led Joe and son Theodore H. Rowell to believe that the burbot was the reason for the rich pelts, and suspected that oil from the burbot contained something of great value to modern medicine. Ted had just finished pharmacy school at the University of Minnesota and opened a drug store in nearby Baudette. On Christmas Eve, 1929, a devastating fire destroyed the drug store. Immediate rebuilding was impossible, but the burbot transformed a disaster into an opportunity. After the fire, Ted Rowell devoted full-time for a year to researching the ugly eel-like fish. His studies ultimately demonstrated that burbot liver oil was exceptionally high in vitamin A and D – 6 to 8 times more potent than Cod liver oil, which was in very wide use at the time. Ted's assays on the vitamin content were done for him by the Parke-Davis and Eli Lilly companies. Furthermore, Ted developed a method to extract pure oil from the burbot's liver, worked on dosage forms and dosage amounts, packaging, labeling, and finally marketing and distribution channels. Most of the marketing was done through correspondence and sending out samples. A very large early order was from the Pepsodent Company for 36 million bottles of Burbot Liver Oil, an order impossible for Ted to fill at that time. The Burbot Liver Products Company In 1935, Joe and son Ted incorporated the company as the Burbot Liver Products Company, with Joe as president and Ted as secretary, with a capitalization of $10,000. By 1937, Rowell Burbot Liver Oil was accepted by the AMA, the American Medical Association. Initially, burbot liver oil was available only in 8 oz. bottles, but due to its potency, it eventually became available in a dropper bottle. This was significant because with Cod liver oil, you needed to take it by the spoonful, but because of Burbot Liver Oil's high A&D potency, you only needed a few drops. Burbot Liver Products Company began developing salves, and offered the oil in soft gel capsules filled under contract by the R.P. Scherer Company in Sarasota, Florida. Product volume continued to increase so by 1940–41, Burbot Liver Products Company purchased of burbot livers annually. Rowell was buying burbot livers from all 30 commercial fisherman on Lake of the Woods, and from other fisherman throughout northern Minnesota. With the start of World War II, the supply of Cod liver oil in the U.S. had been