By the 1870s, Swiss Italians, mainly from province of Ticino were migrating to Northeastern California. A majority of whom found a new home in Sierra Valley, yet there was for a time a spill over in the Honey Lake Valley.

In 1887, Cesar A. Ramelli, was one of those migrants and he eventually located at Purdy, Long Valley, California. The area is best known to many as the region behind present day Bordertown, on the California-Nevada border. Rameilli established a dairy there. He later expanded and operated a second one at Bella Vista in the Truckee Meadows. With the assistance of his three sons, their dairy herd consisted of seventy-five cows. From that herd, butter and cheese were made. The cheese was made into blocks of 10, 20 to 25 pounds which was sold in the Reno stores.

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