TORRINGTON – On Tuesday evening, the Goshen County Historical Society provided the community the opportunity to learn about the history of sugar beets grown over history in Goshen County. Mary Houser, society president, opened the meeting with a short prayer followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.  Deb Davidson, society secretary, introduced the guest speaker, published author, Lawrence Gibbs.

“We’re going to have fun tonight. This man was involved in the hobby shop business for 24 years, 25 years, so he knows everything that’s fun,” Davidson said. “He’s got a great deal of knowledge about the sugar industry and he’s written books, one on the sugar industry.”

Gibbs took the microphone. 

“I grew up in New York. I graduated high school in 1966. I enlisted in the Marines and I spent 13 months in Vietnam. After my tour in the Marines, I came out here to western Nebraska,” Gibbs said. “When I first came out here, one thing I found interesting was the fact that Great Western Sugar was still operating some steam locomotives at their factories in the fall. Steam locomotives have long since disappeared on the East Coast by that time. I have always been a railroad buff, so that kind of attracted my attention. That was my initial interest in the sugar industry.”

Gibb went on to explain several years ago, his friends felt he should write a book on his knowledge of the industry. He referenced the book; Footprints in the Sugar by Candy Hamilton and he explained Hamilton’s book was focused on the people of the sugar industry. 

“My emphasis in the book here is in the structures and how the factories were built. Yes, Candy Hamilton’s book is great. The primary emphasis was on the sugar industry though in Colorado so I thought there was a gap in the North Platte Valley. There wasn’t a lot of information on that,” Gibbs explained. 

Gibbs presented information on the sugar industry in two segments: the sugar industry in the valley and the sugar factory in Torrington. 

“You cannot tell the recent history of the North Platte Valley without stressing the importance of agriculture,” Gibbs began. “When dealing with the subject of agriculture in the valley in the first part of the 20th century, probably the most important crop was sugar beets. The first beets were grown and shipped to already existing factories in eastern Nebraska and Colorado in the first part of the 1900s.”

Gibbs explained the quality of the beets to be very good in eastern Nebraska and the North Platte Valley whereas conditions in western Nebraska were not favorable with higher humidity and disease conditions. 

“The industry moved west, except for one factory in Grand Island which operated, I think, until 1966. In the first quarter of the of the 20th century, seven sugar factories were built in a stretch of about 75 miles, from Bayard, Nebraska west of Torrington, Wyoming,” Gibbs said.

The first factory built in Wyo-Braska was built in Scottsbluff, Gibbs explained. 

“In 1909, the assets of a failed standard sugar beet company of Ames, Nebraska, including the machinery and much of the building itself were acquired by the Scottsbluff Sugar Company. These pieces were then assembled on the east side of Scottsbluff with the intention of processing their first crop in 1910,” Gibbs said. “By 1910, the Scottsbluff company had somehow been absorbed by Great Western Sugar. I was never able to find out how they transitioned from Scottsbluff Sugar Company into Great Western.”

The factories were built at a fast pace which amazed Gibbs through his research on the Great Western Sugar Company. 

“Every one of them was built and operational from the first concrete being poured to the first crop, in about a year,” Gibbs explained. “It would take you five years to get the environmental impact statement now, so it is amazing how quickly they put these together. These are substantial buildings too. They are all brick. I mean it’s not like wood structures you just them throw up, brick and steal.” 

Gibbs explained through his research it was apparent the Scottsbluff factory was a main location and it is still in operation today. 

“Workers and families in many cases need housing and Great Western and others built some housing for their employees. For their management people, they built individual structures in a lot of cases. The best example is in Lyman, Nebraska where there’s a subdivision on the southeast part of town that’s nicknamed ‘Sugar Town’ and it still exists. Most of all those houses are still occupied and in pretty good condition,” Gibbs explained. 

The sugar companies also built dormitories according to Gibbs.

“These were primarily for the single men who worked at the factories because a lot of the labor came in from out of the area because there wasn’t enough labor here in the valley to man the factories,” Gibbs said. 

Both the Scottsbluff sugar factory and the Bayard sugar factory had explosions Gibbs discovered through his research. 

“The Scottsbluff factory in July of 1996, there eight storages silos and they blew up all of them. Fortunately, it happened in the middle of the night, in the off-season and there was only one man unfortunately killed. Had it taken place during the campaign when they were fully operational it would have killed dozens,” Gibbs said. 

The Gering factory was the second sugar factory constructed in the valley. 

“In a period of about ten months from planning construction to the operation in the fall of the 1916 campaign. The next one was built in Bayard about 25 miles to the east,” Gibbs explained. “Again, it was constructed in 1916 and began operating the next year. The Mitchell factory, located on the west side of town, was the next one built by Great Western.”

Again, the factory was completed in a short amount of time, according to Gibbs. 

“It’s another amazing story of construction as the factory was completed, again, in ten months, received their first crop for processing in October 1920,” Gibbs explained. “Minatare was the next town in line for a factory, with a congruent history for its construction due to economic conditions. Major competition between Great Western and Holly Sugar Company for a city site and a start-stop saga that extended for almost eight years. The factory started construction in 1920. The sugar market collapsed so Great Western suspended construction and they did not start again until 1926.”

The factory in Minatare and the Holly Sugar factory in Torrington had a lot in common Gibbs explained. 

“There was a big war of sorts between Great Western and Holly Sugar at that time. Great Western, like I said, had suspended construction of the Minatare plant. The people in Minatare were getting a little antsy after a while wondering if they were going to finish that thing,” Gibbs explained. “There were two other groups that tried to start building that sugar factory. One was a farmer’s group and the other was Holly Sugar. Needless to say, Great Western was not happy to see Holly on their turf.”

In the fall of 1926, Great Western resumed construction, according to Gibbs, and they processed their first campaign in the fall of that year. 

“Minatare is one of a few of the factories who really didn’t survive very long. It was opened in 1926 and it closed in 1941,” Gibbs explained. “The last Great Western factory built in the panhandle was the Lyman factory and it was built in 1926, again. The first beets were taken there in 1927. Again, competition between Great Western and Holly delayed the construction of the facility while the two companies fought over territory.”

Some form of agreement, although Gibbs never could find one, must have been reached between the two sugar companies in which Great Western could not enter Wyoming and Holly Sugar would stay out of Nebraska. 

“The final stop on our sugar beet agri-tour is Torrington,” Gibbs said. “The mill there again was a long time coming as [the] Great Western/Holly competition dragged on for several years. The Holy Sugar Company began operation in the Torrington mill in the fall of 1926. Again, a series of false alarms and I’ll get into this a little bit deeper on the Torrington factory.”

Gibbs went on to explain news outlets frequently reported inaccurate information regarding the construction of the Torrington sugar facility. 

“They told the people here that the factory was going to be built any day now off and on for six years,” Gibbs explained. “They finally did get it but it took a while. Great Western operated the mill in Torrington after they acquired it for about 16 years. It was closed after the 2018 harvest.”

Gibbs noted his research was limited to Goshen County and the Nebraska panhandle, covering about 75 miles, east to west.

“A decade-long pursuit came to provision on October 26, 1926, when the first sugar beets were unloaded at the brand-new Holly Sugar factory in Torrington. In 1920, there were no sugar refineries in the North Platte Valley of Wyoming and most of the beets were shipped under contract to Great Western factories in western Nebraska,” Gibbs explained. “Obviously, to the movers and the shakers in the Torrington area, it seemed that this situation meant that the people of Goshen County and the surrounding area in Wyoming were shipping much of the value added to their crops to Nebraska and not getting the additional benefit that they could receive not having their own factory.”

Gibbs read through multiple newspaper headlines from the early 1900s proclaiming a sugar factory coming to Torrington. 

“Later on, this is the Goshen County Journal, ‘Three sugar factories loom for Goshen County. We feel assured that there will not only be a factory in Torrington in 1921 but there will likely be one in Lingle and another at Springer.’ Didn’t happen,” Gibbs said. “Mid-January 1923, ‘Speculation begins a new,’ a front-page article in the Telegram was headlined, ‘According to reports from Denver, Torrington is to have a $1M sugar factory.’”

Gibbs noted there were several different names used by the sugar companies over the years but he was unsure of the genealogy from one company to the next and he also spoke about the importance of the sugar beet railroad and he ended his presentation to the society with a question and answer period.  

For more information on the Goshen County Historical Society, please visit their Facebook page. Monthly meetings are held at the Platte Valley Bank on the fourth Tuesday of every month from September to May at 7 p.m.