Shaunavon Standard, April 10, 1940
Rain or shine, winter or summer, Shaunavon’s only bakery, the Crystal, is a busy place, producing “the staff of life”. Under the management of “Slim” Mah, a resident of Shaunavon for the past dozen years, a number of men are engaged in the many operations required to manufacture bread, cakes and pasteries of all kinds.
During the winter the Crystal’s modern equipment turns out an average of 500 loaves per day. When the days lengthen and temperatures mount, the reluctance of housewives to bake their own bread is reflected in the increased demand for the product. In hot weather the daily output of the bakery rises to an average of 700 and more loaves per day.
Capacity of the steam-heated oven is 210 loaves at a time and the bread is baked at a temperature of 350 degrees F. Alongside the oven is a warming oven where the bread rises and in a separate room are the cooling racks where the product cools for market. An average of 400 lbs. flour per day or 300 sacks per week is used. Bread is baked six days per week, the idle day being Saturday since there are no trains on Sunday. Modern, electric machinery is used for mixing, etc.
Bread from the Crystal is shipped as far east as Meyronne and Assiniboia, west as fare as Senate and Manyberries and all intermediate points, as well as to towns on the south line.
