Arizona republican., 1901-10-23
BEET SUGAR FACTORIES
How They are Bringing Wealth and
 Population to Colorado.

The following special dispatch to the Globe Democrat tells of the wonder full impetus given industrial develop ment in Colorado by the beet sugar factories and nicely illustrates condi- tions that may be expected to obtain in this valley at no distant day:
 The first of the colonies to come from northern Europe to settle on the lands that are used for sugar beets in the upper Arkansas valley is eX- pected to arrive next week. About fifty families will be in the party and there will be 200 families in all. The leader came here some months ago and looked over the ground. selecting q place for the settlement. He visited several DOT tions of the United States and decided on this section because or the prospects for certain production of beets and other crops through irrigation. The work of developing the valley has been pushed during the past two years by the. beet sugar manufacturers, who have built t-.e factories at Rocky Fora and Sugar City at . cost of a million dollars.
 | The beets are easily produced and there is an abundance or water for is- rigation from the Arkansas and the 1 large reservoirs that have been damn I'd
 
 has been to secure the workers. Beet 1 culture requires much hand labor ia | wedding the ground and tending the crop throughout its growth. The New | Mexican laborers have been brought in ! largely to thin beets at fixed price per acre. but they are not SO satisfac- tory the home help. For this reason | there has been an effort to secure col onies of Germans and Swedes. Agents
 
 vania and many have been induced To come here
 1 In the vicinity of Rocky Ford. where the land has been cultivated ex- ! tensively. it is possible under only fair conditions to raise twenty to twenty | eight tons of beets to the acre. while thrifty farmers raise as much as thir | tyfive tons. The price of beets is de- termined according to the sugar con tent, the average being about 8 ton. The cost of growing beets is. including all labor and harvesting. $25 to SO l acre. leaving the farmer q large profit. ! One farmer can not however, tend q large acreage of the beets. owing to the constant ana personal watchfulness that is necessary.
 The sugar factories give the farmers five to ten year contracts, agreeing to pay s4 for beets containing 15 per cent ! sugar or less and 33 Is per cent for every l per cent of sugar content con- tained above the 15 per cent. Last year ! most of the beets averaged r per cent, making the price over 8 a ton. The l farmer has, under this system. very little risk. He knows in the fall what he will get for his crop and arranges to plant as many acres as he can tend, signing a contract for that amount of land. This is far more certain than any other crop produced in the west. The richness of the beets raised in the val ley has caused the Rocky Ford factory to rearrange some of it's machinery. the methods used elsewhere not being suit able to beets with so large q sugar con- tent.
 The present sugar war is not stop ping the work of the factories. The Rocky Fora and Sugar City factories started last week and are consuming 1900 tons of beets daily. w: l.. Hart man, the attorney for the company, says that the mills will run steadily. but the product will not be sold at 31s cents pound. Instead, they will store it if necessary, confident that they will not have to hold it long.
 The lands in the reach of the fac tories that were worth S30 to $50 an acre are now held at $50 to s20o per acre. The lands in the Holly district are selling at S35 per acre. 10 per cent down and the remainder on long time. The Dunkards and Mennonites are now colonizing tracts of this land. There is to be another factory between Lamar