Cranberry
COUNTRY
tour
Photo by: Visit Warrens
Cranberries are native to the marshlands of
central Wisconsin; Native Americans have
harvested them for centuries. Commercial
production in Wisconsin began in Green Lake
County in the early 1850s. The center of the
industry later moved to marshes around Tomah,
Warrens, and Wisconsin Rapids.
By 1956 Wisconsin had become the second largest
source of cranberries (behind Massachusetts) and
in 1994 became the country’s leading cranberry
producer and still holds that title today.
Historically, during harvest the marshes were
flooded with 6 to 10 inches of water to make
the berries float to the surface, where seasonal
workers wielding cranberry rakes collected
them. Each fall, large bunkhouses in Tomah
and Wisconsin Rapids filled with migrant
workers. Native American workers would set
up camp on the grounds of some of the larger
marshes to work as pickers. Workers were
paid 75 cents per bushel, and in 1875 pickers
averaged two bushels per day.
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During the 1945 season, German prisoners
of war confined in Wisconsin worked in the
cranberry bogs. The prisoners worked in the
marshes all summer, weeding the beds, digging
drainage ditches, and assisting with the harvest.
Cranberries are one of only three native fruits to
North America (the other two being blueberries
and concord grapes). Cranberries are produced
on low growing vines that blossom in late June or
early July. You can see the cranberry blossoms
and the bees that pollinate them on June 30th
at the Wetherby Cranberry Company during their
annual Cranberry Blossom Day!
If you can’t make it for the summer cranberry
blossoms be sure to come for harvest time
generally around October. The berries are
floated to the surface of their beds and are then
dislodged by a mechanical harvester. You can
join Wetherby Cranberry Company for their annual
Harvest Day Celebration on October 6th to see a
cranberry harvest up-close and in person. (They
even let you take pictures in the floating berries)!