Almost a century of sharing our strong values in Magrath, Alberta!

Our History

The first Rockport Flour Mills was established on land owned by the Rockport Hutterite Colony in Alexandria, South Dakota in 1895.  The Colony hired a millwright to design and setup up a forty-barrel flour mill driven by a water wheel from the flow of the James River. In time, the mill produced a flour that was the main ingredient in the self rising pancake mix that became Coyote Pancake Mix. The unique Coyote Pancake Mix name, which was registered in 1897, was a tribute to the high population of coyotes living in the area at the time.

Approximately twenty years later, an offshoot from the South Dakota colony was established in Magrath, Alberta where we remain to this day. Once settled, the new colony leveraged our wealth of mill experience and built a Rockport Flour Mills in Magrath that began operations in 1923.

In the years since then our consumer reach has grown tremendously and with much credit, recognition and thanks to Bill Lynn Brokerage, and more recently Tree of Life, we are now providing our products across Canada, from British Columbia to the Atlantic provinces.

Today, as one hundred years ago, the team at Rockport Flour Mills is compromised almost entirely of members of the Magrath Rockport Hutterite Colony.

If you would like to learn more about the Hutterite culture, please check out the links below.

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Our Colony Culture

A Hutterite colony is a self-sufficient community with strong values in sharing and taking responsibility as a whole.

Our Religion

The religion of the Hutterites is unique in their belief in the community of goods in which all material things are held in common. This idea is gleaned from the teachings of Jesus, where he told the rich young ruler what he still lacked (Luke 18); from the fact that Jesus and disciples shared everything (John 12); from the early church where the apostles and their followers had all things in common (Acts 2: 44-47). Hutterites believe community of goods is the highest command of love.

All members of the colony are provided for equally and nothing is kept for personal gain. Hutterites do not have personal bank accounts; rather all earnings are held communally, and funding and necessities are distributed according to one’s needs.

Hutterites attend a 1/2-hour church service almost every day, with a 1 to 1 ½-hour service every Sunday, and common religious holidays. Additionally, special services are held for baptism, marriages, Christmas, and Easter.

Our Dress Code

Hutterites have a dress code. The dress code is more pronounced within some groups, i.e. the Lehrerleut and the Dariusleut in Alberta and Saskatchewan. The Schmiedeleut Hutterian Brethren’s dress code is typically as follows: men wear suspenders, usually black or dark trousers, and any kind of buttoned shirt. Married men traditionally wear a beard. Women wear below-knee-length dresses; younger women and girls wear brighter colored dresses than older women. Women also wear a Kupf-ti’echle or black, polka-dot-peppered head covering. Girls between the ages of 3 to about 10 wear a mitz, which is bonnet-like head covering.

Our Language

Hutterites speak a German dialect. It is actually a Tyrolean dialect. Hutterites originated in southern Austria and northern Italy (the area of Tyol), and Carinthia.

In school, Hutterite children learn the standard German language because all sermons and original religious writings were written in German. In addition, English is also taught.

Where We Live

Today, Hutterites are found in the provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and British Columbia. In the United States, they are in North and South Dakota, Minnesota, Washington and Montana.