In the early years, householders of Yorkton obtained their milk from two sources, their own cow or delivery from farmers of the area.

One such farmer was Sydney Herbert Peet.

Following the sale of his homestead near Endeavor, Mr. Peet rented a farm from J.A.M. Patrick, a local lawyer, who later became Judge Patrick. The farm was located about a mile from Yorkton, an area stretching from present-day Reaman Avenue west to the ravine on Broadway Street West.

As part of the rental agreement, Mr. Peet would supply the Patrick household with milk. Each evening Mr. Patrick would come out to the farm in his horseless carriage and pick up the daily supply of milk.

Apparently coming out to the farm each evening was an inconvenience, and Mr. Patrick suggested that maybe Mr. Peet could deliver the milk to his home in Yorkton.

After many discussions on the matter, Mr. Peet proposed that if Mr. Patrick could arrange enough customers (20 quart sealers a day was suggested) he would agree to deliver milk into Yorkton.

The next day Mr. Patrick came up with a list of friends and associates and the agreement was finalized. This was the nucleus that started City Dairy.

One of the first things to do was to increase the dairy herd to ensure the supply of milk. Mr. Peet was not the only farmer peddling milk in Yorkton. One such farmer, a Mr. Howell from Fonehill, progressed to the point where he built a special wagon for handling the milk.

It had a walkway down the middle with two boxes on either side to hold the milk and steps at the rear to enable the driver to get in and out of the wagon as delivery required.

In 1922 Mr. Howell sold the wagon and the dairy herd to Mr. Peet and also transferred his customers over.

This meant Mr. Peet had to hire a fulltime employee. A milk house was built adjacent to the well house and a windmill was purchased to pump the water from the well, eliminating the tedious chore of pumping water for his expanded herd.

Mr. Peet trained a collie dog to bring the cattle home at milking time.

Other improvements at the farm were the cementing of the cow barn and the construction of a 60 foot high silo to store the cut of sunflowers and corn.

As the customer base increased Mr. Peet approached other farmers to supply him with milk. This increase in customers also took time a way from general farm work and it was at this time, after a trip to Ontario, Mr. Peet decided to build a pasteurizing plant.

In 1924 the wooden structure was built at 112 Laurier Avenue. The floor was cemented and a small basement housed an upright boiler to make steam and heat the building. An ice well to keep the milk cool after bottling and before delivery was constructed next to the plant.

The dairy was a family effort. Cecil Peet remembers getting up early in the morning and with his brother delivered the milk before breakfast and before school..

Mr. Peet did the receiving and pasteurizing of the milk that was brought in from the farms. It became apparent that farmers peddling milk in the city found it was too inconvenient to make early morning deliveries, so they brought their milk and customers to Mr. Peet.

Mr. Peet and his sons made an old Model T into a delivery truck and at the age of 12 Cecil was driving this new vehicle to deliver the milk. At that time a driver's license was not required, but it was by the time he was 16. He got his license from Wally Markham at Wally's Service Station, at the corner of Broadway and Assiniboia Avenue.

1929 was the year of the big crash. Milk went down to 5 cents a quart for raw milk and 6 cents for pasteurized.

To make ends meet, the Peets purchased old tires for 5 cents each, shredded them with cutting tools brought in from Chicago, and made into mats. To assist in the manufacturing of the mats, Mr. Peet hired several young men.

Later in the 30s the Saskatchewan Co-op Creamery in Yorkton, which manufactured butter, went into the fluid milk business and with this competition milk went down to 8 cents per quart.

York Farm Dairy, operated by two young men, was located south of Yorkton .It operated for a few years, but after a time they too approached Mr. Peet to buy them out.

The city now had two pasteurizing plants and competition was keen. Small local dairies went out of business. At onetime Yorkton had 14 dairy farmers delivering milk

Then came the war years and the younger Peets went into the services. However with the assistance of Mrs. Peet and Rena (Peet) Ferguson, City Dairy carried on. At that time, due to insufficient help, it ceased Sunday delivery of milk. To Cecil's knowledge, Yorkton was the first city in Canada, outside of Ottawa, to cease Sunday milk delivery.

During the war the two dairies worked together. Airport contracts were rotated monthly and shippers were supplying both the Co-op Creamery and City Dairy on a rotation basis. Girls were hired to deliver milk and work within the plants.

During the war City Dairy supplied eggs and ice cream to the Yorkton, Dafoe and Neepawa airports, where young men were being trained to fly aircraft as part of the war effort. The eggs were purchased from the Foam Lake Burns Creamery and the ice cream from the Burns Creamery in Canora.

Joe Naphin managed the City Dairy for a few of the war years, but when Cecil returned from the services he took over as manager. In 1953 he purchased the company and carried on until 1969.

In 1946 City Dairy purchased the White Sand River Dairy, the last remaining raw milk retail supplier in Yorkton.

Many changes took place in the years 1946-1969. A new plant was built in 1948; home delivery changed from horse to truck; smaller towns were asking for milk services; bottles were replaced by cartons; raw milk previously brought into the dairy was now being picked up at the farm in bulk refrigerated tankers and milk vending machines were placed in schools.

In 1969 Cecil sold the plant to Saskatchewan Co-op Creamery, and moved to Regina to manage the Co-op Creamery plant there. It was a position he held for 13 years, until he retired and moved back to Yorkton.