The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-10-27
SPRINGvILLE'S FACTORY STARTS
WHEELS OF NEW ENTERPRISE
TURNED LAST EVENING.
First Branch Sugar Factory In the
United States Now In Operation
In Utah-Details of the Plant.
fspecial to The Herald.)

Springville, Utah Oct. 26.-Tonigflt at
about half past 8 o'clock the wheels in
the new sugar factory began to turn, and
men were soon eagerly watching for the
first signs of success in what is a new
departure in the beet sugar industry in
the United States.
While the new machinery worked some
what stfffiy. the indications at half past
TO- when your correspondent left the rae
tory, were that successful run had com
menced and that before daylight a steady
stream of beet juice would be well on its
way to the central works at Lehi.
Manager T. K. Cutler and Superintend-
ent Valiez were over from Lehi to see the
start made. Engineer Ingalls, estimates
that this seasons run will be completed
in twenty days A force of fifty men IS
employed, divided into two shifts. Fifteen
of these work outside. There is still con-
siderable work to be done on the factory
buildings, but that will now be leisurely
completed.
For the past ten days constant stream
of heavily laden beet wagons has fiowed
vicinity, and last night probably 500 tons
of beets were stored in the sheds. ready
for the starting of the works. OF this
amount probably 400 tons had been shipped
IN by rail from other points. The hrst
beets to arrive were three carloads from
Payson. Digging has been stopped for a
few days, until some of those now in the
shed can be worked up.
AS this Is the first branch sugar factory
TO be built in the United States. a few
figures may be of interest The parent
factory is twentyfour miles distant, at
Lehi. The juice is extracted from the
beets at the Springville branch and piped
to Lehi through fve-inch pipe. Pro-
vision has been made for pumping, but as
there is a fall of 100 feet between Spring
vile and Lehi. this may not be neces-
sary. line gravity TOW is about 1GJf gsI.-
Ions per minute. The pump provided for
this work is capable of exerting pres
aTn of rln1 rr1f!s Trn1 hOr NOV ar
boilers furnish steam and a ninety-horSe
Allis engine will provide the motive power
for the machinery.
The main building is 109 feet long by IL
feet in width. the central portion being
three stories in height. Its construction
involved the use of z5O,OO0 brick, rs perch
of rock and 5000 feet of lumber. Work
began on June u, and an average Of
twenty-five men have been employed con-
tinuously. A spur was constructed from
the Tfntic Range branch of the Western,
are about two miles south of the center
of the city, on the State road.
The most important item of machinery
in the factory is the battery of fourteen
cells used in extracting the juice from
the beets. Each cell will hold 135 cubic
feet of juice. and is charged with "a tons
of sliced beets. A complicated process of
water and steam circulation extracts the
juice from the pulp. A 1,000-gallon tank
siXty-five feet above the works furnishes
wafer pressure. one cell Is flled ana one
emptied every seven minutes. The pulp
from the cells is piped to great silo pit
200 feet southwest of the battery This
pit in itself is of no small size, being 42O
feet long, eighty-five feet wide and ten
feet deep. 1t will hold $4,000 cubic feet of
pulp. which will be used to fatten cattle.
Two great beet sheds. each $50 feet long
and twenty-four feet wide. are used to
estore the beetS. Each will hold $500 tons.
They are built on a slope and involved the
use of $4,000 feet of lumber. The bottoms
slope sharply TO the center. where a
stream of water is used to convey the
beets through a conduit to the washer in
the main building. After the cleansing
process the beets are elevated to the third
story. where the slicer is located A
swinging pipe from the bottom of the
Steer fills each cell in the circular bat
terry below in turn. The juice from these
cells goes to a couple of tanks. where it
receives chemical treatment before COM
mencing the twenty-four mile trip under
ground to Lefli
The branch here hasa capacity Of $50
tons per day of twenty-four hours and
viii employ about thirty-tive men. Prob
ably 1900 to 1900 tons of beets will be
worked up here. Considerable of the
Springville and Mapleton crop has been
shipped to Lehi since beet digging COM
menced.