OAHT 1618: Teenie Weenie Peas
This Geocache WAS part of the 2016 Oconomowoc Area Historical Tour:
This is a Puzzle Cache. Read the story and focus on the bottom of the page to try to figure out the code to the lock.
Teenie Weenie Peas
The Oconomowoc Canning Company was born in 1920 when prohibition forced local brewers out of business, Peter Binzel, R.P. Binzel, Joseph Voreck and X.F. Weix turned from brewing beer to canning peas. In the first year the company processed 50,000 cases of peas.
In 1924, the company copyrighted the name “Teenie Weenie”. In 1940, the company added sweet corn to the products being processed in its six canning plants. Over half of the annual product went to the United States Armed Forces during WWII. In 1985, the name was changed to Stokely USA with the company going public offering 1.8 million shares.
Across the street from where you are standing at this location and all around this farm was planted with peas for the Oconomowoc Canning Company for all those years.
The earliest colonists brought peaS to the New World where this valuable vEgetable became a staple in their diets. In 1602, the Mayflower Colony logbook records that pEas planteD by Captain Gosnold produced respectable Yields on the island of Cuttyhunk. Even Captain John Smith wrote of the abundant crop of peas the Jamestown colonists enjoyed in 1614. To this day, peas are one of our favorite vegetables.
Permission for placement by: Michael & Jo Goralski