The Hawaiian gazette., 1897-02-02
SUGAR INDUSTRY
Cultivation Of Beet Sugar
in Utah and Nebraska.
Successful establishment of the
industry on the Arid Lands
of Utah.

Since writing of the beet sugar in
dustry rs developed in California, the
correspondent of the Philadelphia Rec
ord has journeyed into Utah and Ne
braska in search of information rela-
tive to the production of beet sugar
in those States.
While riding along through the beau
tiful Utah Valley-the very spot which
was marked on the maps of our child
hood days as the Great American
Desert, we could not fail to be i'm
pressed with the wondrous work that
irrigation has wrought. Here lies the
thriving city of Lehi where are located
the factories of the Utah Sugar Com
pany
It was a great undertaking this cree
ton of a sugar plant in a country
where beets must be exclusively raised
by irrigation. Wiseacres shook their
heads, but the judgment of the men
VINO had the courage to undertake
such an enterprise has been amply Vim
dicated. Beet culture in Utah is SUI
cess, and the fact that the Lehi factory
is the only sugar plant in the world
using beets raised solely by means of
irrigation, is in itself matter of pub
lie interest. 1t marks an important
development in the methods of beet
culture and sugar manufacture.
The erection of the great factory
at Lehi began in November, 1890 Up
10 date the actual number of dollars
expended upon the plant is well up to
the million mark, to say nothing OF the
untiring energy OF It's projectors who
have from the beginning labored heart
and soul with unbounded faith in the
enterprise. Doubtless it is the great
est and most pcoGising industry in the
inter-mountain country and has prov
cd On important factor in the advance
rent, not Only Of those directly inter
ested in the growing of beets and turn
ing them into sugar, but of the entire
community.
The question has been raised as o
whether beejs grown by irrigation
were as rich in sugar as those culti-
waited in sections where rains fall II
sufficient quantities to mature the crop.
we had been so impressed by the belief
that beets grown by irrigation were
lacking in saccharine matter that we
we're surprised when, in reply to our
query. Mr. Thomas r. Cutler, the &C.
NAL manager of the Utah sugari2s,
stated emphatically that the idea prev
alent in the minds of many people was
erroneous; that any one who would
take the trouble to make a careful
study Of the question would find that
Utah, once a desert, has been entirely
reclaimed by the use of irrigation; that
they have never lost their crops, as
they are absolutely sure that as long
as they have snow in the mountains
their seed viii germinate, and that
the water supply from the mountains
is not only the means of terminating
the seed, but it brings down sediment
from the hills which is in the nature
of decayed vegetation, natural fer
tilizer that has enriched the land and
made it wondrously productive. More
over Mr. Cutter confidently asserts
that irrigation does not effect either
the quantity or the quality of sugar
contained in the beet
The Utah Sugar Company have $3.50
acres of land devoted to beet culture
which average q production of Is tons
to the acre. About 200 persons are en-
ployed in the factories and yards. Last
years output of sugar brought $780,,
OOO
The beets when brought from the
field to the factory are first weighed
and then stored in long sheds which
have been made frost-proof by a dou-
BILE wall and a roof covered with earth.
As the beets are required they are
thrown into a shallow sluice-way
which floats them to the point where
they are needed. They are taken from
this sluice-way by a wheel elevator
and dropped into a washer which is a
trough-shaped continuance with re-
yolving arms. The beets are then
thrown out automatically into bucket
elevator which conveys them to the
top of the building, where the cutter
is located. This machine cuts the