Today, October 9th, is National Moldy Cheese Day. The writer thinks moldy cheese has an awful smell; however, there are some cheeses that have an awful smell and are not moldy.
There was a young Norwegian man, born in 1863, who came to America. His name was Peder Moe. He married in Minneapolis in 1893 (age 30). Peder’s wife passed away in 1897. He never married again. Peder followed the lumber business, working in Boulder, Montana before arriving in Idaho. He operated a sawmill in Porthill prior to 1920. He relocated to Naples and was counted as a boarder in a home near Naples, Idaho in the 1920 census. Shortly thereafter, Peder bought a piece of land on the bench between Twenty-Mile and Trail creeks (now called Mountain Meadows). He built himself a “shack” and operated a sawmill. After a fire in 1935, he moved the mill north between Brown and Twenty-Mile creeks (site of the turnout north of Twenty-Mile Road). Peder “did custom milling and planning for many local timber owners. His mill furnished lumber for numerous houses in the area and cut thousands of railroad ties for the S.I. and G.N. railroads.” (History of Boundary County Idaho, Vol.1)
Peder was delighted that fellow Norwegians – Jesse Peterson, Brown Creek and Milfred Nelson, Twenty-Mile – had settled near his home. They became great friends. Milfred’s daughter, Joyce, recalls visiting Peder Moe’s place as a young child. She curls up her nose as she tells the story of Peder making his own cheese; and the smells that wafted out from the shack – bachelor mixed with stinky cheese. She couldn’t believe her dad would go inside that shack!
Jesse Peterson, Joyce’s grandfather, worked for Peder Moe at the second sawmill. One day, Peder asked Jesse to come for supper. He had gone fishing. Jesse went into the shack and saw shelves on the wall filled with clear mason jars containing cheeses in various stages of ageing – from edible to moldy. He sat down at the table and Peder placed a tin plate in front of him. Jesse looked at the fish, thanked Peder for the meal, and ate. When Jesse returned home, his wife Anna wanted to know, “how was supper?” Jesse calmly told everyone, including Joyce, Peder had fried the fish whole – head, body, bones, and guts; and yes, he ate the whole thing. Uff da!
Peder Moe died in August 1946. Jesse Peterson and Milfred Nelson were among the pallbearers. Peder may have been remembered fondly by his friends and neighbors; but for one little girl, he will always be known as the “stinky cheese man”.
Photo: Peder Moe sawmill at Twenty-Mile, ca. 1935; Peder Moe’s obituary.