This contribution takes a closer look at how the in the early 1900s, the Towle Log Cabin Syrup Company creatively used the term and idea of a “pure” product to advertise their table syrups. It was fairly well-known that Log Cabin Syrups were made from a blend of cane sugar syrup and maple syrup. Some in the maple industry wanted any blended syrups that weren’t 100% maple syrup to be labeled adulterated. To the disappointment of the maple industry, when regulations finally came out in the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906, the term adulteration was more rigidly applied to the presence of dangerous chemicals or unnatural additives. As a result, Log Cabin Syrup complied with the truth in advertising to say their syrup was a blend, but emphasized it was a blend of pure ingredients and what could have been a regulatory nightmare was instead turned into a promotional windfall.
Two examples of the iconic Québec maple syrup can. Photography by Amy Cavanaugh.
In Québec, it is common for maple syrup to be packaged and sold in a unique round, flat-topped metal can, similar in size and shape to a large can of soup or crushed tomatoes. In other parts of the maple syrup producing region in Canada and the United States, maple syrup is more commonly packed in plastic jugs with handles, fancy glass bottles, or rectangular metal cans of various sizes. Today, Québec cans are filled with 540 milliliters of syrup, about the same as 19 fluid ounces, a little more than the 16 oz. American pint. When these cans were first introduced in 1952, they were marked with their container or net weight of 26 oz. and when Canada converted to metric in 1980 the cans began to be labeled in liquid volume of 540 ml.
A contemporary example of the iconic Dominion & Grimm design on the Québec can. The bands of ridges around the can are known as beading and add strength and stability to the walls of a round can. Source – Amazon.com listing.
Although, plastic, glass, and rectangular cans also see limited use in Québec today, maple syrup makers and consumers in Québec have hung on tightly to the Québec round can since its introduction, almost as a sort of identity marker and a reminder of their role as world leaders in the modern maple syrup industry. In fact, one could say this can, in particular the version with the design artwork of the Dominion & Grimm Company, has become iconic in Québec. So much so, that one can find the image of the can in pop artwork, on greeting cards, coffee mugs, refrigerator magnets, body tattoos, and even as a central theme of popular Montreal street artist Whatisadam!
Yet, there is a bit of mystery surrounding the details of the origins and introduction of this can. As recounted over the last few years in a few Québec publications, the Québec can was introduced as an option for syrup makers in 1952 following a 1951 contest asking participants to design a new and attractive label for this special sized can. That such a contest was held was known to be true, but beyond that, the details of the contest were thought to be lost.[1] It was a mystery who won, what the winning design looked like, and if that design was ever put to use . . . until now. My research with the digital collections in the National Archives of Québec has brought forward a number of important documentary sources and previously unreported details related to this contest. But first, some background on the introduction of the 26 oz. Québec can.
In the 1950s, Jules Méthot, chief of the honey and maple products division at the Québec Ministry of Agriculture, wanted to take advantage of the growing shift to buying goods from grocery markets. Méthot felt that the maple syrup industry in Québec would have greater success if they packaged syrup in smaller containers than the traditional one-gallon can. Méthot argued that the gallon sized can was cost prohibitive to the average household, and packaging syrup in smaller cans that could be consumed in a shorter period of time and would better preserve the unique flavors of pure maple syrup.[2]
June 1951 announcement and invitation to submit entries to the label design contest. Source – L’Action Catholique, 14 June 1952, p 10.
Under Méthot’s leadership, a concerted effort began to promote the use of smaller cans for syrup. In 1951, the Ministry of Agriculture partnered with Les Producteurs de sucre d’erable du Québec, the influential maple syrup cooperative out of Plessisville, Québec, to sponsor a label design contest held at that summer’s annual Provincial Exposition in Québec City. It was no surprise that Méthot was working hand in hand with the cooperative. As a syrup maker himself, Méthot was involved in the formation of the cooperative from the very beginning and managed the cooperative’s Plessisville plant from 1928 to 1940.
In June 1951, announcements for the contest appeared in various newspapers calling for submissions of the most interesting designs for labels that could be attached to No. 2 and 2 ½ size metal food cans. These sized cans were round in shape and generally held about 26 oz. Moreover, the Continental Can Company and the syrup producers cooperative each contributed $50 for the cash for prizes to be awarded to the three winning entrants.[3]
September 1951 article describing the awards event and the names of the winners of the label design contest. Source – L’Action Catholique Quebec, 6 Sept 1951, p2.
My research has uncovered that over forty designs were entered in the contest, and on September 5th, 1951, the winners were announced at a reception at the Agricultural Pavilion at the Québec Expo before an audience of guests and government officials including Méthot; the Honorable Senator and Director of the syrup cooperative, Cyrille Vaillancourt; J.H. Lavoie, Director of the Horticulture Services at the Ministry of Agriculture; and Dr. Georges Maheux, Director of Information and Research Services at the Ministry of Agriculture.[4] According to news accounts of the reception, first prize was awarded to Mrs. Henri Brunelle of Batiscan, Second prize to Mr. Lionel Bégin, of Lévis, and third prize to Mr. H. Jacques, of Limoilou. Additional genealogical research suggests that Mrs. Henri Brunelle’s full name was probably Emilliana St-Cyr Brunelle.[5]
Furthermore, I was also able to locate a pair of photographs in the National Archives of Québec, taken at the 1951 Québec Exposition by noted Québec photographer Omer Beaudoin that illustrate a display of the entries of in the syrup can label contest.
First of two photos showing the left side of the case displaying the entries and winners of the label design contest at the Provincial Exposition. Photo by Omer Beaudoin – BANQ – – E6,S7,SSI,P88159Second of two photos showing the right side of the case displaying the entries and winners of the label design contest at the Provincial Exposition. Photo by Omer Beaudoin – BANQ – E6,S7,SSI,P88160
If one zooms in closely, it is possible to see that three of the entries have unique tags attached to each of them, which probably mark the three winning entries. Unfortunately, the photos available online are not clear or close enough read the names on the tags or distinguish the labels.[6]
Syrup producers’ cooperative announcement for new 26 oz. round cans that appeared as early as February 1952. Source – Le Bulletin des Agriculteurs, 1 February 1952, p 80.
Following the results of the label design competition the previous summer, in February 1952 the producers’ cooperative began announcing to maple syrup producers that a new No. 2 sized sanitary can that will hold 26 oz. of syrup was now available for purchase to package and sell their syrup. Each can was produced with a color glossy lithographed label featuring Mrs. Emiliana St-Cyr Brunelle’s winning design. When using the new cans, syrup producers only needed to indicate the grade of the syrup and their name and address, which could be completed with a special stamp and ink the cooperative was happy to provide.[7]
A newspaper article from March 1952 indicated that the new 26 oz. tins were lithographed with three colors, red, white, and green. As it turns out, a number of maple antique collectors have preserved examples of these original 26-ounce yellow, red, and green lithographed cans.[8]
Well-preserved example of the 26 oz. can introduced by the cooperative in 1952. Photos courtesy of Réjean Bilodeau.
UPDATE: Since publishing this story, my friend and Québec maple historian, Réjean Bilodeau was kind enough to share with me photographs of an example of the 1952 can from his collection of maple syrup antiques. As can be seen in the photos, the can shows the same design as in the cooperative’s newspaper announcements with the above mentioned red and green colors, along with either a white that has discolored with age, or a creamy yellow. Also, as became standard on Canadian syrup cans, one side appears in French and the other in English.
Updated section added 1 December 2021
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Early image of actual 26 oz, No. 2 size cans in use with a maple leaf motif on the label design. Source – 1952 Ministry of Agriculture Bulletin No. 169. Original photo caption – “Display of maple products along our highways”.
Another early photographic of what appears to be a 26 oz. tin can be found in a 1952 Ministry of Agriculture Bulletin (No. 169) co-authored by Jules R. Méthot and Napoleon Rompré titled, L’érable à sucre du Québec. The bulletin includes a photo of two individuals examining a display of 26 oz. syrup cans with a caption that translates to “display of our maple products along our tourist routes.” The cans in this image do appear to show a maple leaf design, but one that looks different than the maple leaf design in the cooperative’s announcements for the availability of the new cans and does not look like it features a yellow background. At present. this is a new mystery can and maybe there are examples of this can sitting on a collector’s shelf . Perhaps another design entry from the 1951 competition?[9]
Photograph of a 1957 display of Citadelle brand syrup in bottles and cans, including the 26 oz. Québec can. Source – Citadelle website.
The cooperative had been packaging its syrup for many years under the brands of Citadelle and Camp. Through the 1930s and 1940s, their syrup and maple butter was packaged in both bottles and cans of various shapes and sizes. For the most part, cooperative members delivered the majority of their syrup in bulk barrels to the cooperative to be blended, marketed, and sold under the Camp and Citadelle labels. Advertisements show that by July 1952, grocery stores in Canada began to sell Citadelle brand syrup in 26 oz. tins. According to a history presentation on the cooperative’s website, the producers’ cooperative changed its Citadelle label in 1957 to a distinctive design of a red, white, and blue shield over yellow and white vertical stripes.[10]
Example of the producers’ cooperative Citadelle brand syrup in the 26 oz. Québec can featuring a red, white, and blue shield logo over vertical yellow and white stripes. Source – Worthpoint online auction site.
However, a film dating to 1955 and produced by the cooperative and available in the BANQ archives clearly shows the yellow and white stripe motif with the red, white, and blue shield in use on rectangular metal cans and more importantly on round 26 ounce cans.
Frame shots from the Cooperative’s 1955 film titled “Sucre d’érable et coopération”. source – https://numerique.banq.qc.ca/patrimoine/details/52327/2280556
Cooperative members were also free to engage in local and direct sales of their syrup, packed in containers of a gallon or less in size. Although the announcements for the new 26 oz. cans were placed in newspapers by the producers cooperative, these cans were not meant for exclusive use by cooperative members. In fact, Méthot and the Québec Ministry of Agriculture wanted all syrup makers, whether or not they belonged to the cooperative, to start using them to sell syrup to customers. These cans were printed without any brand names and included a space for the syrup maker to add their name and address.[11]
In the US, unbranded, lithographed cans were introduced for filling for direct sale by syrup producers by S. Allen Soule out of Fairfield, Vermont in advance of the 1948 season. In contrast to the Québec can, Soule’s cans were all rectangular in shape and initially came out in larger sizes of quart, half-gallon, and full-gallon volumes.[12]
Advertisement from 1926 for maple syrup packed in round sanitary cans by the L.L. Jenne Maple Syrup and Sugar Company out of Sutton, Québec. Source – Ottawa Citizen, 7 December 1926, p 13.
The Québec can was not the first use of a round colored lithographed metal can in sizes less than a quart for packaging maple syrup in Canada or the US. Prior to this time, a number of syrup packing companies sold both pure and blended maple syrups in round cans of various sizes under their brand names. For example, the L.L. Jenne Maple Sugar and Syrup Company, LTD., out of Sutton, Québec sold syrup in 2 ½ and 5 pound round sanitary cans as early as the 1920s.[13] The cooperative itself sold tall round cans with a screw top under the Camp brand in the 1930s and 1940s. However, the Québec can in interest here was Québec’s first unbranded and generic lithographed can for individual syrup makers to pack their syrup for direct or local sale.[14]
Advertising cover from 1932 booklet published by the producers’ cooperative showing Camp and Citadelle branded maple syrup containers, including tall round cans with a pour spout and the Camp label.
It should also be pointed out that these No. 2 cans holding 26 oz. did not replace the one-gallon metal cans, they merely added a new sized and shaped container that made it easier for producers to get their syrup on the grocery store shelf, and easier and more attractive to those purchasing syrup. In fact, the larger sized cans in sizes of 5 liters or less, have never gone away as an option for Québec syrup makers to fill and for consumers to buy. Unlike the larger sized tall rectangular cans that had a screw-on cap and a pour spout, packaging syrup in these round sanitary cans required syrup makers to close and seal the can by attaching a lid over the entire top portion of the can. This form of closure required syrup makers to invest in a specialized can sealer, either hand powered or the more expensive power-operated can sealer.
Dominion & Grimm, Inc., advertisement from 1955 announcing the introduction of a new gallon sized lithographed can for packing maple syrup. Source – Le Bulletin des Agriculteurs, 1 December 1955, p58.
Although it was the cooperative, with the nudge from Méthot at the Ministry of Agriculture, that led the way in promoting and making possible the introduction of the 26 oz. tin, by no means was the producer’s cooperative the only source in Québec for 26 oz., No. 2 cans for packing syrup. The most iconic design to appear on these sized tins was introduced in 1955 by the Dominion & Grimm (D & G) maple syrup equipment company.[15]
Excerpt from the 1961 Dominion & Grimm maple syrup equipment and supplies catalog showing both rectangular cans and the round 26 oz. Québec can with the iconic D & G design.
Their design features a square red banner with the words “Pure Maple Syrup” above a sugarbush scene with a sugar house painted red. Dominion & Grimm first introduced this four-color lithographed design on tall rectangular -shaped one-gallon tins in 1955, but a few years later were offering the design on rectangular gallon, half-gallon, quart cans, and the infamous 26 oz. round cans. The earliest dated example I have found so far of the D & G round can is from their 1961 catalog. D & G’s beloved design continues to be in use after over sixty years.[16]
It is interesting that Dominion & Grimm did not appear to get on the band wagon for a 26 oz. sanitary can for maple syrup in Québec sooner than sometime after 1955, considering that the Dominion Company (before it combined with Grimm Mfg. LTD in 1953) had been selling canning and sterilizing equipment for years and was selling sanitary cans, for packaging honey, including the No. 2 size can, as early as 1953. [17]
Excerpt from 1981 advertisement for sale of Peter Stransky’s maple syrup cans. Note the Québec style can in the lower left. Source – 1981 Ontario Maple Syrup Producers Association Annual tour booklet.
For the greater part of the 1960s and 1970s, the only Québec cans available were manufactured by D & G. In the 1980s, a few Ontario based can makers and equipment dealers, such as Peter Stransky and Robson-Smith Sugar Bush Supplies introduced their own 540 ml round cans presumably for the Québec market, although those particular Québec cans did not appear for very long in their advertisements.
Although the producers’ cooperative led the way with introducing the size and shape of the Québec can, the D & G design became the iconic and most recognized design. But who is to be credited with that design!? One Québec historian described the D & G can as one of the most celebrated commercial designs in Québec history![18] In essence there were two mysteries of the Québec can, first who submitted the winning designs in the contest to introduce the Québec can and how were they used, which I have solved. The second, the question of the artist behind the most famous and lasting D & G image on the Québec can, still eludes us.
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UPDATE: Since posting the original article further research uncovered additional information about who may be credited with the design of the Dominion & Grimm can. See my post from February 11, 2022 for more details.
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With a little deeper digging and maple history detective work, I was able to learn a bit more about the story of the design contest that jump started these cans. With this knowledge, we are permitted to re-congratulate the winners, Emilianna Brunelle, Lionel Bégin, and H. Jacques and acknowledge the role they had in the origins of the famous maple syrup can Québec.
Updates – 1 December 2021 and 11 February 2022 and 23 September 2023
Acknowledgements: Special thanks to Québec maple historian, Pierre Rheaume, for sharing information related to this story and also to Ontario maple industry expert Bev Campbell for sharing information and images of containers from Ontario. Additional thanks to Réjean Bilodeau for allowing me to share photographs of a preserved example of the cooperative’s original can from 1952 and thanks to Maxime Caouette for calling to my attention the 1955 film by the Citadelle cooperative.
I am happy to share the second of a three-part article tracing the origins and development of plastic containers for the packaging and sale of maple syrup. Part II recently appeared in the September 2021 edition of the Maple Syrup Digest. You can read a PDF copy of this article by clicking on this link or the image of the first page of the article to the left.
This second part examines the introduction of the distinctive jug shape we still see today along with early silkscreened scenes of vintage sugarbushes and sugarhouses. Most notably, this article traces the history of the pioneers of plastic syrup jugs, Elmer Kress of Kress Creations, Charlie Bacon of Bacon’s Sugar House, Bob Lamb of Lamb plastic tubing fame, and S. Allen Soule of Fairfield Plastics.
Click on the image above to download a PDF copy of the article.
This article begins by tracing the experiments and technology that went into the development of various methods of pipelines and tubing systems for moving maple sap from trees to boiling areas in the sugarbush. The majority of the article focuses on the efforts of three men who were working simultaneously during the 1950s to make a plastic tubing system for sap gathering a reality. These men were George Breen of Jamaica, Vermont; Nelson Griggs of Montpelier, Vermont; and Robert Lamb of Liverpool, New York.
Because space for images and photographs in the published article was limited, I was only able to include a few photographs of Breen, Griggs, and Lamb. With this website, I am happy to share a few more images that accompany the article and better illustrate their efforts, experimental designs, and the resulting commercial products of these creative men.
George Breen
George Breen was a sugarmaker from Jamaica, Vermont who decided that there must be a better way to gather sap than laboriously hauling pails of sap through the snow. This led him in 1953 to begin to experiment with flexible plastic tubing to use gravity and the natural pressure in trees to move sap from the tree to a collection point. In time, Breen’s experiments caught the attention of the 3M Corporation and together they created, patented, and marketed the Mapleflo sap gathering system. Here are a few photos of Breen at work in his sugarbush working with his early tubing design.
George Breen holding an example of his experimental spout and tubing in his Jamaica, VT sugarbush. Image Credit: University of Vermont Special Collections – Malvine Cole Papers.George Breen installing spout and tubing in his Jamaica, VT sugarbush, circa 1956. Image Credit: University of Vermont Special Collections – Malvine Cole Papers.George Breen inserting experimental tubing spout at taphole. Image Credit: University of Vermont Special Collections – Malvine Cole Papers.Breen’s Jamaica, VT sugarhouse with tubing line running in from the sugarbush, circa 1956. Image Credit: University of Vermont Special Collections – Malvine Cole Papers.Late 1950s Cover of 3M’s Mapleflo plastic tubing system, the patented commercial result of George Breen’s tubing experiments and invention. Image credit: collections of the author.Late 1950s diagram and illustration of 3M’s Mapleflo plastic tubing system, the patented commercial tubing system based on the experiments of George Breen. Image credit: collections of the author.
Nelson Griggs
Nelson Griggs was an engineer with an interest in maple sugaring and an idea that plastic tubing might be a viable alternative and improved method of gathering maple sap in the sugarbush. In 1955, while working as a engineering consultant with the Bureau of Industrial Research at Norwich University, in Northfield, Vermont, Griggs partnered with the University of Vermont’s maple research team to put his flexible plastic tubing ideas to the test in the sugarbush of the Proctor Maple Research Farm. The following are some photos related to that research.
Nelson Griggs installing experimental plastic tubing at Proctor Maple Research Farm in 1955. Image credit: 1956 issue of Vermont Life magazine.Nelson Griggs, center in striped sweater, with members of the Proctor Maple Research Farm research crew in the spring of 1955. Probable names of men in the photo include, University of Vermont (UVM) Professor, Dr. Fred Taylor on the far left, second from left UVM Extension Forester Ray Foulds, third from left UVM Professor, Dr. James Marvin. Image credit: UVM Special Collections – UVM Maple Research Collection.Examples of recently discovered original Griggs spouts and and tubing assemblage used in 1955 experiments and preserved in the University of Vermont Special Collections. Photo by author.Griggs experimental spout in use with plastic insert in taphole central metal connector, and flexible plastic tubing at other end. Image credit: Marvin and Green February 1959 article in UVM Agriculture Experiment Station Bulletin 611.
Robert Lamb
Bob Lamb was in the chainsaw and boat motor sales and repair business in the Syracuse, New York region, mostly working with the logging and marine industry when in 1955 he was asked by a sales contact in forestry business if he could help come up with an idea for moving maple sap using tubing. Lamb put his creative mind to work and developed and marketed his Lamb Sap Gathering System, later named the Naturalflow Tubing System. The following are images related to the early years of Bob Lamb’s tubing design.
International Maple Museum Centre display of early experimental spouts, fittings, and tubing, designed and tested by Bob Lamb. Photo by author.Bob Lamb demonstrating the use of a battery powered, backpack mounted drill. Image credit: 1963 Lamb Naturalflow Tubing System catalog, collections of author.Sales brochure for Lamb Sap Gathering System from 1958, the first year Lamb tubing was commercially available. Collections of author.Image of the Lamb Tubing System’s early installation method as a ground line with long drop lines. Image credit: 1963 Lamb Naturalflow Tubing System catalog, collections of author.Display in the International Maple Museum Centre created by Mike Girard showing the spouts, fittings, and tubing components and arrangement of the early commercial version of Lamb’s Naturalflow Tubing System. Photo by author.
This contribution examines the history and details surrounding the famous watercolor painting titled Indian Sugar Camp that captures a scene depicting a group of Native American women, men, and children making maple sugar, presumably in Minnesota. The painting was created by Seth Eastman, an officer in the United States Army that was stationed at Fort Snelling on the Minnesota frontier in the 1830s and 1840s. Click on over to the article for more on the story behind this well-known painting.
For those looking for a local, home grown history of maple sugaring from one small corner of Essex County, Vermont, there is a great, little known book that is sure to please.
Titled A Wicked Good Run: Generations of Maple Sugaring in A Vermont Town, the book was put together and published in 2010 by Lunenburg village’s Top of the Common Committee. The Top of the Common Committee was formed in 2005 as a 501(c)(3) non-profit group to lead efforts to restore the Lunenburg Congregational Church and Old Town Hall located on the Top of The Common in Lunenburg village.
With A Wicked Good Run, the committee expanded their focus to collect and preserve photos and stories of the history and legacy of maple sugaring from across the town of Lunenburg. Like most Vermont towns, maple sugaring has brought together many families and friends in the town of Lunenburg. While the number of sugarbushes and sugar houses has declined over the years, the town of 1300 souls is still home to a number of commercial and family level operations. The 115-page A Wicked Good Runcan be ordered from the Top of Town Committee and is an enjoyable read and a great addition to the library of anyone interesting in maple syrup history.
The first of a three part article written by myself tracing the origins and development of plastic containers for the packaging and sale of maple syrup recently appeared in the June 2021 edition of the Maple Syrup Digest. You can read a PDF copy of this article by clicking on this link or the image of the first page of the article to the left.
This first part examines the early experiments with a variety of shapes, designs, and plastic materials for bottling maple syrup that were different than the traditional glass, ceramic, or metal containers. Parts two and three of this article, which will appear later this year, look at the introduction and key inventors and companies involved with the plastic jug we are more familiar with for bottling maple syrup today.
The maple syrup industry lost one of its longstanding historians in May with the passing of Wilson “Bill” S. Clark, age 89 of Wells and Pawlet, Vermont. Bill was well known within the maple world for his many leadership and spokesperson roles, including past roles as president of the Rutland County Maple Producers (RCMP), President of the International Maple Syrup Institute, President of the North American Maple Syrup Council, and a 32 year run as president of the Vermont Maple Sugar Makers Association (VMSMA). Amongst a variety of awards and recognition, Bill was also inducted into the Maple Syrup Hall of Fame in 1995. With his connections to and experience with the world of maple syrup, Bill was more than simply interested in maple history, he was a part of making history and understood the importance of recording and preserving that history for future generations.
In 2018 Bill published a history of the Vermont Maple Sugar Makers Association in the Vermont Country Sampler, telling some of the highlights of the first 100 years of the organization. Bill also worked with Betty Ann and Don Lockhart to put together a detailed timeline of the history of maple sugaring in Vermont and the larger maple sugaring world. Various examples of this timeline have appeared in print in past editions of the program for the Vermont Maplerama, the popular tour and showcase of local sugarmakers. The version of the history timeline shared here is from the 2014 Maplerama program.
In addition to his telling the story of the activities of the VMSMA and the RCMP in the latter half of the 20th century, Bill also wrote a short memoir in 2001 on the most busy years of his life with maple that he titled Forty Years and Five Days: A Vermont Story.
My first memory of Bill was meeting him at his home in the spring of 2001 when I was on a research trip to Vermont to begin my “education” on maple syrup history. And boy did I ever dive in head first. Bill spoke to me non-stop of three hours as I scribbled notes as fast as my pencil could write. For those that knew Bill, it was clear that Bill was a thoughtful man and one heck of a talker. He was a treasure trove of recollections and knowledge and also one of very strong opinions that he was never afraid to share. His passion for maple history and his sharing of that by putting much of what he had learned in writing has served us all. Thank you Bill. Rest in Peace.
Below are links to a few of the maple history writings put together and shared by Bill Clark over the years.
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Bill Clark’s history of the Vermont Maple Sugar Makers Association which appeared in the March 2018 edition of The Vermont Country Sampler.
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A Vermont Maple History Timeline compiled by Betty Ann Lockhart and Don Lockhart with substantial contributions by Bill Clark.
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Bill Clark’s history of the beginnings of the Vermont Maplerama, which appeared in the 2014 Maplerama program.
The article tells the story of the maple syrup operation started by Sherman and Pat Holbert in the maple woods around Mille Lacs Lake in east central Minnesota following the end of World War II. Starting in 1946, in a few short years the Holbert brothers maple operation went from nothing to what was probably the largest operation in the country at that time, making syrup from 28,000 taps. In addition, the Holberts became one of the first maple equipment dealers west of Michigan. Less than ten years after it got started, the Holberts shifted their business focus to other things. The operation closed its doors, the evaporators and gathering equipment were sold, and the syrup plant was converted to a roadside tourist attraction and gift shop.
Click on the image of the article above for a PDF of the full story.
Adin Reynolds in front of a steam jacketed kettle. Source: Adirondack Experience P071388.
By one measure of mid-century popular culture, greatness or notoriety was achieved when one appeared on one of the television shows, What’s My Line, I’ve Got a Secret, or To Tell The Truth. On these shows celebrity judges attempted to guess the identity of a notable contestant placed among a group of imposters. In 1965, Adin Reynolds of Aniwa, Wisconsin had the honor of appearing on To Tell The Truth by virtue of his family business, Reynolds Sugar Bush, being the largest maple syrup making operation in the world. Reynolds’s appearance on television was surprising to many since Wisconsin is not among the first states that come to mind when thinking about maple syrup production.[1]
Since the Reynolds family arrived in Wisconsin from New York State in 1845, making maple sugar and syrup had always been one of many components of the family’s diversified subsistence and commercial activities. However, like many of their Shawano County neighbors, it was logging, sawmill operations, and dairy farming, not maple syrup production, that formed the core of the family business during their first 70 years in the state.[2]
Reynolds Sugar Bush pure maple syrup can. Source: Private collection.
Over the course of the first half of the twentieth century maple syrup production in the United States was in a state of gradual decline. While this decline was most pronounced in New England and New York, the core of the maple producing region, it was also true of Wisconsin maple syrup production. Maple syrup and maple sugar making has been a spring time activity in the seasonal rural economy of Wisconsin starting with the resident Native American population to early Euro-American settlers, and on to the dairy and those harvesting forest-products in the far north.[3]
In the years following World War II, maple syrup making reached an all-time low in the United States. At the same time, rural America was witnessing important shifts in attitudes and demographics along with the introduction of new agricultural technology and business models. For those that were able to recognize the opportunities and willing to take the risks, such change presented opportunities previously not possible. It was from such a place and a willingness to think and act independently that Reynolds Sugar Bush grew from making syrup as a small seasonal side pursuit to their sawmill and dairy operation, to a year-round, factory-scale business, becoming the industry leader far from the maple syrup heartland of the northeastern United States and adjacent Quebec.
Cover of Reynolds Sugar Bush 1964 equipment sales catalog. Catalogs from additional years came in different colors schemes (brown, blue, red, green). Source: collection of author.
The ability for a syrup operation to grow so large was possible by building the right processing facilities and infrastructure, having a market to sell the syrup, and literally tapping into the trees of their neighbors. But growth did not happen overnight. The Reynolds family had been tapping a few thousand trees in the mid-1940s but in 1947, things began to change when they built a new sugarhouse near their farm house, adjacent to a paved county road and alongside the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad line. They also began a partnership that year as the midwestern dealer and distributor of maple syrup making equipment for the Vermont Evaporator Company. With the syrup plant now alongside the road and making syrup on two large evaporators, they began buying sap from around 4,000 of their neighbors’ taps, augmenting more than 6,000 taps on their own land.[4]
To provide some stability and supplement their farm and forest products business, years earlier Adin Reynolds had taken work as a part-time mail carrier, later becoming the postmaster of Aniwa in 1948. His new emphasis on maple syrup making and equipment sales were paying off, and in 1951 Adin retired from the post office and began focusing on maple full-time. Up until the late 1940s there were no maple equipment dealers in Wisconsin or adjacent Minnesota and maple producers had to buy their evaporators and other large supplies from dealers in Ohio, New York, or New England. There was a clear opportunity and eager group of customers in the Midwest.[5] Around this same time, Reynolds also entered the syrup buying business, purchasing bulk syrup from other producers to be combined and resold to larger processors, syrup blenders, and bottlers. In 1948 the J.M. Abraham Company of Bellefontaine, Ohio contracted with Reynolds to provide the Ohio syrup packing company with all the syrup Reynolds Sugar Bush was willing to spare from their own production and all the syrup Reynolds could acquire locally. Reynolds Sugar Bush began shipping truckloads of syrup to the Abraham Company, adding syrup buying and brokering to the growing portfolio of their maple syrup operation.[6]
Left to right, Lynn Reynolds, Juan Reynolds, Adin Reynolds, and Bob Lamb in front of Reynolds Sugar Bush Aniwa syrup plant, circa 1960. Source: Adirondack Experience P071388
Although Adin was founder and leader of Reynolds Sugar Bush, his two sons, Juan and Lynn, were graduating from high school and making their way in the world as adults. Both sons always had roles in the syrup business, but as young men they were able to take on greater responsibility. The early half of the 1950s saw Juan and Lynn temporarily pulled away from the family business with Korean War era service in the Army and Marines followed by college education. However, in the late 1950s both sons had returned to Aniwa and began working full-time in the now flourishing family maple business. As Lynn Reynolds later described it, in the late 1950s and 1960s Adin oversaw everything and “created the management, marketing, and financing; Juan managed the plant and the personnel; and Lynn was the public relations person, salesman for equipment, the syrup buyer, and managed the production plants.”[7]
Image of the new Reynolds Sugar Bush building in 1954. Photo by Dean Tvedt. Source: University of Wisconsin-Madison archives.
Through the 1950s, Adin continued to expand Reynolds Sugar Bush syrup making operation, using his quiet charisma to convince farmers and woodlot owners around Shawano, Langlade, and Marathon Counties to tap their maple trees and sell their raw sap to Reynolds. Reynolds also began renting additional trees to augment the maples on their own 800 acres as well as buying sap from their neighbors. In 1949 Reynolds added a third large (6’ x 20’) evaporator, and by 1956, the Reynolds were making syrup from 25,000 of their own taps and buying sap from many thousands more. Another evaporator was added to the plant in 1958 and all four evaporators were converted from wood burning to oil burning. Adin Reynolds was said to have hated cutting a maple tree, comparing it to cutting off an arm, so the family never thinned their maple woods and burned waste slabs from a local sawmill prior to switching to oil.[8]
Interior of Reynolds Sugar Bush plant showing large, side-by-side, oil fired evaporators. Source: Unknown.
Processing sap gathered from many independently owned sugarbushes at one large boiling facility became known as the Central Evaporator Plant (CEP) model, and Reynolds Sugar Bush became leaders in perfecting and promoting the CEP.[9] The idea of only selling sap rather than taking on the whole task of making finished syrup was not invented by Reynolds, although he took it to another level. The Wisconsin Department of Agriculture had been promoting the idea and use of a central evaporation plant for maple syrup producers since the 1930s.[10] Locally in the 1930s and 1940s, a group called the Antigo Maple Syrup Producers Association, in which Adin Reynolds was an early leader, attempted to pool their efforts in processing sap and marketing maple, without much success.[11] For Wisconsinites, the CEP concept will look familiar, with its strong resemblance to the arrangement of local dairies, creameries, and milk cooperatives, where dozens of farmers sell or deliver their raw milk to a central processing facility. Like butterfat in milk, the value of and compensation for raw maple sap was based on its relative sugar content measured by a refractometer. Sap at 1.5% sugar might get three cents a gallon while sap at 6% sugar might earn six cents a gallon. As Juan Reynolds described it, “if they had a halfway decent season and a good sugar content, they could make at minimum a dollar a tap. One guy down the road had real sweet trees, he often averaged more than $2 a tap, that is more than a guy making maple syrup could do after you have invested in all the boiling equipment and marketed it.”[12] As with milk, sap from multiple sources is combined and handled by individuals with the technology, expertise, and market connections to turn their raw product into a packaged or processed item for sale and distribution. Combining and finishing the concentrated sap at a central location resulted in better quality and more uniform syrup than was often produced in smaller sugar houses and backyard boiling operations at that time.[13]
Adin Reynolds pouring sap from the Sap Sak collection bag he invented. Source: Wausau Daily Herald – April 21, 1972
The countryside around the Aniwa plant is marked with dairy farms interspersed between stands of second growth sugar maples. Farm families had the two most important components for sap production – trees and available labor to tap and gather. Moreover, the months of March and April were the slow and muddy seasons for most farm families. People in the region were more than willing to tap their maple trees and sell their sap for cash. Juan Reynolds recalled that they had as many as 50-60 families from within a 20-mile radius selling sap to them, with most of the sap sellers tapping 500-800 trees.[14]
In 1959, the General Foods Corporation, the makers of Log Cabin Syrup, a blend of cane and maple syrup, contracted with Reynolds Sugar Bush to purchase 20,000 gallons of maple syrup. With scheduled deliveries of syrup from Reynolds’ Aniwa plant to General Foods’ Chicago bottling plant, Reynolds began serious entry into the syrup buying business. For General Foods, the Aniwa bottling plant was attractive because it was close enough to Chicago that Reynolds Sugar Bush could fill syrup orders quickly, if needed. This large of a syrup contract led Reynolds to start shipping syrup 4,000-gallons at a time via tanker truck. Wisconsin was not producing enough syrup to meet this need, so Reynolds began buying in the northeastern United States and Canada.
Tanker truck for hauling large deliveries of maple syrup parked in front of Reynolds Sugar Bush plant, circa early 1960s. Source: unknown.
At its peak, the General Foods contract had Reynolds Sugar Bush shipping twenty-seven tanker loads (108,000 gallons) of syrup from Aniwa to Chicago. At that time in history, moving this volume of maple syrup out of a midwestern hub rather than New England or Quebec was a significant departure from how the maple industry had traditionally operated. Reynolds continued this contract with General Foods for 20 years until General Foods reduced the amount of maple syrup in their Log Cabin blend from 15% in 1959 to 2% by 1979. After the General Foods Corporation merged with Philip Morris in 1985 the previous contract arrangements were no longer honored and Reynolds Sugar Bush stopped supplying maple syrup to General Foods.[15]
With a growing contract for bulk syrup and more markets opening up, Reynolds Sugar Bush went through a period of expansion buying three equally large syrup making operations, beginning in 1960 with the purchase of George Klement’s Maple Orchard in nearby Polar, Wisconsin. For much of the 1950s, the Klement sugarhouse was also operating with a central evaporator plant model similar to Reynolds, buying sap from 50,000 taps and making syrup on four large 6’ x 20’ King brand evaporators. Other than converting the evaporators from wood fired to oil fired, the Reynolds changed little, continuing to work with Klement’s sap sellers and expanded the number of taps coming in to 65,000. In 1963 Reynolds acquired the CEP operation of Sidney Maas at Tilleda, Wisconsin where syrup was made on two 6’ x 16’ Vermont Evaporator Company boiling rigs.
Left to Right, Adin Reynolds, Lynn Reynolds, Juan Reynolds, and Bob Lamb in front of a large oil-fired evaporator at Reynolds Sugar Bush, circa 1960. Source: Adirondack Experience P071388.
Reynolds converted these from wood to oil and now all the CEPs under Reynolds control were fired with fuel oil. Since those plants relied on sap from the forests of sap providers, Reynolds did not have a ready supply of wood to burn.[16] The sap input was further increased at these plants and by 1964, Reynolds Sugar Bush was making syrup from sap coming in from over 100,000 taps.[17] The Reynolds’ confidence was clearly very high by this time, so much so that in 1961 Adin made the claim that the output from sugarbushes in the Aniwa area could outproduce any comparable area in Vermont![18]
The third maple syrup operation purchased by Reynolds Sugar Bush in the 1960s was in Kingsley, Michigan a short distance south of Traverse City. The Kingsley plant was opened in 1962 by General Foods who wanted to improve their access to maple syrup in an area relatively close to their Chicago bottling facility. Identifying Kingsley as an area with an abundance of maple trees and a local agricultural population that was largely without work in the spring months, General Foods leased an old pickle factory in town, engineered a sap boiling facility, installed four 6’ x 18’ oil fired, stainless steel evaporators, and operated it as a CEP from purchased sap. To assist and encourage the new sap producers to acquire tapping equipment, General Foods purchased large quantities of spiles and buckets to supplement the limited local supply and arranged a loan program with a local bank to finance producers.[19] By 1964, the Kingsley plant was making syrup from 65,000 taps.[20] Despite the size of the operation, its engineering was more complicated than it needed to be, and it was not running as smoothly as General Foods had envisioned. Having an existing relationship with Reynolds Sugar Bush and a familiarity with their other successful plants, in 1966 General Foods sold the plant to Reynolds Sugar Bush for next to nothing with the condition that all the syrup produced by the plant be sold to General Foods.[21] Reynolds operated the Kingsley plant as one of their satellite CEPs until the 1970s when interest in sap selling in the area fell to unmanageably low numbers and the plant was closed.[22]
Reynolds’ sales booth at Wisconsin State Fair, early 1960s. Left to Right, Geraldine Reynolds, Juan Reynolds, unnamed Alice in Dairyland, Adin Reynolds. Source: Wisconsin Maple Syrup Producers Association.
Always looking for new ways to expand and promote the maple syrup industry and Reynolds Sugar Bush, Adin and family often hit the road in the summer, setting up sales and display booths at state fairs and festivals, and giving industry talks around the Midwest. Before the Wisconsin State Maple Syrup Producers’ Association (WMSPA) took over the responsibility in the 1990s, the Reynolds’ 100-foot by 40-foot display was the primary promotional booth for maple syrup at the Wisconsin State Fair.[23]
Color photo postcard of Reynolds Sugar Bush gift shop “The Sugar House,” circa 1965. Source: collections of author.
Reynolds even erected “The Sugar House” a roadside gift shop along Highway 45 targeted at tourist traffic travelling between Milwaukee and Chicago and the woods and lake country of northern Wisconsin.
One of Adin Reynolds most popular ideas for promoting the maple industry was an annual pancake breakfast and maple festival. Starting in 1950 with around 1000 visitors, every spring for over forty years, thousands of people descended on the Reynolds farm to celebrate the state’s maple syrup industry while enjoying a pancake breakfast, seeing what was new in maple syrup production, and finding out who made the state’s best maple syrup that year. In 1956 the WMSPA came on board to help and the festival grew to as many as 5000 attendees.[24]
Lynn Reynolds operating the pancake machine at the Wisconsin Maple Syrup Festival held at the Reynolds Sugar Bush each May. Source: Appleton, WI Post Crescent, May 29, 1966.
Visitors were treated to maple syrup themed exhibits and speakers, live entertainment, and served an all you can eat pancake breakfast. Pancakes were cranked out on an assembly line with a pancake making machine designed by Adin called the “pancake depositor” that poured the batter for 24 pancakes at a time onto a griddle.[25] Maple producers entered their best syrup from the year for judging, competing for the honor of receiving the golden sap pail or golden sap spout. For 45 years the Wisconsin maple syrup festival continued to be held at Reynolds Sugar Bush through 1995 when it moved to Merrill and became the responsibility of the WMSPA.[26]
Patent drawing for Adin Reynolds’ Sap Sak. US patent No. 3,304,654. Source: US Patent and Trademark Office Website.
By the mid to late 1960s, all four plants operated by Reynolds Sugar Bush combined were processing over 1200 gallons of sap an hour on a dozen large evaporators from sap gathered from over 200,000 taps.[27] Adin had even earned a patent for his invention of a simple and economical hanger for disposable plastic sap bags, called the Sap Sak.[28] Without question, as emphasized with Adin’s 1965 television appearance on To Tell the Truth, Reynolds Sugar Bush had become the largest maple syrup making operation in the world.[29]
Although he was operating far from the maple syrup heartland, industry leaders in the North American Maple Syrup Council (NAMSC), recognizing the significance of Adin Reynolds’ influence and leadership, electing him Council Vice President in 1963 and President in 1965.[30] Reynolds were strong proponents for research and bringing together the US and Canada sides of the industry in addressing maple issues important to both countries. Putting those views to action, Adin was instrumental in helping organize the International Maple Syrup Institute (IMSI), a group focused on developing markets for the maple industry. Adin Reynolds served as the IMSI’s second president from 1976 to 1977 and on its Board of Directors from 1980 to 1984.
Lynn Reynolds, past President and Executive Director or the IMSI. Source: Back cover of Reynolds’ book – Reynolds, Maple and History – Fit for Kings.
Sons Juan Reynolds and Lynn Reynolds were as equally engaged as their father and continued his legacy of leadership with Juan an IMSI Board member from 1985 to 1997 and President in 1990 and Lynn an IMSI President from 1993 to 1995 and Executive Director from 1995 until his death in 1998. Lynn also served in a series of roles as NAMSC secretary, then Vice President and President from 1989 to 1993.[31] The IMSI established a Lynn Reynolds Memorial Leadership Award in 1999 to recognize the outstanding leadership of individuals in support of the international maple syrup industry.[32]
Adin Reynolds receiving recognition award from Dean of College of Agriculture in 1982, surrounded by other recipients of recognition. Source: Archives of the University of Wisconsin College of Agriculture.
Adin retired from running Reynolds Sugar Bush in 1979 and turned over the leadership of the company to his son Juan. With retirement, Adin was given the highest honor by the maple syrup industry when he was chosen as the fifth inductee for the North American Maple Syrup Producers Hall of Fame. In 1982 he was one of five men recognized by the University of Wisconsin for his contribution to agriculture and quality of life in Wisconsin by the Dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.[33] Adin passed away in 1987 as the age of 82. Following in his father’s footsteps, Lynn Reynolds was inducted into the Maple Syrup Producers Hall of Fame in 1995 as the forty-second inductee.[34]
Juan Reynolds testing sugar content of maple syrup. Source: Milwaukee Journal – April 11, 1977.
In the 1980s changing markets and an increased difficulty in finding seasonal labor pushed Reynolds Sugar Bush to scale back its sap buying and syrup production to making syrup at only one plant at their original location on the farm north of Aniwa.[35] Rapid growth in syrup production out of Quebec and lowering syrup prices became too difficult to compete with, leading to the loss of two of their biggest clients on the west coast. Eventually the losses became too great for Reynolds Sugar Bush and in 1991 they were forced to liquidate many of their assets, including their sugarbush, and resize and restructure the company as part of bankruptcy proceedings.[36] Around this time, two of their largest sap providers decided to make their own syrup leaving Reynolds Sugar Bush with too little sap coming in to effectively make syrup in a plant of their size. With reorganization and a limited sap supply, syrup production came to an end for Reynolds Sugar Bush, although equipment sales continued.
Jay Reynolds collecting sap from Sap Sak Source: Milwaukee Journal March 31, 1981.
Operation of the company was put in the hands of Juan’s and Lynn’s children, the next generation of Reynolds, and Juan and Lynn Reynolds moved into retirement, although neither was especially idle when it came to helping with the family business or the involvement in industry associations. Lynn Reynolds carried on with his efforts as a representative and advocate for the industry in North America until his death in 1998 and Juan remained a hands-on advisor to the family business until his passing in 2008.[37]
Appearance of Reynolds Sugar Bush boiling plant when it was no longer operational in 2002. Photo by author.
With the Reynolds’ leadership and the foundation they helped lay, Wisconsin maple syrup producers went from being a minor contributor in the maple syrup industry to one of the leading states.[38] Reynolds own production numbers were undeniably significant, as was their influence as sap buyers, equipment sellers, and syrup brokers. Adin Reynolds succeeded in establishing a collaborative maple syrup production process based on the modern creamery that made sense in a dairy state like Wisconsin. Attempts at making syrup from purchased sap in the Northeastern United States and adjacent Canada have never been embraced the way it was in Wisconsin, possibly a result of the CEP production model being a significant departure and challenge to traditional ideas of syrup making. However, as one of the lead federal maple syrup researchers described it, “the current trend toward central evaporator plants has marked a new era in the maple industry.”[39] During the height of Reynolds Sugar Bush, Wisconsin moved from being the eighth ranked maple syrup producing state in 1930 to fifth in 1940 and 1950, to third in 1960, behind Vermont and New York where it more or less hovered for the next three decades.[40] Unfortunately for the Reynolds, the industry and markets shifted more rapidly than they were able to adjust and they could not maintain the same operation as they had in the past. Change came, as it always does, and it cost them but not before the Reynolds family and Reynolds Sugar Bush left their mark and put Wisconsin maple syrup making on the map.
Acknowledgements: Financial assistance for completion of the research for this article was provided in part by a McIntire-Stennis Program grant from the United States Department of Agriculture as part of the University of Wisconsin-Madison doctoral dissertation research of the author. Special thanks to Anne Reynolds for her support and assistance with this research.
Additional posts on this website related to the Reynolds Sugar Bush can be found at these links:
[3] Matthew M. Thomas, Where the Forest Meets the Farm: A Comparison of Spatial and Historical Change in the Euro-American and American Indian Maple Production Landscape PhD dissertation, (University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2004).
[4] Reynolds would continue to sell for the Vermont Evaporator Company for the lifetime of that company, which was sold to the Leader Evaporator Company in 1972. Reynolds Sugar Bush then carried Leader brands for the remaining years of their equipment sales business. Reynolds, Reynolds, 359.
[5] Ibid, page number; Juan Reynolds, personal interview with author, 31 July 2002.
[8] Juan Reynolds, interviewed by the author, July 31, 2002, Aniwa, WI; Reynolds, 371.
[9] Matthew M. Thomas, “The Central Evaporator Plant in Wis. Maple History,” Wisconsin Maple News 21, no. 2 (2005): 10.
[10] “Favor Central Boiling Plant: State Speaker Says Maple Syrup Should be Made Like Creamery Butter,” Chippewa Herald Telegram, December 2, 1931; Peter Dale Weber, “Wisconsin Maple Products: Production and Marketing”, Wisconsin State Department of Agriculture Bulletin No. 335 (Madison, WI, 1956), 37.
[11] “Maple Syrup Plant is now in Operation at Antigo; Sap Delivered from 40 Groves,” Wausau Daily Herald, March 27, 1934; “Maple Syrup Season Near in Wisconsin: Langlade County Center of Production in Wisconsin,” Kenosha Evening News, February 26, 1936; Weber, 25-27.
[12] Jerry -Apps, Cheese: The Making of a Wisconsin Tradition (Amherst, WI: Amherst Press, 1998); Loyal Durand, Jr., “The Migration of Cheese Manufacture in the United States,” Annals of the Association of American Geographers 42, no. 2 (1952): 263-282; C.O. Willits and Claude H. Hills, Maple Sirup Producers Manual. Agriculture Handbook No. 134. (Washington, DC: USDA Agricultural Research Service, slightly revised July 1976), 116-117; Juan Reynolds, personal interview with author, 31 July 2002.
[13]Thomas, “Central Evaporator Plant in Wis.”; J.C. Kissinger, Lloyd Sipple, and C.O. Willits, “Maple Sap Delivered to a Central Evaporation Plant – A Progress Report,” Maple Syrup Digest 3, no3 (1964): 8-10.
[14] Juan Reynolds, interviewed by the author, September 19, 2002, Aniwa, WI.
[15] Reynolds, 398-400; “A Sticky Situation: Maple Syrup Providers Can’t Satisfy Demand,” Wall Street Journal June 23, 1967; “Log Cabin Syrup Maker Cuts Maple Use From 3% to 2%,” Pittsburgh Press, January 15, 1979; Juan Reynolds, interviewed by the author, July 31, 2002, Aniwa, WI; Prior to Reynolds, Sherman Holbert in Minnesota had a syrup contract with General Foods in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Matthew M. Thomas, “Short and Sweet: Sherman Holbert’s Mid-Century Mille Lacs Lake Maple Syrup Experiment,” Minnesota History 66 no. 2 (2018): 66-73.
[16] “They stick to syrup: Four-generation operation near Antigo,” Green Bay Press-Gazette, April 5, 1964.
[17] The Tilleda and Polar plants were closed in the1970s when sap prices were too low to continue operation. The Polar plant equipment and facility were sold in pieces and the Tilleda plant was sold back to Sidney Maas. Maas later sold the Tilleda plant to Wagner’s Sugarbush out of Peshtigo who still run the plant as part of their large syrup making operation. Reynolds, 425, 434; Lloyd Sipple, “National Council News,” Maple Syrup Digest 5, no. 4 (1966): 4-6.
[18] “Sweet Challenge for Tree-Tappers in Vermont Given,” Green Bay Press-Gazette, April 3, 1961.
[19] “Sap Goes to Market,” Traverse City Record-Eagle, April 13, 1962; “Streamlined Syrup Operations at Kingsley,” Traverse City Record-Eagle, May 27, 1962.
[20] “Sap Will Flow in U.P., But Not Into Bank,” Escanaba Daily Press, March 1, 1965.
[21] “Reynolds Sugarbush, Inc. of Aniwa, Wisconsin, announces the purchases of General Foods of Kingsley,” Traverse City Record-Eagle, February 21, 1967.
[23] Ibid., 412-413; Adin Reynolds, “Wisconsin Promotes Maple,” Maple Syrup Digest 7, no. 4 (1968): 6-7; “Buckets Fulla dollars: Maple Syrup is Called Bonanza Bet in Peninsula,” Escanaba Daily Press, February 19, 1964; “Local Residents not Utilizing Maple Trees to Fullest for Maple Syrup,” Bedford Daily Times (Bedford, IN), January 9, 1964; “Area Maple Syrup Potential Said Untapped,” Daily Journal (Fergus Falls, MN), February 5, 1965.
[24] Reynolds, 372-373; “1st Maple Syrup Festival Sunday,” Milwaukee Sentinel Extra May 26, 1956, 6; “Maple Syrup Festival Draws Large Turnout,” Wausau Daily Herald, May 23, 1960; “Maple Syrup Promotion in Wisconsin,” National Maple Syrup Digest 3, no. 3 (1964): 7; “Despite Weather, 3,000 Attend Maple Syrup Festival,” Green Bay Press-Gazette, May 27, 1968.
[25] “Flapjack Assembly Line in Production Today in Aniwa,” The Post Crescent Sun, May 29, 1966.
[26] Reynolds Sugar Bush even took their pancake making assembly line on the road. For about 10 years in the 1950s and 60s they provided pancake making services at festivals around the Midwest, while selling their syrup to the visitors. Reynolds, 402.
[27] “Staid Maple Syrup Industry Goes Modern,” Post Crescent (Appleton, WI), April 16, 1967; “Sugar Moon Season,” Wausau Daily Herald, April 21, 1972.
[28] Adin C. Reynolds, Device for Collecting Pourable Materials, US Patent 3304654, issued February 21, 1967.
[29] With an operation of over 200,000 taps by the mid-1960s Reynolds Sugar Bush was unquestionably the largest in the world. Interestingly, as early as 1954 there were those that were describing Reynolds as the world’s largest. “Dr. and Mrs. R.C. Dygert…,” Argos Reflector (Argos, IN), September 16, 1954.
[30] Adin Reynolds, “Council,” National Maple Syrup Digest 4, no. 4 (1965): 5.
[31] “State syrup maker will guide council,” The Country Today, October 30, 1991.
[32] The North American Maple Syrup Council began life in 1959 as the National Maple Syrup Council with a particular focus on advancing and improving the United States maple syrup industry with a special focus on supporting research. It changed its names from National to North American in 1973 to expand its scope and integrate the views and needs of the entire maple industry in both the United States and Canada. “Brief History of the Development of the North American Maple Syrup Council” North America Maple Syrup Council website accessed at http://northamericanmaple.org/index.php/history-of-namsc/.
[33] “UW to honor Adin Reynolds,” Wausau Daily Herald, March 12, 1982.
[34] “Adin Reynolds,” Wausau Daily Herald, December 15, 1987; “Lynn Reynolds Joins Maple Syrup Hall of Fame,” Post Crescent (Appleton, WI) June 4, 1995.
[35] “Snow perks up morale at Reynolds’ Sugarbush,” Wausau Daily Herald, March 18, 1983; “It must be spring, steam is rising in maple country,” The Country Today, April 5, 1984.
[36] “Syrup producer files bankruptcy,” Capital Times, March 27, 1991; Melissa lake, “Price war sours syrup business,” Wausau Daily Herald, March 26, 1991; “Maple syrup maker battles Quebec prices: Reynolds Sugar Bush is largest independent firm,” Wausau Daily Herald, March 18, 1992.
[37] “Lynn H. Reynolds,” Post Crescent (Appleton, WI), September 1, 1998; “In Memorium: Juan L. Reynolds,” Maple Syrup Digest 20A, no. 2 (2008): 38.
[38] “Maple Syrup Promotion in Wisconsin,” Maple Syrup Digest vol 3, no. 4, October 1954: 7.
[40] Gary Graham, Maple Syrup Production Statistics: An Updated Report to the North American Maple Syrup Council (Ohio State University Extension, October 2016); “Maple Syrup Production in State Hits High: Wisconsin Jumps from Fifth to Third in Nation”, AppletonPost Crescent, May 26, 1961. In the 2000s the state of Maine, with strong connections to neighboring Quebec, greatly increased its maple syrup product such that it is now the number two or three producing state behind perpetual leaders Vermont and sometimes New York state. Wisconsin has been bumped to a rank of fourth or fifth depending on the year.
The maple syrup industry lost one of its longstanding historians in May with the 
Bill Clark’s history of the beginnings of the Vermont Maplerama, which appeared in the 2014 Maplerama program.
At its peak, the General Foods contract had Reynolds Sugar Bush shipping twenty-seven tanker loads (108,000 gallons) of syrup from Aniwa to Chicago. At that time in history, moving this volume of maple syrup out of a midwestern hub rather than New England or Quebec was a significant departure from how the maple industry had traditionally operated. Reynolds continued this contract with General Foods for 20 years until General Foods reduced the amount of maple syrup in their Log Cabin blend from 15% in 1959 to 2% by 1979. After the General Foods Corporation merged with Philip Morris in 1985 the previous contract arrangements were no longer honored and Reynolds Sugar Bush stopped supplying maple syrup to General Foods.
