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Show Sugar House Sermonettes by E. Cecil McGavm This is the twenty-second in a series of articles on the early day history of Sugar House. T he series is presented under the sponsorship of Sugar House Camp, Sons of Utah Pioneers. Many experiments were conducted, con-ducted, but the prize was not within their grasp. The results re-sults were so disappointing that President Young decided to suspend the work for the time or abandon it completely. The great suger mill closed its doors in 1855 and never operated oper-ated again. Perhaps $100,000 had been spent in the enterprise. enter-prise. Though the sugar house was closed after an unsuccessful and expensive experiment, it left its historic name which will long remain as a monument monu-ment to the vision, courage, and unbreakable spirit of the pioneers. When the sad decision was made that the sugar house must be closed they thought of other means of using some of the expensive mcahinery. The power equipment was distributed distrib-uted to other industries. The hydraulic presses were used in the manufacture of linseed oil and in the book binding department de-partment of the Deseret News. The large pans were used in President Young's woolen mill on Parleys Canyon Creek. Though the first experiment was a failure, the Church leaders became convinced that the sugar beet industry should become a great industry in Utah. They were anxious for outside capital to finance the project. For a complete and fascinating fascin-ating story of "Saga of Sugar," read the book by that name, written by Fred G. Taylor. Most of this material has been gleaned from his research. Though the "Sugar House" did not remain in successful operation, its name has been indelibly stamped upon the community that bears that historic his-toric name. |