| |
| |
|
Humanities Information |
|
|
|
The Saga of Puffed Wheat Anderson, A Minnesota Legend
I have no idea how old I was when I first learned about the famed Minnesota scientist and inventor Alex P. Anderson, AKA Puffed Wheat Anderson. My Dad told me about him when I was eating a bowl of cereal, you know, the one that's shot from guns. Or doesn't Quaker use that line any more? They sure did when I was growing up. I'd hear it a dozen times in a half hour when I used to listen to Sgt. Preston of the Mounties as a six-years-old. I naturally wondered if he was a relative. He wasn't, but I couldn't imagine how shooting rice or wheat out of a cannon could make them puff up. I thought of that again as I was shopping in Byerly's, a local grocery store, and happened to pass by the cereal section. I decided I wanted to find out how it was done so when I got home, I immediately looked up Anderson in Google. I wasn't prepared for the fascinating story surrounding his life and accomplishments. Or the Quaker company's marketing history, for that matter. It seems that Alex Anderson could have been famous for an entirely different reason. According to a Minnesota Public Radio interview with Robert Hedin, Anderson's grandson, Master Alex of Goodhue County was the youngster who gave directions to the Jesse James gang about how to get to Northfield, MN. Those of you who aren't up on your folk history might not know that robbing the Northfield bank was the biggest mistake ole Jesse ever made. Two of his members were killed by the local townspeople and things got so hot that the rest of the gang was lucky to escape with their lives. (An even more interesting coincidence from a personal standpoint, is that the gang camped out on the point in Cedar Lake near Annandale. Our lake cabin was just a couple of hundred yards down the shore from where they cooked a meal and licked their wounds before heading back to Missouri.) Hedin says that Anderson included an account of the fateful meeting in an essay about Silurian fossils. Alex was also interested in Phrenology and could tell you your personality by feeling the bumps on your head. Even though he was a fine poet and memoirist, his greatest accomplishment was to invent a way to break down the starch in grains by subjecting them to intense heat and pressure, greatly enlarged the kernels in so doing. To do this he devised a large wooden gun. Albert Lasker, an early advertising genius hired by the Quaker company, explained the process. The lab must have been a hundred feet long. The so-called gun was actually a drum that was super-heated with the mouth covered. When it reached the correct temperature, workers removed the cover with a pulley. The grains exploded out and flew wildly around, expanding to eight times its original size in the process. Hedin puts it more colorfully. "It made the lab sound like a battlefield, smell like a bakery and look like a snowy winter morning." Pleased with his invention, Anderson decided to show it off. Puffed rice made its premier appearance at the St. Louis World's Fair in 1904. A minor hit as a novelty, it also caught the eye of an unnamed executive of the Quaker cereal company in the process. In the late 19th and early 20th Centuries, cereal was considered to be a health food and the Quaker company saw a virtual gold mine in Anderson's process. They were right, but for the wrong reason. Aftey they bought the rights they spent a considerable amount of money advertising the product to the Japanese. Puffed rice was ordinary rice, they said, but many times larger and it took less to fill you up. Better still, it was delicious. The campaign turned out to be a total flop. Lasker proved that Americans were the right target, so to speak, and under his tutelage 'shot from guns' became a household word. No one needs to be reminded that the Quaker company survives to this day selling the same products. Anderson died in 1943 after donating his house to the Red Wing School District. It turns out that he became a patron of the arts. Now it is a haven for writers and other artists. The Kiwanis hold regular meetings there, making the residents sing for their supper by reading Shelley and William Blake. But that's not all. If you like modern art or improvisational jazz, you'll find someone with those talents at the Anderson House. I wonder what Jesse James would have thought of it all. John Anderson is a Minnesota author who has not spent any time at the Anderson House. His novel, The Cellini Masterpiece, was written under the penname of Raymond John and is a mystery- thriller set on the island of Malta. John invites you to read the first chapter of his book at http://www.cmasterpiece.com. If you have any questions or comments, you may contact him there.
MORE RESOURCES:
Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
What is Y Ddraig Goch - the Welsh Red Dragon? The red Dragon was introduced to Britain during Roman times. It is possible that the Romans learned of the dragon from the Persians. Opal Jewelry -- Your Own Personal Piece of Rainbow Opal is a magnificent gemstone whose shades encompass virtually every hue in the color spectrum. The play of color is different on every stone, and its shimmering hues gave rise to the word 'opalescent. Amaterasu The Goddess of the Sun Amaterasu is a shining example of how adversity can help us to 'blossom and bloom' more at times. She helps us look for the lesson to be learned when the adverse times come into our lives. I, Ego, and Power I: - A vowel that didn't appear in sacerdotal alphabets for which there is little, or should I say not one IOTA of, reason to hold up for personal glorification. The ego is man's greatest hindrance and his competitiveness possesses him like the demons he has created in his IGNORANCE!I O TORUS:Mathematics has a language so pure it cannot lie. Art, Women, and Creativity Women have been given the greatest gift of creativity there is-the capacity of creating and having a child. Even if a woman has never had children, just the biological possibility, is life defining. Inuit Drum Dancing Of The Arctic Like many other aboriginal cultures around the world, the Inuit of the Canadian Arctic have made use of drums in some of their traditional music for centuries. Inuit drum dancing played a part in many special occasions such as births, marriages, an Inuit boy's first hunt, changing of seasons, greetings for visitors or to honor someone who had passed away. The Crisis of Human Survival Environmental Pollution1. Damage to The Ozone Layer Causes Radiation PollutionThe hole in the ozone layer above the North Pole is becoming larger, allowing large volumes of ultraviolet radiation to fall directly on the Earth's surface, causing destruction and harm to humanity, and resulting in skin cancer and other bodily ailments. Chinese Zodiac Signs Each Chinese New Year begins on the day of first new moon. In the western year 2005, the new moon began on February 9. Amber Mysteries Revealed Amber, the gem of a stone that's not really a gemstone at all, is actually fossilized pine sap. People have collected, traded, carved, and coveted amber for more than 10,000 years. Europes New Jews They inhabit self-imposed ghettoes, subject to derision and worse, the perennial targets of far-right thugs and populist politicians of all persuasions. They are mostly confined to menial jobs. On Being Human Are we human because of unique traits and attributes not shared with either animal or machine? The definition of "human" is circular: we are human by virtue of the properties that make us human (i.e. A Short Biography on Some of Europes Most Loved and Hated Monarchs - Pt 3 King Ludwig II King Ludwig II of Bavaria, named after his grandfather, was born in Nymphenburg Castle outside Munich on August 25, 1845 and was the eldest son of King Maximillian II and Queen Marie. As a boy, Ludwig's favourite time of the year were the summer holidays spent at the Royal Castle Hohenschwangau which his father restored between 1832 and 1836. Gymnastics History - A Brief Overview Gymnastics, as an activity, has been around for more than two thousand years in one form or another, from the ancient Greek Olympics, to Roman ceremony, to today's modern meets.As an organized and truly competitive sport, gymnastics has existed for a little more than a century. Jewelry and the Darkside: Fashionable Gothic Jewelry No, by jewelry and the darkside, we are not referring to Darth Vader's dark side of the force. However, the idea of jewelry inspired by Anakin Skywalker, the Sith and his Emperor sure is tantalizing. Accurate Psychic Advice Psychic readings can be an invaluable tool for obtaining answers to your most confusing questions. A psychic reading can help you gain insight regarding your love life, family, career, finances and more!We invite you to select a psychic and begin your personal and confidential psychic reading today!Quality Psychic AdvisorsUnlike most other "live psychic advice" web sites, all psychic readers obtained by Accurate Psychic Advice have been hand selected based on their area of psychic reading expertise!Accurate Psychic Advice also provides you with personal profiles of each psychic reader. Can You Hear My Secret Calling A true love story"So, was it an eyes-meet-across-the-room-thing and you knew you were destined for each other instantly?" I asked my Mom."No," she laughed, "it was a swinging-door-thing and once we met, then we knew it was destiny. Archaeology and Spirit Guides One of the northern derivatives of Hopewell of interest to a few scholars is the anomalous Effigy Mound culture of Wisconsin, Illinois, and Iowa. The remains attract attention because of the range of animal forms represented by the low effigy mounds. Mexican Living: So You Want To Expatriate? Expatriate wannebees often ask us how we managed our expatriation to Guanajuato, Mexico. They want to know how we overcame the seemingly overwhelming logistics of deciding where to live, if it's affordable, if there is reasonable medical care, how to find housing, can Americans find work, what about visas, and will the culture shock be too great to handle?All of these questions are legitimate and answers are obtainable if you are willing to do the homework. Some Villain Thoughts About a Container Village Preview: "Shipping containers" have yet nothing to do with "housing" in Romania. Is there any chance that they will soon? Belonging to Eastern European block, released in 1989 from communist oppression, Romania has already experienced 15 years of less and less stunning freedom. Bits of Heritage, Whose Heritage Change is the only inevitably constant aspect of life in this world we all live in. Our cultures have been dynamic.
|
| Article List | Index | Site Map |
|
All logos, trademarks and articles on this site are property and copyright of their respective owner(s).
The comments are property of their posters, all the rest is Copyright © 2006 CanadaSEEK.com - All Rights Reserved. |
