THE SLATERVILLE CREAMERY After the pioneers had conquered the desert and fields of hay and grain flourished, pasture land was in abundance, but the dairy business posed many problems. Caring for the products was one of them and a market was another. Private customers bought some of the butter produced. Some butter, along with eggs, was traded for groceries, but the price was low--12 to 15 cents a pound. There were no home refrigeration facilities. Most people dug dirt cellars, where milk in pans was placed on shelves. The cream was skimmed into a crock each day, and churned once or twice a week. I remember well my parents' cellar and their churning problems-the butter too soft in the summer and too cold in winter, which required hours of churning by hand. After the butter was churned, molded, and printed, it was hard to keep it firm. We had a flowing well, and mother placed her butter in a large container in the well tank. It was an hour's drive by horse and buggy to Ogden. In the summer, she placed the butter in a wicker basket covered with wet cloths and then a layer of fresh green alfalfa They started for Ogden in the early cool hours of the morning to deliver it before it ran away. In the 1890s the sturdy pioneers of Slaterville started a movement to build a creamery. A company was formed and stock sold at $10.00 a share to raise money. The Slaterville Creamery Company was incorporated on August 10, 1896. A building was erected and equipped with machinery at a cost of $6,000. Samuel Wayment installed the machinery for the creamery. It was located in Slaterville, approximately where the home of Jayna Smout is located, north of Mill Creek and just south of Rob Smout's home on what is now 2250 West Street.* Henry Heber Hudman was president and manager, with a board of directors. Among the directors were Alvin J. Hudman, William O. Smout and Robert Cowan of Slaterville, Preston Blair, Marriott, Thomas Etherington, West Weber, and Thomas Brown, Farr West. Later A. P. Poulson, S. M. Cook and W. Cragun were added to the board of directors. The creamery opened 1 May 1897. It was the first in Weber County and one of the first in Utah. It served not only Slaterville but the surrounding communities. A man named John Coates, who was an expert butter maker, came from Wisconsin to operate the creamery and supervise local help. Living quarters for him and his family were built in one section of the building. Later his brother-in-law, John Wellenzine, also from the east, came to assist Mr. Coates. After that, graduates from Utah State 237