Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1906-05-11
KANSAS A
SUGAR PRODUCER,
Refinery at Garden City on Santa Fs
will be Ready In October.
Bonanza for Farmers-Net Profits
S42 to SIS per Acre.

Garden City, Kansas, April 25.-Kan.
sas has added sugar to her staples Of
agriculture and next winter will witness
20 million pounds, or 200, 900 bags, of the
rehned product, turned out Of a refinery
now in course Of construction at Garden
City. 1t will be beet sugar, of course
but sugar is sugar the world over, and
when it is refined and in crystals the
beet is the same as the cane.
Sugar has been coming" In Kansas
since 1901 and 1902, when the Atchison
Topeka & Santa Fe Railway Company
by tests in the Arkansas valley, proved
that the underfow will supply sufficient
irrigation for the successful growth Of
the sugar beet. The next move was to
interest practical sugar men in the oppor.
tunity offered by Kansas. The Santa Fe
had secured the establishment of a sue.
cesstul refinery farther up the valley, at
Rocky Ford, in Colorado, and, with this
practical demonstration in sight, it was
comparatively easy to arouse interest in
a project for plant in Kansas.
In the meantime, the railroad company
continued to appropriate money out Of its
revenues for further tests Of the under
flow and for experiments with the soil.
This work was extended even east of
Garden City to Great Bend, and, farther
than that, to Arkansas City. All the way
the soil above the overflow produced the
sugar beet.
Besides the tests Of the underflow and
the experiments with the soil in Kansas,
the railroad company continued to assist
IN the establishment of Colorado refine.
ries.( The Rocky Ford refinery proved
to be so profitable that it was easy for the
Santa Fe to induce the same company to
invest money in another at Lamar in
lsOo. The same year an independent
company was induced by railroad en-
enlargement to build refinery at Lamar
Now, in 1908, the railroad company
has induced the United States Sugar and
Land Company to establish a refinery at
Garden City, in Kansas, and il will be
ready for operation in October, when the
farmers will begin to pull their beets.
A railroad corporation is a pretty good
institution after all, notwithstanding the
hue and cry the politicians sometimes
raise against it. Not the whole of rail
road corporations revenues goes to pay
dividends, interest and operating expen-
ses. A function Of a properly conducted
railroad is to give substantial aid in the
development Of the resources of the
country It traverses, and the Atchison,
Topeka & Santa Fe is performing its duty
in that respect, in Kansas and Colorado
at least.
The United States Sugar and Land
Company is the same corporation which
established and is operating the big
factory at Grand Junction, Colorado. Its
owners are citizens OF Colorado Springs
and they are c. NJ. MacNeill, President:
R. P. Davie, Vice President and General
Manager; J. R. McKinnie, Treasurer; o.
H. Shoup, Secretary; and E. H. Every,
Assistant Manager. Mr.. Davie divides
his time between Grand Junction and
Garden City. Mr.. Every has charge of
the Garden City Office. The capital Of
the company is 2h million dollars. OF
this, 100000 will be invested in the
plant, and the remainder will be the
working fund. 1t takes money 20 run a
sugar factory.
The plant will be constructed of &c.
ment, brick and iron. The main factory
will be 273 feet long; the warehouse 255
feet: the Office 85 feet-a total length