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Show PAGE SIXTEEN -- DO ADD Beejaira cont. from page five The first action of the company after incorporation was to appropriate $300 for a "first class" polariscope to be used in testing the sugar in the beets being grown on anexperimental basis in Utah. The second action was the appointment of a committee of five persons A. (Morris, Armstrong, Stayner, Howe, and Thatcher to visit the two beet factories in operation in California and the sorghum plant in Kansas. The next step was to determine the practicability of beet sugar production in Utah. Seed was acquired and distributed widely, and local newspapers carried articles on the culture of the beet. Tests of beets grown in widely scattered areas of the territory showed a satisfactory sugar content. Upon solicitation from the board, the Oxnards, who had begun three factories in Nebraska, bid $450,000 for a 300 ton factory imported from Europe. E. H. Dyer and Company, who had made arrangements with the Kilby Manufacturing Company of Cleveland to make machinery according to their de A cosign, bid $4000,000. ntract was let to the latter on November 5, 1890. This provided that the factory be completed by Octoberl, 1891, and it two of the Dyers remain to manage the factory during the first two campaigns. The Utah people agreed to procure railroad communication with the plant in time for the re- JIL.- - , . ception of machinery and building material. After several visits to the contending locations in Weber, Salt Lake and Utah counties, the directors finally approved a motion, or. November 18, 1890, to begin immediately the work of buildThe site was ing at Lehi. admirable from a transportation standpoint, since the Rio Grande tVestern Railway passed on one side and the Union Pacific Railway on the other. chief Cache, V T. Vis wl ' Consumer packages of fine Utah sugar are stacked and ready for the trip to the gro- eery store. Serving Northern Utah for a Long, Long Time. A formal cornerstone-layin- g ceremony was held on December 26, 1890, at which were present more than 2,000 persons, including the First Presidency of the Mormon Church, leading business and political figures in the territory, and farmers and mechanics from several nearby communities. The financial problems became ever more critical as the stockholders, creditors, factory officials, growers and others awaited the opening of the plant in October. Would it actually produce sugar? The cloud of uncertainty was darkened by the expressed doubts-o- f many who had been involved in the earlier attempt of the in which the only Mormons, product had been a syrup so sharp that "it would take the end of your tongue off." James Gardner, who had learned the art of boiling molasses in a church sugar cane enterprise in Hawaii, related the events of October 15, 1891. Thanks For Your Support Manager Cutler telephoned the Salt Lake Herald: "We have just made the first pound of By morning we will sugar. have 20 tons ready." That morning, 20,000 pounds of sugar were sacked and placed on a Union Pacific Railroad car. Upon arrival at the Salt Lake City depot, the sugar was transferred to three drays. Led by a yoke of oxen to dramatize the pioneering nature of the the procession enterprise, made its way to leading Salt Lake City retailers under the sign "First Carload of Granulated Sugar Made by the Utah Sugar Company." At the retailers' "there was almost a riot of people taking the sugar." Within two hours after the sugar was unloaded, it was distributed throughout the city, and within a short time confectioners displayed signs "First Candy Made from Utah Sugar." In the meantime, in Lehi, the shipment of the first carload of finished product was celebrated by a factory marriage, with J. C. Jensen and Agens Anderson united in the bonds of holy wedlock by General Manager Cutler. The Lehi plant of Utah Sugar Company was establishing the basis for a profitable new industry. By the end of the century, it was evident that the beet sugar industry was profitable for farmers, the communities in which factories were located, and the industry's backers. By reinvesting profits and selling additional stocks and bonds, Utah Sugar had expanded its capability by erecting cutting stations at Springvillc (1899) and Bingham Junction, in south Salt Lake City (1900). The latter, it is important to note, was connected by rail with many communities in the north, including Bear River Valley. David Evans (son of David Evans, first bishop of Lehi, 1851-- 1 879X one of the new owners, had been reared in Lehi and had arranged for several Lehi farmers to locate on the Evans-Doollands in Bear River Valley. Under his urging and that of George Austin of the Utah Sugar agricultural Bishop-- SUGAR BEET GROWERS ey Taylor Farm Service see page 17 |