Historical and biographical record of southern California; containing a history of southern California from its earliest settlement to the opening year of the twentieth century, Part 68

Author: Guinn, James Miller, 1834-1918
Publication date: 1902
Publisher: Chicago, Chapman pub. co.
Number of Pages: 1366

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In 1882 Mr. Bryant married Laura Sharpe, step-daughter of Reuben Hart, and of this union there are three children, Ruby, Lucile and El- wood. Mr. Bryant occupies an enviable place in the community, and is accounted one of the most worthy of those who have aided in placing

the commercial interests of Santa Maria on a firm and substantial level.

JOHN McCOY WILLIAMS. Though an unusually young man to have earned such a distinction, Mr. Williams has the reputa- tion of knowing more about the practical manu- facture of beet sugar than any man in the west, and perhaps in the country. This is not surprising when it is known that years ago he mastered every detail of a business des- tined to assume larger and more comprehen- sive proportions with every passing year, and that his brain has unceasingly striven to im- prove upon prevailing methods and enlarge the possibilities of his chosen occupation. As gen- eral superintendent of the American Beet Sugar Company's factory at Oxnard, he has dem- onstrated his ability to cope with the large re- sponsibility and the admirable system in or- ganization in connection with the handling of business so interrupted by complete change in the occupation of those employed. During a part of the season six hundred men are engaged in the full operating of the plant, requiring ex- perienced hands and many more than are often available. During the repair season, there is a dropping to less than one-sixth of the former number of employes, and during this period of four months the new crop is planted and rip- ened. The strictest economy and foresight are called for, as during the planting and ripening of the beets there is no return financially, and everything depends upon the working of the plant and the crop conditions. The factory does not stand alone in the distinction of making sugar from the beets, as the history of the busi- ness shows one-half of the making of the prod- uct is in the delivery to the factory of a beet suitable for sugar extraction, containing the highest percentage with the least amount of salts, which gives the highest purity and assists the working of the plant, depending upon well tilled and cultivated soil.

Mr. Williams has with him as a co-partner in the great field of the sugar industry, L. Hache. as general manager of the agricultural depart- ment, identified with the company's interests in California. Mr. Hache is a Frenchman, who has been with the company since the start of the industry at Chino, and has unlimited experi- ence and ability, and has succeeded in develop- ing the growth of the sugar beet, obtaining the most excellent quality for the manufacture of sugar. He is a man highly esteemed by all associated with him.

The operating season is called the "cam- paign," and rightly so, because it is one where so much depends upon the careful thought day and night of those in charge of the various de- partments, such as mechanical, operating, tech- nical department, and control, supplies and pro-

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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

duction, disposition of labor, and the official assistants, all of which during the repair season is condensed in one or two departments, the business (so to speak) putting on a different coat with more than one pocket during the operating season of the largest factory in the world, with a complete extraction process work- ing exclusively to make white crystallized sugar from the beet. To cope with the inside work- ings of such a plant requires a man of broad gauge. Associated with J. McCoy Williams in this field of work, in addition to L. Hache, is Hon. Col. J. A. Duffill, who has entire charge of buying and selling and providing for the crop which Mr. Williams works up and delivers. The distinction gained by Mr. Williams at Norfolk, Neb., and Chino, Cal., that of making first stand- ard granulated sugar continuously without re- melts, is maintained at Oxnard, and the three gentlemen spoken of identified with the largest interests of the company, have made a reputation in their various lines of work.

To fully appreciate the methods pursued and results achieved at Oxnard a personal inspec- tion is necessary. One is forced to note the close proximity of the plant to the town by the two massive smoke stacks (of seven thousand horse-power boiler house), which extend to such a height that they may be seen for miles around. The buildings are of brick and stone, iron and cement, and the huge boilers with their accom- panying machinery are truly wonderful to be- hold. Two engines of seven hundred and ninety horse-power are located respectively in the beet house and sugar department. Although the process of manufacture is simple in its story of diffusion, clarification, filtering and graining, yet one can scarcely realize the study which deter- mines the working points. You might say from day to day that some detail is changed by the complicated, varying character of the beets grown under different climatic and soil condi- tions. As these conditions vary often from year to year, there can be no set rule to determine the exact workings of such a plant, all of which requires a thorough diagnosis of the products and sound judgment to improve the work.

The further one progresses the more inter- ested one becomes in the beet-sugar culture, as opportunity is furnished to work out the tech- nical observations which many chemists have made their life study. Works on the subject are especially to be found in libraries in foreign countries. In the United States there is still great opportunity for scientific study for further developing. Sugar from sunbeams, making this lowly and plebeian beet grow to maturity which formerly basked so complacently under California's sun, is not recognized after doing its turn through the processes from beet sheds. where the wagon loads of beets are deposited by farmers handling the same with lifting nets.

They are now deposited into V shaped bins with sluice ways from where the beets are carried by water to the factory washer, there to be elevated to the top of the building, drop- ping continuously into two automatic scales, weighing one-half ton. Eighty-five tons per hour are often dropped, ton after ton consecu- tively, and the capacity of such a plant is that of two thousand tons of beets a day, and five hundred wagon loads of four tons each. This makes one continuous stream of farmers who may be seen hauling beets from all directions. The beets delivered from the scales fall on a re- volving disc in which are arranged movable boxes set very carefully with corrugated knives, the blades of which are so particularly filed to obtain very long, sharply defined strips from the bects, these strips one-quarter inch in thickness, ranging about six inches long. To understand thoroughly, one must see the process. The beet, full of cells similar to the pores of one's hands, must be sharply cut to allow the perfect process of diffusion, which is simply the sugar leaving the tissues by the continuous circulation of heated water, for the salts which are more closely bound up in the tissues diffuse last, the sugar passing out from sliced beets diffused in bulk of six tons to tank, by means of fresh water which is continually added to take the place of the sweetened water drawn off from each cell, which is freshly filled until this cell last filled becomes now exhausted and is ready to be re- filled. They have made then a complete circuit of battery, which means twelve cells full, one filling, one empty, one drawing off juice to sat- uration. No. 12 becomes finally No. I, and so on, fresh water having passed through twelve times. The sugar is then entirely exhausted, and the pulp removed is used for feeding cattle, and new slices take the places of the exhausted ones, and with the varying temperature of the battery as the water, lastly juice passes contin- ually from one cell on to the next through the reheaters, one can readily understand how this is correctly named the "pilot house" of the proc- ess.

Much depends upon the complete extraction of the sugar with a minimum amount of loss and as little salts as possible, which is entirely con- trolled by the condition of the knives and the well-regulated temperature of the battery. The juice. is then drawn off to the saturation, where it is limed at once and carbonic acid precipi- tates the carbonated lime, and separation of the lime from the clear juice takes place in the filter presses, where the juice runs through the jute cloths placed over a closed frame with perfora- tions to allow the juice (after passing through the pores) to flow separate from the lime into the next process. the lime remaining in the open frame, held back by the cloth. The juice is now in a clear amher state, ready for the second

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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

defecation, with lime and a more complete filtra- tion through the fine pores of duck filter cloth. From this point the juice is brought through the sulphur shower, which brings the juice down to the required lime alkalinity, which it has been carrying in excess on account of the thorough saturating for defecating and com- plete filtration, and before the juice goes to the evaporator, where it is brought to a heavier density, and from there to the vacuum pans, where graining takes place. The juice has to be very clearly filtered and brought to almost neu- trality. At this point, after graining, the juice (in the form of fillmass) (better understood as crystals surrounded by adhering syrups) must now be separated by centrifugal force, and the machines running eleven hundred revolutions per minute throw the syrup out through the per- forations of the screen, showing almost instantly the clearing up of the dark mass to a light amber color, with the addition of a watering pot full of water thus giving a clear white sugar. The syrups, having left the mass, are taken back and treated and again enter the process, being made into one standard granulated sugar, of which we find the granulators take a prominent part in the drying of the sugar. They are arranged so as to have a current of hot air passing through the cylinder as the sugar falls back and forth in a cloud like a heavy snow storm. It dries each crystal separate and sparkling, and reaches the sacks perfectly cool and ready for use. From five to seven thousand bags of granulated sugar, of one hundred pounds each, are turned out daily.

The average person, whose relation to the beet-sugar industry is only indirect, does not realize the intense life, the eternal vigilance and careful planning required in every department. The product of Chino demonstrated that beet sugar can be made equal to the standard of re- fined cane. The success at Oxnard has been even more pronounced, and experts have failed to distinguish between the Oxnard beet sugar and the standard quality of refined cane.

The factory is now consuming from fifteen hundred to two thousand tons of beets daily. This depends upon the richness of the beets, the standard being that of two thousand tons for a fifteen per cent beet. For each increase in percentage means one hundred tons less than the standard capacity, and at one time has worked as many as twenty-four hundred tons of beets daily, and is now turning out several hundred bags of dry granulated per day above the stated capacity reached at the sugar end of five thousand bags. This is eminently satis- factory to the men who have built up the in- dustry, but it is no less so to the men who look after the details, and who are held responsible for the successful operation of the plant. The personal satisfaction that comes from a contract

well filled belongs to many men at the factory, who have counted the labor of days and nights as nothing if success could be achieved.

With the commencing of sugar making in 1902, B. O. Sprague assumed the duties of first assistant superintendent under J. McCoy Wil- liams, the post held by Mr. Arendt, now super- intendent at Loveland, Colo. Mr. Sprague will have active charge of the day working of the factory, and outline the work in general for the entire operating of the plant under direction of J. McCoy Williams, whose position is becoming more general as the many departments of the plant demand attention in their increased pro- portion and call for strict economy as the policy of one of the largest, if not the largest, estab- lishiments of its kind in the world. Mr. Sprague has been with the company here since the build- ing of the factory. He is a nephew of H. T. Oxnard, and has always been identified with the sugar business. Mr. Sprague understands his work thoroughly and has the confidence of his superiors. He has earned his promotion by at- tention to business at whatever post he has been assigned, which means at practically every sta- tion in the big mill.

W. J. Wayte, an engineer of renown and abil- ity, has recently entered the employ of the American Beet Sugar Company as consult- ing engineer. The superintendents in charge of operating, and Engineer J. Sailer, of long practical experience at Chino and Oxnard, make a strong combination of earnest and faith- ful workers in the operating department.

In regard to Mr. Williams and his connection with the beet-sugar industry, we quote the fol- lowing from the Chino Valley Champion.

"The fact that sugar of standard quality can be made from heeta regardless of the nurity of the juices is one thing that prior to this year (1899) has been a disputed point. Those who are familiar with the work of the last campaign at the factory In Chino, however, know it to be a verity. This result is the outcome of the technical efforts of Superintendent J. McCoy Williams. To the scientific sugar world this means an in- creased yield, as the success of working lower products into first quality of granulated sugar has not been accomplished before in the states, and possibly auch success for a whole campaign, without making part of the syrups into raw sugar, is unknown in the sugar world. By this means the factory operates without unknown losses, and may still place on the market direct granulated sugar, all of a superior grade. * * * We take pleasure in congratulating Mr. Williams, an Ameri- can superintendent, on having perfected the new system of treating the juices in process, which we understand differa technically in many details from any ever before used. Mr. Williams is a liberal thinker, active in all departments, and especially popular among the workingmen, who highly esteem his fair treatment."

John McCoy Williams was born in Brooklyn, N. Y., in 1870, a son of Edward F. and Ella M. (Miller) Williams, natives of Providence, R. I. For many years his father was interested in the wholesale woolen business, and was associ- ated with the firms of A. L. Libby & Co., A. D. Julyard & Co., and Catlin & Co., being in charge of their mills from time to time. Since his deatlı, which occurred in 1899, his wife has con- tinued to live in Brooklyn. Hc was a descend-

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ant of Roger Williams, the founder of Provi- dence plantation, now known as the state of Rhode Island. By him the religious liberty which now characterizes the American people was advocated in all of its fullness, and for this benefit to the human race his name deserves to be held in everlasting remembrance. He pre- ferred religious liberty among the wilds of America to absolute submission to the cere- monies of the English church as then pre- scribed by law. Accompanied by his wife, he sailed from Bristol, England, and after a voyage of sixty days arrived at Boston, February 5, 1631. He died in Providence in 1683. Integ- rity, undaunted courage and prompt decision marked all his conduct. Every man, of what- ever clime or color, he regarded as a brother. In all the relations of domestic and social life, his conduct was most exemplary; and over his whole course his piety shed a hallowed luster. He was the first person in modern Christendom to assert in its plenitude the doctrine of the liberty of the conscience and the equality of opinions before the law. Borrowing the rhet- oric employed by his antagonist in derision, we may compare him to the lark, the pleasant bird of the peaceful summer, that, "affecting to soar aloft, springs upward from the ground, takes his rise from pole to tree," and at last, surmount- ing the highest hills, utters his clear carols through the skies of morning.

Daniel, son of Roger Williams, married Re- becca Power, by whom he had seven children. Among them was Pelig, Sr., who had seven chil- dren by his marriage to Elizabeth Carpenter. Pelig, Jr., had eight children by his wife, Mary Sheldon. The next generation was represented by Caleb Williams, who married Rachel Barton. Their son, Edward Sheldon Williams, married Susan Foster, and had five children, among them being Edward Foster Williams, who mar- ried Ella Eudora Miller, and had five children. Of the seventh generation, Edward Foster Wil- liams was in late life the closest if not the only direct male descendant living, and he has left the three sons, also one grandson, Roger Wil- liams, the latter representing the ninth genera- tion from the original founder in America.

Not only is John McCoy Williams a direct descendant of Roger Williams through his father, but also on his mother's side. The May- flower brought over some of his maternal ances- tors, and later history recorded the arrival of the ship Lyon with Roger Williams and his fol- lowers, seeking freedom of thought, which is a characteristic of the states to-day. The young- est son of Roger Williams was Joseph, who married Lydia, daughter of Thomas Olney, Sr. Their son, Joseph, Jr., married Lydia Harring- ton. The next generation was represented by Jeremiah, who married Abigail Mathewson. Jo- seph, son of Jeremiah, married Hannah Paine

and had four children, viz: Hannah, Mrs. Wil- liam Woodward; Mrs. Rebecca Alger; Mrs. Sally Miller, and Joseph. Mrs. Sally Miller had seven children, namely: Pardon, Joseph W., Edward Franklin, Sampson, Ephraim, Barton and Cornelius. Edward Franklin Miller and Louisa Hitchcock had nine children, viz .: Henry Franklin, who married Frances Virginia Child; Luke Hitchcock, who married Caroline Amelia Whipple; Edward Franklin, who married Fran- ces Caroline Starkweather; Charlotte Hitch- cock, who died young; Charlotte Hitchcock (the second of that name), who married Oren Aldrich Ballou; Louisa, who became the wife of Sylvanus Tingley; George Washington, whose first wife was Harriet Ada Perkins, and his sec- ond Caroline Eliza Harlowe; Lewis Jencks, who married Jennie McDonald; and Ella Eu- dora, who became the wife of Edward Foster Williams. To the marriage of Edward F. and Ella E. Williams there were born five children, viz .: Edward Miller, who died young; John McCoy, of Oxnard, Cal .; Augustus Libby, Roger and Louise Miller. Of these children the second son, John McC., married Lilian Cuthbert Hamilton, by whom he has a son, Roger, who represents the ninth generation of the family in America, on the father's side, and the tenth generation on the mother's side.

John McCoy Williams was educated at the Summit Military Academy and High School of Boston, after which he took a special course in Harvard College, preparing himself for his life work and study. He entered the employ of the American Beet Sugar Company at Norfolk, Neb., first as chemist and later as foreman, graduating through the various departments of their plant until he became superintendent. From there he was transferred to Chino, Cal., as superintendent. When the factory at Ox- nard entered upon its second season he assumed its supervision. He has now entire charge of everything connected with the manufacturing department of the establishment, and has taken a prominent part in the general organization and affairs of the company. Endowed with in- herited determination and decision, he has had . opportunity to develop the same and has aided in the general development of the beet-sugar in- dustry through many channels. Fair treatment and a wide knowledge of human nature have won for him the friendship of the many who are mutually interested with him in the success of the business, and a feeling of kindliness and good-will pervades all departments of the giant concern. His discernment has suggested many improvements in the construction of the factory. over those formerly employed at Norfolk, Neb., and Chino, Cal. As previously mentioned, he was the first man in the United States to suc- cessfully produce white sugar by perfecting and treating the lower products and mixing back to

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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

obtain one standard of sugar; and was the first successful, if not the first superintendent in the United States.

The wife of John McCoy Williams was Lilian Cuthbert Hamilton, of New York, daughter of James G. Hamilton, who has been a prominent member of the Stock Exchange for the last twenty years, and, with his brother, C. K. Ham- ilton, was an original promoter of the beet- sugar industry. They were direct descendants of a great historical family of English and Scot- tish origin, dating as far back as the Earl of Leicester, 1190, a family of strong character, determination and integrity; and on the mother's side the well-known Virginia family of Cuthberts, much beloved and esteemed. The Hamilton brothers formed a connection with the Oxnards, who were identified with sugar- making in the east in the early days of the Ful- ton refinery in Brooklyn. The latter, with their wide and varied experience of years in the sugar business, together with Hamilton, made a com- bination of experience and capital, with the sup- port of the Messrs. Cutting, of New York, men of financial standing and broad and liberal backers. Henry T. Oxnard and James G. Ham- ilton have held very prominent positions in the political world in protecting the industry, and are conspicuously identified with the American Beet Sugar Association of the United States and especially the California interests. Their efforts have been recognized and they will long be honored as pioneers of a most important in- dustry. As a result of their labors, the Norfolk plant was followed by the building of the Grand Island factory in 1890, the Chino factory in 1890, Oxnard in 1898, and Rocky Ford, Colo., in 1900. Two years ago the consolidation of these factories took place and the American Beet Sugar Company was formed. With just protection, they will continue to build factories and enrich communities, of which we need no better example than is furnished by Oxnard, Cal. Mr. Hamilton, although not identified with the immediate course of operating, is secretary of the American Beet Sugar Company and a stockholder in the same. His son, Ernest C. Hamilton, superintendent of Chino, and son-in- law, J. McCoy Williams, superintendent of Ox- nard, are both in official capacities as directing the affairs of the works in California. Augustus L. Williams, a brother of J. McCoy, was born in Summit, N. J., and educated in Stevens College, and is now one of the assistant superintendents at Oxnard. In 1900 he married Elsie Griswold Ely, of Brooklyn, N. Y., member of the promi- nent old Ely family of Connecticut. A younger brother, Roger Williams, is connected with the industry at Loveland, Colo., and married Miss Edith Woodruff, daughter of Colonel Woodruff, of San Francisco, formerly located on Gov- ernor's Island, New York. A sister, Louise M.

Williams, possessing great personality of char- acter, is prominently recognized in society cir- cles in Boston and New York, and is interested in the orders of Colonial Daines and Daughters of the American Revolution.

There is one grandson, Roger Williams, son of J. McCoy Williams.

L. HACHE. The succulent beet has long held its own as an important member of the vegetable kingdom, and as a sugar producer its claims for recognition are of long standing, but it has remained for Southern California to de- velop to the full the really valuable sweetness of this particular growth, and to place its merits substantially before the world. That any one man should devote his entire time for ten years or more to the study of any one vegetable, to exhaustively inquire into its habits, the soil in which it is best fostered and grown to maturity, and the cultivation requisite for its best inter- ests, would strike the unthinking as odd Yet so great is the demand for sugar production, and so great the care required for proper devel- opment, that the once humble beet may be said to now be the aristocrat among its fellows and to have withdrawn into an exclusiveness remote from its plebeian former associates, the onion, parsnip and others in the same grade of vegeta- ble society.

If an authority on beets exists in the country, it is embodied in Mr. Hache, who devotes his entire time to a study of the peculiarities and possibilities of the beet. For ten years this ear- nest student has been superintendent of the agri- cultural department of the American Beet Sugar Company, at Grand Island, Oxnard and Chino, with headquarters at Oxnard. He carefully ob- serves the methods adopted by the beet farmers of the localities, and has under him four assist- ants, or field men, whose duty it is to report weekly concerning the prevailing conditions. In turn Mr. Hache reports to the head office in San Francisco, and thus 10 lax methods are allowed to creep in, and improvement rather than deterioration is the result. The com- pany owns three thousand acres of land at Oxnard alone, one-third of which is planted in beets.

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Historical and biographical record of southern California; containing a history of southern California from its earliest settlement to the opening year of the twentieth century, Part 68

Author: Guinn, James Miller, 1834-1918 Publication date: 1902 Publisher: Chicago, Chapman pub. co. Number of Pages: 1366

Author: Guinn, James Miller, 1834-1918
Publication date: 1902
Publisher: Chicago, Chapman pub. co.
Number of Pages: 1366