In the early 1900s, dairy farming in the Salinas Valley preceded the prosperity of agriculture. In 1906, the first condensed milk in California was produced by the Alpine Milk Company in Gonzales. John B. Meyenberg, a Swiss immigrant, opened his first plant here, later known as the Meyenberg Milk Company – eventually to become part of the Carnation Milk Company where “Contented Cows” were the forerunners to our “Happy Cows.”
