Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-10-31
TONS OF SWEETNESS
Made Daily by Pittsburgers and Their
Capital in Nebraska.
THE BIG SUGAR BEET INDUSTRY
As Observed by an East End Preacher Who
Keeps His Eyes Open.
ITS POSSIBILITIES In THE FUTURE

Park Avenue Presbyterian Church, East
End, travels with his eyes and ears wide
open during his vacation, and thereby has
picked up a stock Of practical knowledge
which is not only of much mental satisfac-
ton to the owner, but of use to man in
any vocation. This seasons outing was
spent on the treeless plains of the West
and amid the Rockies, and was unusually
expanding. Having "done" Denver,
Boulder, Pueblo. the Pittsburg of the West;
Canon City and Florence, and noted tine
immense fruit farming profits about Flor
ence, which has started into being through
irrigation, with petroleum wells and Stand
ard oil refneries turning out ], 200 barrels
of refined oil day, Mr.. Chalfant concen-
trated his attention on the new sugar-beet
industry at Grand Island, Neb., business
that, though in its infancy in this country,
may before ten years turn the sugar trade
topsy-turvy the world over.
In order to get to the base at the start. it
may be stated that Grand Island is city of
$4,000 inhabitants, and rapidly growing, on
the main line of the Union Pacific Railway
in the Valley of the Platte, 155 miles west
OF Omaha. A branch of the Chicago, Bur-
lington and Quincy Railway from St. Joe
runs through Grand Island diagonally on
its way to the Black Hills. There is also
another railway there, and the trunk lines
are working to make connection in order to
secure the large freightage shortly to be de-
veloped.
wELL-BUILT WESTERN TOWN.
The town is we'll built, of brick and stone,
and the country around fertile. 1t is seven
miles from the Platte to the Court House.
Grand Island has two lines of street cars,
has electric lights, and is in all respects
well-arranged modern city, with good
schooihouses and fine church buildings,
among them that of the Presbyterians, W hose
pastor is Rev. Thomas G. Clark, whom Mr..
Chalfant visited, and through whom he was
enabled to learn particulars of sugar-beet
culture and sugar manufacture. Mr.. Clark
is we'll known in the neighborhood of Pitts
burg.
The refinery is operated by Henry T. Ok
nard, President; James G. Oxnard, Vice
President, and c. Kennedy Hamilton, Jr.,
Secretary, and the style OF the company is
the Oxnard Beet Sugar Company. The
works are located mile and a half from
the center Of the town. and all the railway
companies have switches running into the
works. The refinery has been in operation
six weeks and is the second of the kind in
the United States. 1t is a coincidence that
it got to work just ten days after the passage
of the Mckinley tariff bill. and some
curiosity outside of selfinterest is mani
tested to see how the two will thrive to-
gether. The company owns 5000 acres of
land given it by the city as an induce
ment to locate. Tons of suyar-beet
seed were imported from Germany
and distributed among the farms. The
plant is called in Europe the "Sea-beet"
owing to its cultivation in Holland and its
adaptabllity tor culture in low land. The
crop this year was 10 to 10 tons to the acre
of II per cent beets, "a per cent water, IL
per cent sugar and per cent celulose.
Analysis shows constituents to be 70 to "a
per cent water, 10 to II per cent soluble
sugar and per cent celulose. The COM
pany pays for beets containing II per cent
saccharinity S12 ton and 30 cents for
each one-half per cent more found by
analysis or assay.
BEETs PAID FOR BY ANALYSIS.
When load of beets is delivered a SAM
pie is analysed, and the price above So de-
pends on what the analysis shows. The OBJ
ject OF this care is to prevent the farmers
from manuring so heavily as to produce
quantity instead of quality. II the beets
grow too large they carry large percentage
of water. The crop this year was short
one, but it was all the sweeter therefor. The
refners prefer small beets. The company's
land is not intended for beet culture, but
for the keeping of cattle to eat the refuse
which fattens stock rapidly.
The company's investment is $3.50, ,000
There are two receiving sheds. each Of 1000
tons capacity, quantity sufficient to keep
the refinery in operation three days. These
sheds are side by side, and the cars are run
alongside, so as to unload direct. The sheds
slope so that channel 3-feet wide is at the
bottom, through which runs a stream of
water. Into this the beets are raked, and
the water washes them, and at the same time
carriers them to the factory, brick build
ing three stories high and 800 feet in length.
containing 500 tons of machinery, much of
which was imported, as it could not be got
ten in this country. A very great amount
of steam power is necessary, not only to do
the labor, but in evaporating processes as
well.
When the beets reach the factory |
they are lifted by large water-wheel |
which not only completes the wash |
ing, but carries them to the slicers They |
are not crushed, but the saccharinitv is |
secured by diffusion. The beets fall /
into a series Of tanks filled with pure water. |
Into the first tank the water comes with the |
beet and extracts part of its sweetness, and |
so on until it passes ten tanks. the last con-
tanning hot water and steam, and when the
refuse leaves this tank it contains but a
small percentage of sugar. This refuse is
at present sold at 40 cents a ton. 1t con-
tains phosphates, and is valuable not only
for cattle food, but for fertilizer. The water
i