The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1904-12-02

y Men who had previously known in a
vague way that such things as sugar
beets were grown and that in some
places sugar was actually made from
them left last nights meeting at the
city hall with their minds filled with
the subject and enthusiastic on the
matter OF beet culture and the. at
'tendant benefits to be derived there
from by communities where the grow
ing of them has attained the proper
tions of an Industry Every one of the
large crowd present wanted to know
without number were asked the men
who addressed the melting.
!. D. O'DonneIl Presides.
I |. D. O'Donnell presided and after
stating the object OF the gathering
said that the gentlemen who had gone
to Colorado for the purpose of making
practical investigation of the sub
neighbors what they had seen and
learned. Already considerable had
been done in the way OF contracting
for the needed acreage, but much
more was necessary to insure erec-
tion of factory here. ''All OF us
must become informed in the matter,
so that we may be able to talk to the
formers and interest them by show
ing them how they are to be bene-
flied. I'VE have held meetings at Ho-
gan's school house and at Canyon
Creek and will hold meetings at Lau-
rel, Bridger, Park City and possibly
other places, /where we want to meet
the farmers and explain matters to
them. To assure the erection of a
sugar factory we will need all the
land we can get within a radius of SO
miles. 1t is also absolutely necessary
that the land is assured at once if we
want a factory in operation in 1905
MIR. O'Donnell then introduced Mr..
Shaw, the gentleman who has been
here number of weeks for the pur-
pose of interesting the citizens in the
proposed sugar factory
He Goes Into Details.
Mr.. Shaw proved to be regular en-
cyclopedia On everything pertaining
to beet sugar, from the sowing of the
seed to turning out the finished ar.
ticle and soon had his auditors in
tensely interested and before he had
finished his remarks had the men
about him as enthusiastic as himself.
He related the story of the beginning
and growth of me beet sugar industry
in northern Colorado and related how
the first factory came to be erected,
at Loveland. This was only six or
seven years ago, yet now, he said,
there were no fewer than six factories
in operation, all within a radius of
80 or 40 miles of Loveland. Land that
had sold for 500 or $50 an acre before
the first factory was built now COM
manded 800 an acre; towns had
doubled in population; farmers had
grown rich and general prosperity pre-.
vailed everywhere within the territory
given to the raising of the beets.
Payments to the growers were made
on the 18th of each month, he said,
those who delivered their beets in
September being paid in October and
those who made deliveries in October
receiving their money in November.
During four months in the year the
factory was in operation, running
night and day, and gave employment
to about 400 men. The beets began
to ripen from the 18th to the goth OF
September and to get the factory into
shape for grinding it was necessary
to begin cleaning up and preparing
during August. With the exception OF
a few men, chemists, etc, all the men
employed were chosen from among
residents, the desire being to give
work to all possible in the community
fhich the factory was.