By Lew Holloway

The town of Erie once had a pickle factory. Kuner-Empson Cannery of Longmont, Colorado, owns the Erie facility. It was on the south edge of town, next to Perry St., a former dirt street.

Using the word factory is stretched. The facility only fermented the pickles. But anyway, the factory was very busy in July and August. Farmers brought truckloads of gunny-sacked cucumbers to the Erie for over a month. Cucumbers were only fermented at the Erie location. The pickles were transported to Longmont after fermenting for several months. There, they were processed and canned.

THE PLANT

The factory was an elevated wood platform, about three feet above the ground. It was designed to accommodate farm trucks’ (open beds) and the train tack on the south side. The Union Pacific Railroad had built a side rail next to the plant. Only one small area was covered by roofing: The office and sorting conveyor machine. The rest of the platformed structure was uncovered. The entire factory, office, and platform covered about 100 feet (east to west) and 60 feet (north to south).

Example of Pickle Factories

(The Union Pacific track was a spur track from Brighton to Boulder. The train company served coal mines east of Erie. They provided coal to Boulder’s Vermont Power Station.)

The fermenting storage (barrels) vats were on top of the platform. Only about two feet protruded above the platform. The remaining barrel was on a cement foundation at ground level. The barrels were all wood staves held together by steel bands (hoops) circling. Four barrels were approximately fifteen feet in diameter and seven feet deep. One was smaller, about ten feet in diameter.

THE PROCESS

During the harvest season, the factory employed three to five workers. The manager worked for Kuner-Empson. The remaining staff was usually high school boys. Our payment was cash at the end of a day’s work. Frequently, kids would not return due to the fast pace and hard work. Farm 2 trucks arrived early. We often did not have a break until lunchtime. The schools were out on summer break.

As a young boy, I worked at the plant for two summers. My workday was from 6:00 am to about noon. As we unloaded the farm trucks, gunnysack by sack, we would stack them next to a sorter. Farmers were paid by weight. The truck weighed less truck weight (tar weight). Usually, during a busy time, another truck was waiting to use the scales before backing up to the dock. The scale weight was recorded in the office. The customer received a receipt for the weight. The information was forwarded to the main office to compensate the customer.

Employment was hard work that seemed to never end. Sacks weighed about 80#, and each truck had approximately 80/100 gunnysacks. Usually, two boys would unload the truck bags onto a four-wheeled cart. Then, the bags were stacked near the conveyor.

Pickle Sacks Example

When the farm truck was empty and left, we dumped cucumber bags onto a sorting machine— the only electric machine in the facility. The cucumber rolled off the end of the conveyor onto a vibrating sorting machine. Cucumbers would fall through different-sized holes onto the segregated area below. Cucumbers were wheeled by wheelbarrow to a washing area on the platform. The washing only took off-field dirt. From there, they were transferred to one of the deck’s large vats (fermenting vats).

The washed cucumbers were wheeled to the large vats and dumped over the edge. Another boy was down inside the barrow with a wide wooden rake, leveling off a layer. After a layer was leveled, a hose was used to raise the water level to cover the cucumbers. Next, the brine was tossed across by full buckets. The procedure repeated until the huge cask was full.

Pickle Barrel

I can’t remember the exact brine recipe, but here’s the gist: the formula used rock salt, vinegar, and a dry brine mix. The dried mix was labeled with a warning that it contained lye.

When the vat was full, it was covered with canvas, and then a wood cover was nailed around the entire top surface. 3 The capacity of the Erie pickle facility was determined years before. At the same time, the vats were full, and the farm trucks no longer arrived. Everything was buttoned up and locked down. There would be no activity until several months later.

When the fermenting was complete, several months later, the pickles had to be transported. Kuner-Empson notified the railroad for pickup. The train would leave a tanker car on the side rail track next to the platform. Kuner-Empson Cannery would send factory employees to Erie. They would transfer fermented pickles into the railroad tank car. A special conveyor was used to bring pickles from within the vats and transfer them into the tanker.

Pickle Tanker

I don’t know when Kuner-Empson closed the pickle factory, but it was around 1954.

Erie Pickle Factory drawing by Lew Holloway

(I’m not much of an artist, but as I remember.)

 

**The photographs are intended only to help you understand the story. They have been taken off the internet, copyright-free photos.