The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1920-08-04
The Rigby Sugar Factory


handling beets and sugar operations
as 1t is done at the Rigby factory
by the Beet Growers Sugar company
and some Of the things which they
are looking forward to but have not
yet put into operation. Then there
were few items that l put in on
my own responsibility because they
are notions that / believe in but
which nobody else seems to approve
of. In this chapter want to tell
you about the sugar factory at Rig
by as 1t is and as it actually op-
Grated in the campaign of 1919.
A sugar factory description writ
ten for people who are familiar with
such factories is difficult to produce;
but when written for those who
know little or nothing about a sugar
factory it requires different hand
ling. When written for both kinds
of people each class has to make
some allowance for the part that is
written for the other. In a general
way l write this chapter for those
who know something about sugar
making, tho I outline some things
that make it more Understandable
to the others. If you have never
been in a sugar mill it is time you
were going, for this valley is likely
to be depending very much on that
industry in future years, and after
you read this you will more readily
understand the operations when you
enter factory. There is about as
much difference in sugar factories as
there is in autos, and you may not
be interested today, but finding
yourself buying or trading for some
sugar factory stock tomorrow or TAX
ing some on a bad debt, and you
had better give some study to the
coming wealth-producer of the
Snake river valley.
Sugar Factories in General
Sugar beets are a heavy, bulky
product and have to be handled by
something that makes them move by
gravity or something that is as near
ly automatic as possible. At the fac
tory they are dumped by different
means, according to the modernness
Of the system installed, into bins or
yards where they lie ten or twelve
feet deep over considerable terri
tory, perhaps an acre or two. The
floor of this territory is corrugated
or sloping. Every foot of the floor
slopes one way or the other like the
roof of house, into hidden canal
about twenty inches wide and three
and half feet deep. Water flow
ingthru these canals carries the beets
to the entrance Of the factory as
desired. The whole length of all
canals is covered over with a short
piece of plank, each piece having a
ring or loop on the upper side to
pick it up by.
Whenever it is desired to start
the beets to floating from any Sec
ton of the yard, water is turned in
the beets allowed to tumble into the
water. A man keeps pulling out the
planks slowly or faster as he wishes,
in order to keep up the supply. The
old canal system was made of wood,
with wooden stops or gates to con-
troll the flow Of the water. At the
Rigby factory it is all cement work,
with steel stops lined at the edge
with rubber hose, which, when shut
down fits perfectly every dent and
lump in the canal and shuts off the
water entirely. When more beets are
to be dumped into this section of
the yard the short planks are laid
again to cover The canals
Travelling Bridge Water Con-
veyOr
The beet wagons or trucks dump
the loads into cylinder that whirls
over and over to jolt the dirt off the
beets and while the beets pass to a
belt elevator the dirt is returned to
the farmers wagon or truck and is
weighed back to him and deducted
from his gross load. The belt con-
veyor carries them up to an elevated
steel canal with many turnouts or
gates where the stream may be di-
rected into any section Of the yard
desired. But in order to carry the
beets far out across the yard, there
is bridge span with steel canals
built right in it, and it spans a sec
ton of the beet yard as a bridge
would span an ordinary street If it
rested on the tops of the two-story
buildings and had track under each
end to allow it to travel sidewise.
AS the bridge moves down the yard
to connect with the different turn
outs of the steel canal system, the