Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-03-17
thrifty. and altogether they are excellent
citizens"
A Mormon Sugar Mill

citizens"
A Mormon Sugar Mill.
l visited the Mormon sugar mill, 1t is
situated just outside Raymond in the midst
of beet fields covering hundreds of acres.
1t is now making 100000 pounds of sugar
daily. and is paying dividends of per cent.
The company has altogether about NooVJ
acres. upon some or which beetS are raised.
Other parts are devoted to cattle ranches,
and 1000 head of stock are now feeding
upon them. The factory has the best or
modern machinery. The beets are carried
by water from the shed where they are
unloaded, being washed the way. They
are next lifted to the top of the factory
and fall from there into cutters filled with
knives. which slice them up that they
look like little pieces of celery.
The sliced beets are now dropped into
round tanks. where they treated by
fusion that all the juice in them contain
ing the sugar comes out. This is carried
into great boilers. consisting of miles OF
pipe, running backward and forward one
over the other. surrounded by steam. The
Juice passes through pipe after pipe and
boiler after boiler until il has Travelled back
and forth something like ten miles All
this time II is bathed in steam. 1t becomes
thicker and thicker as IT goes on. and at
the end Of its journey it is syrup. which.
after being purified, is known as mulatto
or sugar molasseS.
The sugar molaSses is reduced to sugar in
a thousand revolutions to The minute The
basins have walls of fine brass screens.
against which the sugar mola sses is thrown.
The dark particles of the LIQUID pass
through the screen. leaving the white su-
gar crystals behind. As the whirling goes
on the LIQUID, brown at first. grows lighter
and lighter. and soon turns from choco-
late to the whitest of snow. The walls of
brass, coated with it, look like the whitest of
porcelain china; but If you touch them with
your hand it comes back coated with sugar
as fine IS any on an American breakfast
table. When the machine stops all that is
necessary IS to take out these white grains
run them through a drier, and put them in
bags ready for sale The factory produces
enough sugar every year to give one pound
to every man. woman and child In Canada
and leave much to spare.
Shall Canada Use Our Water
In connection with these irrigated lands
of southern Alberta a rather serious inter-
national question has arisen The St Mary,s
river, which supplies the water for the ter
rltory settled by the MormOns and others
rises in st. Marys lakes, which are situated
in northwestern Montana about twelve
miles from the internatlona boundary
Ihese lakes are twenty miles long and one
mile wide. They lie high up In the Rocky
mountains. and are fed by the heavy snow
falls and glaciers They give St Mary's
river plenty of water furnishing an Rbun-
dant supply for the one hundred and thirty
built and have under way and By which
they expect to reclaim something like six
hundred and thirty thousand acres AS II
IS now. the water flows through the St
Mary into the Saskatchewan and goes off
into Hudsons BAY
Within a short distance of St Mary's
lakes and not more than twentv-seven
mics from st. Mary's river. flows the north
fork of the Milk river, which runs north
ward Into Canada, and then. turning south,
hoWs for hundreds of miles through the
United States into the Missouri and ON into
me cur of Mexico. BY making canal in
SIDE our boundary from the St Marys to
the north fork of the Mix river the waters
OF these lakes could be thrown Into the
MILK river and be finally used to irrigate
lands In northern and eastern Montana
and especially the lands which lie above the
fort Belknap Indian reservation.
Would Redeem American Deserts.
Such canal would give enough water 10
redeem thousands of acres of good Ameri-
can soil, and the citizens of Montana claim
that it ought to be so used. They say that
the waters fell in the mountains Of the
United States and they ought to water the
United States. The Canadians naturally OBJ
1ect They say that the water having fallen
in our country is no reason that we should
keep II; for it may have evaporated from
Canada and that they have a common
right to it since 1t has been flowing through
Its present course for thousands of wears
l understand that the two governments are
now In consultation regarding the use of
these lakes. and that amicabe arrange
ment may be expected.
There is no question but that Uncle Sam
wants his share OFF the st. Mary's lakes. In
the reclamation projects, approved by the
Secretary of the Interior as per the bulle-
tin published last September one million
dollars has been set aside for reclalming
two hundred thousand acres along the Milk
river, and there are several schemes out
lined by our geological survey, all of which
include the use of these lakes. One is to
make a fifty-foot dam one-half mile long
at the lakes, and then cut a canal from
there into Cut Bank creek a tributary OF
the Marfas river, and by another dam and a
second canal to throw the water into the
Milk river This would give water enough
for the reclamation for two hundred thou
sand acres of land in the upper Milk River
valley, near the Great Northern railroad
In addition to this there are other schemes
which would lead to the redemption OF
thousands of acres more, the water coming
chiefly from st. Mary's lakes.
In the meantime the Canadians say that
the MIX river runs for hundred miles or
more through Canada. before it goes back
into the United States, and that if the Amer
leans disturb their irrigation works here the
waters of that river might be materially
diminished by being spread over Canadian
lands. FRANK @. CARPENTER.