The Goodland republic., 1898-01-07

ii. %. cIemens Writes About the B. e.
Industry Of California


Industry OF California
Los ALAEIros, Cal, Dec. y, 1897 !
EDrroR REPUBLIC-SOme Of your read
srs msy remember Of my speaking Of
the hills south Of the Chino valley.
This is the country between the hills /
and the ocean We are about i've miles /
from the ocean and on what is called /
the Bixby ranch. The sugar factory
here has been built the past year By
the Clark brothers. There we're en-
ployed in building on an average Of
about a hundred men from November !
to July %. when the factory began to !
receive beets and make sugar, then it |
required about so men divided into
two shifts. They only put in maehin-
cry for One-haIf capacity of the build /
ing, so have only sliced $50 tons each
"A hours run. Work wilt soon begin
putting in additional machinery 50
next year they viii slice 700 tons in
same time and very little additional
help.
The factory was planned and all the
maehinery made by E. 81. Dyer & Co.
Of Ohio, who have superintended the
building and also the sugar making
this season and have made a very much
better grade Of sugar than has been
made at Chino with a German plant.
Some idea can be had Of the material
it required to construct the plant when
Isay it required over a thousand bar
reIs Of cement for the foundation OF
the main building. Then there are the
lime kilns, boiler house, machine shop,
seed house and a very large work house
besides beet sheds and silo for the
pulp which they are now feeding to
cattle, and they fatten very fast. They
have a fine Office building two stories
high, sleeping rooms on second floor
for the help in the Office, all fitted up
with modern improvements and the
whole plant lit with electricity. There
is no lack of confidence on the part Of
the Clark brothers. They have recently
bought 5000 acres Of land just west Of
this ranch, and will build the coming
year a factory there, of LOCO tons daily
capacity. I think the price paid for the
land was $4,000. They also own
1000 acres Of land here. The land here
was nearly all new this year, as it had
always been used for a pasture, most
Iy for sheep Some Of it has done
very well this year. Some pieces have
produced 10 tons to the acre and
some have tested as high as 26 per
cent sugar. We get the . cent raise
per ton that 1 spoke Of in one Of my
former letters, not on account Of the
government bounty paid on sugar as
it was under the Mckinley bill, but
because Of republican prOsperity(?)
having struck the country Perhaps
q little explanation will be proper in
this place. The price Of beets was
cut down . cents per ton because OF
the bounty paid by the government,
OF 2 cents per pound, being taken of
Now we have an import duty on su-
gar which has raised the price some,
anyone can ascertain how much, but
to be safe I will say I cent per pound.
A ton Of beets here, on an average,
makes 300 pounds Of sugar, so there
must be g per ton additional profit TO
the manufacturer over last year, and
We ger a raise Of . cents per ton. That
is what we call here protection. On
the other hand the Mckinley bounty
on this same grade OF beets amounted
to s6 per ton and when it was taken Of
We were cut down . cents.
According to the best information
obtainable, beet sUgar, at the present
price of beets and labor costs the man
ufacturer from $3.50 to 70 cents per lOC
pounds. But then we can stand II
here. We can go to the ocean and
catch our fish and dig our clans
The hens lay we'll and with that 2
cents we can 60 to any fruit ranch
and buy so pounds Of most kinds o.
fruit from the trees, in the season
and we have some kind Of fruit ready
for market most Of the year. We
have had some quite hard frOsts this
winter. In some localities the oranges
have frozen, and some damage has
been done in the large celery fields
We have not had as much rain thi
winter, up to this time, as last. Peopl
are blowing their land for beets, bu
it would work better and easier if vi
had more rain. But we shall not plan
beets until February and later rain
are better for them than earlier. Wit
best wishes for all the people Of SheT
man county, 1 remain yours truly,
A. o. CLEMENT.