount of money. Despite threats from the centralizer, which even planted a spy in the farmers' organization, the Cass-Clay project moved forward.

At an official stockholders' meeting on May 31, 1934, Emil Mattson was hired as the first general manager of the Cass-Clay Creamery. Albert Koops was elected president, Andrew Headland, treasurer, and Ben Briggs was named secretary of the board of directors. The first order of business was to start construction as soon as possible.

To save money, the building committee decided to use farm labor whenever they could. A farm carpenter built the form for the foundation. Ben Briggs, his two oldest sons and a couple of his neighbors mixed the concrete and laid the floor. Bricklayers were hired to put up the walls. Since the non-farm laborers had to be paid, Ben took it upon himself to visit a few businessmen on Saturday mornings to forage for money.

While the building was going up, Mattson and the board of directors decided not to join Land O' Lakes, since they felt Cass-Clay could do as well or better selling its own produce locally. The new company would take its chances in the marketplace as an independent co-op creamery.

The plant, located at the Northern Pacific Railway tracks and 9th Street in Moorhead, opened its doors for business on October 31, 1935, boasting seven employees and one truck, and dealing primarily in the manufacture of butter and the processing and distribution of milk.

Even in the first week, business was better than anticipated. Farmers delivered milk and cream in a steady procession of trucks, resulting in a long line at the loading dock.

In a desperate move to lure producers from Cass-Clay, the centralizer raised its prices to farmers for their milk and cream. Cass-Clay simply played the waiting game, not even trying to compete - and as they had expected, the centralizer's prices soon dropped back. Also, one by one, the small local dairymen sold their routes to Cass-Clay.

In 1941, the position of general manager opened up and the board decided to hire one of the men initially responsible for bringing Cass-Clay into existence - Charles Ommodt. In the intervening period, Ommodt had served as Minnesota's Commissioner of Agriculture and was now employed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Ben Briggs convinced Ommodt to take the helm at Cass-Clay. "It was your idea, Charley," he told him. "You got Cass-Clay going, and you're the best man to keep it going." Ommodt accepted the offer with a grin and a handshake.

Charles Ommodt's astute, innovative leadership would guide Cass-Clay for the next twenty-one years, taking it from a small local creamery to a multimillion-dollar organization supplying dozens of healthful, high-quality dairy products to a three-state area.

Like Ben Briggs, the other founders of the Cass-Clay Creamery were men not easily discouraged. As Charley Ommodt said of them in 1962, "They were an amazing lot, without business experience, without money, who during the Depression went out and launched this business. It shows what people can do when they have an idea and the courage of their convictions to carry that idea through."

      Previous  |  Next