Sugar beets farming story
Sugar Beets
One of the major crops in his development of agriculture in Colorado was the sugar beet and it had a major impact on the economy and brought many different racial segments to the population. These are the recollections I remember with great joy in thinking about the ways working in the sugar beet fields gave me some jobs and allowed me to meet countless other people who were in the sugar beet business.
The sugar beet was first and foremost a cash crop which meant it would return more dollars per acre than most other crops… The disadvantage was that it needed a factory to process the sugar from it. Unless there was a factory the common farmer had no way to refine the sugar.
The Sugar Beet Factory in Brighton, Colorado was built in the early 1900s. It was started by getting farmers to give some money to begin the construction and I am sure there were some wonderful stories about the faith and vision and foresight of the men and women who conceived the idea and made it happen. There were factories in Germany and I am sure some of the German immigrant farmers could see the opportunity to have a crop that would give those cash…
The other factor was the railroad which went through Brighton on its connection between Denver and Laramie Wyoming. That line was completed in 1872 and became a wonderful way for farmers to get their produce to the Denver market.