Still Cutting the Mustard

By Renee Pottle
Published on June 5, 2019
article image
by Getty Images/FotografiaBasica

The year was 1903, and 23-year-old J. Wesley Raye, or J.W. Raye for short, had recently returned from the Spanish-American War to the small town of Eastport, Maine. The thriving town of 5,000 people was bustling, with 27 working sardine factories and one mustard mill. Convenient and portable, canned sardines made a popular lunchbox treat, especially when packed in piquant mustard sauce.

Seeing a business opportunity, Raye imported two massive 2,000- to 3,000-pound quartz grindstones from France, built a small mill near Eastport’s railroad line, and started supplying mustard to the sardine factories dotting the coast of Maine. In the early years, townspeople brought their own containers to the mill and purchased mustard directly from the vats. In the 1920s, an electric motor was added to help grind the massive original grindstones, and by the 1960s, jars of Raye’s bright-yellow mustard were stocked on local grocery store shelves, alongside national brands.

In the early 1900s, sardine canneries in Eastport, Maine began packing their product with Raye's…

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