Utah achieved prominence in nineteenth-century America for its efforts to produce sugar from sugar beets; and the production of beet sugar contributed substantially to Utahs economy for almost one hundred years. With the further development of the beet and its manufacture, and with the increased population in the territory, a renewed attempt was made in the 1880s. Particularly active in keeping interest in the industry alive was Arthur Stayner, a horticulturist from England, who used his energies and property in experiments with sugar cane, sorghum cane, and sugar beets. In 1887 Stayner received a $5,000 bounty from the legislature for the first 7,000 pounds of marketable sugar produced in Utah. Stayner visited other early experimental sugar-producing plants, and with passionate earnestness he solicited the support of the LDS Church and business leaders in the formation of a company to finance further investigations. Incorporated in 1889, the Utah Sugar Company, which was largely financed by the LDS Church, sponsored studies, analyses, and investigations leading to the completion in 1891 of a $400,000 beet sugar factory at Lehi. Constructed by E.H. Dyer, this 350-ton capacity plant was the first beet sugar factory in the United States built with American machinery. When asked their motive in using the agency of the church to promote an enterprise of this nature, Mormon officials replied that this was one means of fulfilling their covenant to redeem the earth and build up the Kingdom of God. The success of the Lehi factory encouraged Mormon capitalists to establish factories in other settlements. Utah had several advantages in attaining leadership in beet culture. With a high birth rate and underemployment in many towns, the state had an abundance of boys to thin, weed, and harvest the beets, as well as many men to work in factories. With the states well-developed irrigation agriculture, and the improved practices developed by scientists at the Utah State Agricultural Experiment Station at Logan, beet growing soon became attractive and profitable. After the Lehi plant was confirmed as a technical and financial success in 1897, many new factories were established in the West, including seventeen in Utah. -Leonard Arrington
Posted on: Fri, 19 Dec 2014 11:39:03 +0000