Great Falls daily tribune., 1920-12-12

nercial factory in France was estab-
! hshed
The next year Napoleon issued de-
| cree providing that 100 select students
from schools Of medicine, pharmacy and
/! chemistry be sent t. the SIX special beet
sugar schools that had just been estab-
| ljshed He also set aside large tracts
| Of land 10 be devoted to beet raising and
! compelled the peasants to plant sugar
| bects In less than year, as a result
! of Nap0le0U's decree, 40 factories were
! In operation. These factories handled
/ 9S, $40 tons If beets produced on i6.75e
acres and manufactured them into $500,
| 00n pounds Of sugar This is believed
| IN be the real beginning Of the beet SUI
! gar Industry.
From France the industry spread rap
! idly To other countries of Europe. With
! the downfall Of Napoleon in 1919. the
! ports Of Europe were thrown open -
/ the caue sugar from the colonies. Being
/ cheaper and somewhat better in quality,
! the new beet sugar industry crashed an6
! but oAe factory survived. This was at
| ACras, France,
| In 1920 an effort was made 10 revive
! the industry More than 100 new fac
! tories were established The process nf
manufacture WAS improved SO greatly
| Tint five per cent Of sugar could be
extracted where two per cent had for
merry been
| BY 1886 there were 4a6 factories in
operation. Despite the attempts Of the
cane sugar growers to check the indus
| try it continued to grow.
The first effort to grow sugar beets
| in the United States was made about
| 1880 at Ensfield. near Philadelphia. In
phia became interested in beet sugar
| culture and sent James Pedder to
! France to study the business. A COM
pany was organized with James Don
aldson as its president and chief pro-
motor. Pedder sent back 600 pounds
of seed to be distributed among the
| farmers for trial.
First Factory In u. S.
This step is believed to have led to
the first factory erected at Northamp
ton, Massachusetts, in 1888, by David
Lee Child This could not be made to
| pay and it's doors were closed in 1910
Soon after the settlement Of Utah in
1S47. the Mormon pioneers began the
establishment of home industries, since
Mt that time all manufactured goods
had to be hauled from the Missouri
was worth from forty cents to one
dollar d pound.
John Taylor, who had made a close
study of beet sugar while doing mis-
sionary work in France, in 1852 pur-
chased a complete outfit Of machinery
in England. Five hundred bushels of
seed came with tho machinery. The
experiment, as many others to follow,
were not successful.
The first beet sugar factory on a
paying basis was established in Alva-
RADIO, Calf, in 1870 by =. II. Dyer.
In 1883 a second factory was estab-
lished also in California. About this
time the Oxnard brothers became in
terested and opened factories in sew
eral of the western states. This served
to stimulate interest in the raising of
beets and from that time the growth
of the industry has been constant. Dur
ing the sixteen years that James Will
son was secretary of agriculture he in
duced American capital to invest
SS0,000,000 in the erection of seventy
six beet sugar factories, thus creating
a new American agricultural industry.
Beet growing is now estimated to be
increasing at the rate of $4,000 acres
annually and the output in this country
has doubled in the last ten years from |
100000 to 100000 tons.
The industry is apportioned among |
nineteen states. Michigan and Colorado |
head with sixteen factories each and
California and Utah are tied for second
honors, with fifteen each. Idaho is |
third with seven. The 1915 crop re- !