The year was 1890 when a few local Logan County farmers first decided to bring in some sugar beet seed for experimentation. Their experiments proved worthwhile, because by 1899, sugar beets were being grown on a larger scale. In 1902, the first sugar beets that were made into sugar were shipped West to the community of Eaton for processing. By 1905 ground was broke for the first sugar factory that still stands today. The first year yields were over 25,000 tons on just over 2800 acres, and the numbers only grew from there. The record growing year was 1969 and 70 with over 38000 acres in the Sterling district. The factory stayed in operation until 1985.

Initially, sugar beats were a very labor intensive crop, because the seeds form in small balls, with each ball containing more than one seed, which required thinning by hand. In the early 1900s sugar companies like Great Western recruited German-Russian immigrants to work the fields, because they were already familiar with beet cultivation. Years later many of the German-Russian immigrants took advantage of the homestead act, so the sugar companies turned to Japanese immigrants, and later to recruiting a Mexican workforce by putting up offices along the border and bringing them up by company trains.

Harvest also required a lot of hand labor. A plow or beet puller would loosen the beet from the ground, four men would follow behind, harvesting eight rows of beets at a time. Pulling two beets with one in each hand, hitting them together to remove the dirt, and then simultaneously dropping them into the windrows. It wasn’t until the 1940’s that mechanical beet harvesters and toppers became available, largely because man power had been reduced because of World War II. Many improvements were made over the years, and in 1972 the first all in one, six-row self propelled harvester was designed and built by a 25 year old Bavarian man on his parents’ farm.

Sugar beets were the fascination of the county and for 80 years, and provided the means to feed cattle, livestock, and the livelihoods of so many families here in Logan County.