The Lake of the Woods Milling Company was founded in 1887, with a mill in Keewatin, Ontario which became one of the largest flour mills in the British Commonwealth. In 1954, the company was bought by another long-established Canadian firm, the Ogilvie Flour Mills Company of Montréal. (When Sir William Van Horne, who pushed the Canadian Pacific Railway to completion in the 80's of the last century, was asked by a British visitor to name the national flower of Canada, he replied, "Ogilvie Flour, of course.") In 1967, the original Keewatin Mill burned to the ground, ending 79 years of production. It was not rebuilt and 130 workers, half the workforce of the northern Ontario town, were put out of work. In 1994 the Archer Daniels Midland Company of Chicago bought the entire Ogilvie operation. The "Five Roses" brand was acquired by the J.M. Smucker Company of Orrville, Ohio in 2009.
The Five Roses Cookbook first appeared in 1913, and is now on-line as "My Cookbook." Below, from the 1962 revised edition:
It is interesting that it placed such a strong emphasis on Canadian products. That's pretty much gone today.
Talk about product support: readers were encouraged to directly contact the author, Miss Pauline Harvey:
The book also included coupons for other company cook books:
Also of interest was the fact that, even in 1962, instructions were provided for ways to bleach the flour bags, presumably so they could be used for other things. The recycling ethos was still in place back then.
I love the cookbook.im in my 60s and my mom used the cookbook in 1950s now my daughter has a 1938 cookbook as I do..
ReplyDeleteI was cleaning out my cookbooks today also recipes, and I came across a black hard cover book entitled A Guide To Good Cooking. LAKE OF THE WOODS MILLING COMPANY. Compiled by the makers of FIVE ROSES FLOUR. Copyright Canada. 1932. A collection of good recipes carefully tested, and approved by expert authority, under the supervision of Jean Brodie. It's in very good condition. Just finished looking through it February 28, 2020.
ReplyDeleteThis must [redate the Five Roses cookbook? Could you take a nice arty photo and send it to gerald@vanwyngaarden.ca. ?
ReplyDeleteI'll add it to the post! I wonder how much it differs to the later 1960s versions which someone has reproduced.
I have a 1959 good cooking cook book
ReplyDeleteJust a footnote re the 1967 fire at the Keewatin mill. There were actually two flour mills in Keewatin owned by the company - Mill A, built in 1887 and opened in 1888; and Mill C, built in 1906/1907. This was the mill that burned on July 1, 1967. The original Mill A was closed in the 1950s after the company was purchased by Ogilvie Flour in 1954/1955 - it was used by other businesses in the 1960s and 1970s until the various buildings were lost to fires in the 1970s/1980s.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the additional history. Much appreciated!
ReplyDeleteMy copy of the 25th edition of Five Roses A Guide To Good Cooking is worn. Where can I get another spiral bound copy? It’s my go-to cookbook!
ReplyDelete