Bio: Mandel, Alfred's Cheese Factory #2
Contact:  Pamela Kuehmichel (Hug)
Email: pamhugsemail@yahoo.com

Hi, Alfred Mandel is my grandfather.

He, at the age of 15 became head cheesemaker for the Mandel Cheesefactory along with Barbara his mother. He helped his Father David lay many rolls of wire to bring electricity to Loyal when he was just a child.

David and Barbara ran a logging camp near Loyal after coming to America. David Mandel also helped erect many barns in that area. My grandpa and his two brothers helped thier mother cook/clean/fetch water and etc. for the camp. They saved their money and est the Mandel cheesefactory.

My grandma would yodel(from Switzerland)and blow the harmonica so beautifully that people would come out of their homes/yards to listen to her while she passed by on the sleigh/wagon horses.

My Gndpa's Uncle was an owner of a cheese factory (I believe Ernst) that the Colby cheese recipe was derived from. His neighbor cheesefactory owner friend came to him and the two owners spent many attempts perfecting the colby recipe until they got was is known as Colby.

It's a proud unsung heritage of ours. Also, he developed the mechanism that took using wood paddles to stir the vat to what is mechanically done now. He concocted some type of grid that you could slide along the vat, decreasing the amount of physical labor to stir it.

My grandma Lena and Alfred est the next Mandel cheesefactory, where my mother and siblings were raised. The road was named Mandel Road for many years, until around the early 90's when we believed it changed. Sad!

If you'd like more specifics, I could share my mother's info with you. She is very proud of where she came from.

Thank you and hope you enjoyed a bit of WIS Cheesefactory history.