Most folks think cranberries are an essential part of the Thanksgiving holiday season.

Friday, December 10, 1999

Most folks think cranberries are an essential part of the Thanksgiving holiday season. Other folks continue this concept right on on into the Christmas season. Thus, the season between these holidays seems to be the logical time to salute this small red berry. Also, let’s give consideration to a community about 160 miles east of Albert Lea which calls itself the &uot;Gateway to Cranberry Country.&uot;

These tart berries are used as sauces, flavorings, raw snack items (depending on a person’s tastes), and as a juice. The juice can be either straight cranberry or a combination drink like cranapple. And some folks consider this fruit to be synonymous with the cooked turkey for both Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners.

A good portion of the cranberries harvested and sold in the nation may originate in and near the Cape Cod region of Massachusetts. However, about 40 percent of the American crop is actually grown and processed over in Wisconsin. Still another state involved with cranberry production is Washington. In fact, all three states are listed on some of the labels for the products from the famous Ocean Spray firm.

A third of the Wisconsin cranberry production comes from 4,000 or so acres of converted marshland around Tomah. This is the locality located near the place &uot;where the I divides.&uot; (Translation: I-90 goes west to La Crosse and Minnesota; I-94 goes north to Eau Claire and west to the Twin Cities.) In fact, one of the major marshes or bogs is located near the place where these interstate highways separate just south of Tomah.

Tomah really stresses the &uot;Gateway to the Cranberry County&uot; slogan. There’s a motel called the Cranberry Suites, a souvenir shop called the Cranberry Cupboard, the Cranberry County Mall, a separate place named the Cranberry Country Stitchin’ and Quiltin’, and an FM radio station with the very appropriate call letters of WBOG.

Tomah takes pride in that &uot;Gateway to Cranberry County&uot; slogan. However, a smaller town about seven miles to the north, Warrens, calls itself the &uot;Wisconsin Cranberry Capital.&uot; There’s also the Cranberry Expo Ltd., a museum established to preserve the history and unique machinery associated with this type of farming located beside Monroe County Road EW four miles east of Warrens.

The Expo is open from April to the end of October and has a gift shop selling a variety of cranberry products and souvenir items. Fresh cranberries (in season), cranberry products and some unusual gift items are also available in the various shops and stores in both Tomah and Warrens.

Ocean Spray, the most obvious brand name for cranberry products, is actually a national grower cooperative. One of the cooperative’s plants is located east of Tomah. According to the Greater Tomah Area Chamber of Commerce and Convention and Visitors Bureau, this plant cleans and grades up to 6,000,000 pounds of cranberry fruit each day during the peak harvest months of September and October.

Unlike corn, soybeans and most other crops, cranberries are grown in somewhat scattered and specific places known as bogs (which explains the use of the call letters for Tomah’s WBOG-FM). These bogs or marshes are level, diked fields which can be flooded or drained as needed.

One reference book says, &uot;The bogs must have a large supply of water nearby. Growers flood the bogs repeatedly to protect the plants from frost, insects, and disease and also when the berries are ready to harvest. If correctly prepared, a bog can produce fruit for more than 60 years.&uot;

Now, let’s change the subject and switch over to something I like to call the &uot;Footloose Footnote.&uot;

On Page 12 of the Nov. 25 (Thanksgiving Day) issue of the Tribune was &uot;The Mystery Photo.&uot; This same photo of a man, a turkey and a dog is also on page 71 in Volume Two of &uot;A Pictorial History of Freeborn County.&uot;

This photo is no longer a mystery. Thanks to Judy Olson of Security Bank Minnesota, and Everett Jensen of Clarks Grove, the man has been identified. He’s John R. Nelsen and his farm was located southeast of Clarks Grove. The photo was taken about 1940. Nelsen raised turkeys and sustained a heavy loss of birds in the Armistice Day Blizzard of 1940. Nelsen died in 1956.

Again, thank you Judy and Everett for solving this photo mystery.