The Markerville Creamery
 It was in
1891, Carl Morkeberg writes, that his father, Dan Morkeberg, came from Denmark to the United States. He worked at various trades in Iowa, Illinois, and Kansas before taking a job starting up local
creameries -- installing the equipment and training someone to use it. Despite the limited success of this arrangement, he was subsequently hired by C.P. Marker, Dairy Commissioner of the Northwest Territories, to set up the first creamery in Edmonton.
In 1899, however, Morkeberg had moved to Markerville, then called Tindastoll. The government had bought out the small cheese factories in the area and combined operations in a single spot. In a log building on the edge of the Red Deer River, two engines separated 2000
lbs of cream per hour. The whole milk came to the factory in 30-gallon cans, which, if one lived on the opposite side of the often-flooded waterway, would take a great deal of ingenuity to deliver. Morkeberg was to spend six weeks in Tindastoll, and then set up operations somewhere else.
However, Dan enjoyed the company of the 35 Icelandic familes that had homesteaded at Tindastoll, and they liked him. He stayed there for the rest of his life. In 1924,
his work at Markerville was recognized by the King of Denmark when he was
bestowed the title "Ridder of Danebrog, Knight of the Danish Flag".
The Heritage Trails:
To listen to the Heritage Trails, you need the RealPlayer,
available free from RealNetworks:
- Markerville Creamery- The Markerville Creamery was an initiative
set up by Mr. C.P. Marker in 1902. Hear Dorothy Field explain the history of
this historic site.
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