The Washburn Retriever

The Washburn Retriever is a Minnesota breed created by inveterate duck hunter Cadwallader C. Washburn, in an intensive breeding program funded by the Powdermilk Biscuit Company which, at one time, had 600 dogs and 10 kennel maids to take care of them.

As you may recall, the slogan of Powdermilk Biscuits is “Made from whole wheat raised in the rich bottomlands of the Lake Wobegon river valley by Norwegian bachelor farmers, so you know they’re not only good for you, but also (mostly) pure.”

It turns out the “mostly pure” line came to be after two dogs escaped their kennel and were found rolling in the flour and licking the edges of the bagging equipment at the Washburn A Mill where the flour for Powdermilk Biscuits was once ground.

They threw out the ruined flour, of course, and hosed off the bagging machinery too, but being Lutherans they figured they had to qualify the purity thing after that, and hence the modifier phrase.

Tragically, all but two Washburn Retrievers were destroyed in a horrible flour mill fire at the Washburn A Mill. 

This was the 1928 fire, not the 1878 explosion at the same mill.

Today a rare breed, a Washburn Retriever is the official state greeter dog of the Governor of Minnesota.