The Elbert County tribune., 1902-10-23
FARMING MATTERS.
sugar Beet In Colorado.

Frank McNaugnn, VINO lives at 323
South Fifteenth street. is probably the
best posted man in regard to beet sugar
manufacturing in the West to-day.
says the Denver News. He has been
the practical man In charge OF the CON
struction OF the largest factories in
Colorado and has had ten years ex-
perience Ia she same work for the Ok
nards. the Kilbys and others. who own
the biggest factories In this country
Last evening he said:
II am not surprised that these ex-
perts from Detroit are amazed at the
sugar possibilities of Colorado. hardly
believed 1t myself until learned OF II.
i look for the time in very few years
when there Will not be only five facto-
ries In this state. but anywhere from
thirty to forty. 1t is a question, how
ever. entirely of water. | am in close
touch with all that is doing and know
that the sites for beet farming are linn
ited 1t takes about $4,000 acres of land
under cultivation to make a success OF
a mill of. say. 600 tons capacity. The
reason for this is that the crops should
lbe rotated. After two or three years
the land should rest for year or two
At Grand Island and other places in
Nebraska they have learned this to
their cost. The men who invest $50 600
in a sugar plant must have surety
that the crops are going to continue.
II can name only five points in this
state where there is now population
and water enough to insure this to the
investor. These places are Sterling
Holly. Alamosa. Windsor and Fort
Collins. | have every reason to believe
that very shortly mills Will be started
at Holly. Fort Collins and Windsor
AT the first named place the Oxnards
have secured control. and understand
will do something very soon. The pub
lie knows pretty well what is being
done at the other places named.
. 81 believe that Sterling offers the
best location, II the government con-
structs the big Pawnee dam. and at
least three mills could be built there.
! believe that one will be built anyway.
There has been only one failure of
mill in this state. and that is at Grand
Junction. | do not think that II was
owing to the beets nor to the plant, but
TO the people engaged in farming. They
can do so well with fruit there at such
a minimum amount of labor, that they
did not take to beet raising as they
should. The Grand Junction mill will
be moved to the eastern part of the
state. but | am not at liberty to say
where.
What Mr.. Mcvaughn says regarding
the Colorado sugar beet is interesting.
The beet root sinks straight down and
the sugar accumulates around the
green leaves at the top. When IL is
ripe this saccharine matter sinks into
the root If rains come late and the
beet starts growing again the sugar
comes up and is likely to be lost. 1t is
this lack of rain and the sunshine that
gives the Colorado beet so great per-
centage OF sugar and Of such purity
Down at Rocky Ford" continued
Mr.. McVaughn, Il have seen patch of
five acres that grew twenty tons an
acre and all the beets averaged five
pounds each. This ran eighteen per
cent. sugar This is simply marvellous.
and 1t is what is calling the attention
of capitalists to this country. The prof
its are very large in this manufacture.
In building a mill we calculate the
sugar end of the plant at about the
capacity of treating the tonnage. At
Rocky Ford we figured about the aver
age of fourteen per cent. sugar. and the
first thing we knew we were swamped
at the sugar end of the house. These
ibeets had an average Of about eighteen
per cent. sugar and the plant had to
be enlarged at that end"
Mr.. McVaughn built the Rocky Ford
mill for the Oxnards, the Loveland mill
for John Camplon and other Colorado
capitalists. and the Greeley mill for +.
III. Dyer & Co. In 1898 he built the
Oxnard mill at Oxnard. California.
which has a capacity of 1000 tons per
day. He has also had experience in
Nebraska. and in other districts before
that. Mr.. McVaughn says we have
nothing to learn in this country about
beet sugar from the Germans and the
French. We have pasesd them in all
directions, At first experts were
brought from those countries and all of
the machinery imported. We are now
making all the necessary machinery at
Cleveland. and II is superior to any
thing that can be imported with the ex-
ception OF their scales. They have pat
Ients on n scale that weighs 1000 pounds
automatically. and this we cannot du
lplicate. Our natural conditions are so
different that they can teach us little
excepting as we profit by their knowl-
legde OF the care of the soil.