USA > Nebraska > Hall County > History of Hall County, Nebraska > Part 35
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In 1876 a committee of three was appointed, Seth P. Mobley, W. B. Larrabee and Eli A. Barnes, to locate fair grounds. The north- west quarter of Section 16 at $16 per acre was purchased from Daniel Morgan, admin- istrator of the Chapman estate. Ten acres of this tract were fenced in and otherwise im- proved, and in the fall a successful fair re- warded the energy of the officers of the society.
Prior to the fall of 1889 Hall County sent seven exhibits to the State Fair, the first two exhibits being taken from the county fair by Peter Harrison and Seth P. Mobley. For the three succeeding years the county took first prize at Omaha, and won the champion medal, thereafter held by the Hall County society.
The only exhibit made at the State Fair in the five years ending September, 1889, was that at Lincoln in 1887, when the first prem- ium fell once more to Hall County. In 1884 Hall County had a leading exhibit at the State Fair. Then John S. Donaldson took a first prize for corn on the stalk; E. A. Park, for wheat in the straw; Jacob Shoe- maker, for rye; Z. H. Denman, for an eight- year honey locust, seven inches through, nine feet from base; William Powell, of Alda, for a cottonwood, planted twenty-one years be- fore, measuring twenty-one inches nine feet from base, and William Stolley presented fruit trees and the latter thirty-one varieties of grapes.
In 1889 the society sold forty acres of their purchase of 1887 to Marsh & Lannigan, for $22,750.34, and then purchased 160 acres adjoining the city, on the west, from Patrick Touhy, paying him $16,000 therefor.
The office of president was held by Peter Harrison, 1874-78; Fred Roby, 1879-80; Eli Digitized by
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A. Barnes, 1881-85; Martin Ennis, 1886; H. J. Palmer, 1887, and G. H. Denman, 1888-9; at the latter's death, he was suc- ceeded by D. F. Jamieson.
The secretaries of the society were Seth P. Mobley, Eli A. Barnes, Frank Sears, D. H. Vantine, H. A. Edwards, and Ed Searson. The treasurers were William Stolley, James Baldwin, George Cornelius, Ed Searson, Ed. Hooper, Z. H. Denman, and S. J. Bateman.
THE STATE FAIR PROPOSITION
Early in September, 1889, the fact that the State Board of Agriculture had advertised, at large, for the selection of a location for the State Fair during the ensuing five years brought forth the appointment by Mayor Platt, of Grand Island, of a committee of fifty-four to take measures to secure to Grand Island such fair. A deputation from the com- mittee attended the meeting of the state board at Lincoln, January 21, 1890. At that time, Omaha, Lincoln, Grand Island, Kearney, Columbus, Long Pine, and Hastings bid for the fair for the ensuing five years. Grand Island offered to construct the art and me- morial halls of stone and brick, while Co- lumbus offered to provide buildings which would accommodate 50,000 persons. On the first ballot Lincoln lead, and on the second received a majority of the votes. Both Hast- ings and Grand Island made a strong and nervy fight, but the prestige and diplomacy of the capital won the prize.
William H. Harrison continued as president of the Agricultural Association during the early 'nineties, and Eli A. Barnes was sec- retary for several years.
ASSOCIATION REORGANIZED
After a lapse of a number of years, the Association was rejunevated in 1914, with L. G. Lawson as president, and A. M. Con- ners, secretary. A very successful fair was held in 1914 and again in 1915 and each suc- ceeding year. In 1918 an effort was made to have the county purchase the grounds at a reasonable price named by the Association. It carried by such a close margin at the No-
vember election, that a compromise was reached with the county board by the ad- herents of the proposition, and at a special election in March, 1919, the proposition was emphatically voted down. Thereupon the association decided to hold a fair in 1919, along the usual procedure.
THE BEET SUGAR INDUSTRY
With Grand Island possessing the first beet- sugar factory constructed and operated in the United States, the origin and development of the sugar beet industry has become of un- usual local interest in Hall County's history. This story is set out in an interesting way in a volume of biographical and historical me- moirs of Nebraska, published in 1890,1 in which Hall County early history is treated, and wherein Prof. Lassen treated the sugar beet industry as follows :
Margraff demonstrated 140 years ago that there was sugar in the beets; and the total product of France and Germany in the last helf century alone demonstrated its value. The reflecting reader. who sees nothing in Napol- eon save that of the great military leader, has failed to note the early, substantial en- couragement that he gave the beet sugar in- dustry in France, which in turn gave it greater impetus and success in Germany, albeit there were three factories in Germany as early as 1805, but the warlike situation was not favora- ble for such an enterprise. Very soon, how- ever, Napoleon issued his famous decrees shutting out all English goods and material. which, if the effect was to raise the price of sugar, ruined the French wine trade and com- pelled the French to look for ways and means to dispose profitably of their grape crops and obtain a supply of sugar. In 1810 he gave two experimenters $28,000 for discovering grape sugar; the amount to be expended in the erection of factories. Soon after this Napoleon gave $40,000 to twelve grape sugar factories by way of bounty or special en- couragement. In 1811 he decreed that 79,000 acres should be planted to beets, and he es- tablished six experimental stations to give in- struction in the beet sugar industry, ordering that all farmers who desired attend lectures given there might do so free of charge, and the sum of $200,000 was set apart to pay the expense. In 1812 he established four
1 .Goodspeed's History (Hall County)
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special beet-root sugar schools, directing that 100 students be attached thereto. In addition and by way of special enrouragement, he ordered to be granted 500 licenses for beet sugar production, to run to proprietors of factories and to manufacturers of sugar from beets; and those who made a ton of raw sugar were to be exempt from tax on their product for four years. In 1812 he directed the erection of four imperial beet sugar fac- tories to produce 2,100 tons. During this time Germany was not idle. The king of Prussia gave Archard, a pupil of Margraff, a good sum of money to establish a school or factory for instruction in beet sugar pro- duction, and from this school Russia drew her practical knowledge of the work, and the Czar gave $39,000 and exempted all land of those who built beet sugar factories from tax. At least one great discoverer and ex- perimenter in this field, in Germany and France, was offered $100,000 if he would de- clare that his supposed discovery was a fail- ure, but it did not attract him. The Napol- eonic wars destroyed this great industry in Russia, Germany, and finally in France - after Napoleon had appropriated millions of dollars to give it a substantial footing. It did not rise again in France until 1825-26, nor in Germany until 1835. From that time forward both France and Germany, as well as Russia, Austria and Belgium, have put forth great efforts to extend the production of beet sugar, both by bounties and by draw- backs on exported sugar from beets, as well as a tariff on imported sugar. The stimulants offered resulted in such a measure of suc- cess in France, that in 1839, a special tax of 15 francs on every 220 pounds of raw sugar was imposed. This operated harshly, and the product fell off over one-half. New laws more liberal were passed from time to time, a tax going hand in hand generally with bounties and drawbacks, until, in 1878, France collected as tax, on sugar made in that coun- try, upward of $22,000,000. This, in brief, is only a part of the early history of beet sugar production in France; and Germany as a matter of economic policy, followed in swift pursuit. Such was the development of the industry that in 1883-84 there were 2.000,000 acres devoted to the production of the sugar beet in France, Germany, Austria- Hungary, Russia, Poland, Belgium, and Hol- land; and the aggregate beet sugar product, leaving out Russia and Holland, was 1,485,000 tons with 1,242 factories. At that time Ger- many nad outstripped her great rival, France, bec use of her liberality and superior knowl-
edge of the subject. So great was the quan- tity of beet sugar produced in 1883, that there was a temporary glut of it in the Eng- lish market, inducing some farmers to ask a change in the laws, while others resorted to less acreage to reduce the surplus; mean- time our people are paying from 6 to 9 cents for their sugar, entailing an expense to our population annually of over $75,000,000, the great part of the raw material of which goes abroad for refineries from Cuba ; 240,000,000 of pounds imported by us in 1887 coming from England, Germany, France, Austria, Belgium and the Netherlands. Consul-Gen- eral Walker says on the point, "It is to be noted that the sugar production of Germany has been stimulated by heavy protective duties and by bounties on export sugar, and the French tariff act of 1884 was a step toward adopting the policy of which her great rival, France, had found so effective.
To show the effect of these laws, it seems only necessary to say that while the acreage in beets in Germany, in 1870, was 282,500, in 1883 it was 352,100, and tons of sugar pro- duced in 1879 were 2,850,000, while in 1883 it was 4,205,000 tons.
Even in the 'seventies numerous citizens of Hall County who knew first hand of the development and growth of the beet sugar industry as outlined in the foregoing historical review of that industry, agitated the establish- ment of such a factory in this country. In February, 1873, there was published in the Independent a description of the beet sugar industry in Europe, and some reference to the growth of beets in Nebraska was made, but not until 1887 was there any practical ac- tion taken in the matter.
In 1887 the citizens of Hall County who were contending the practicability and feasi- bility of instituting the beet sugar industry in Nebraska, then went about it in a thorough and satisfactory manner to test out their theory. They had the soil of various sections of this and adjoining counties analyzed, and the analysis demonstrated its adaptability to the culture of sugar beets; but they did not stop there, but imported seed from France and Germany, and many planted beets in various sections of the county in the season of 1888, and had these beets carefully analyzed at Lincoln, at Washington, and at other points,
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which tests were very satisfactory. Think- and a lime house, beet sheds, and an entire ing that the season of 1888 might have been system of smaller buildings. an exceptionally favorable season, seed was again imported and planted upon a still more extensive scale in 1889, and an expert chemist, familiar with the culture and manufacture as well as with analysis of the sugar beet, was brought here from Germany, to oversee the planting, culture, and growth of the beet, as well as to examine the character of the soil and attend to the analysis of the beets, etc. These tests showed still more satis- factory results, the percentage of saccharine matter reaching eighteen per cent.
LOCATING THE FACTORY
The subject of location of a beet-sugar factory at Grand Island was considered prac- tically in November, 1889, when the leading citizens decided to raise $100,000, and did raise about $60,000 before the question was formally submitted to the people. The sub- scriptions were voluntary, and ranged from $100 to $1,000 each, and in the aggregate amounted to $100,000, while the capital stock of the beet sugar company was fixed at $1,000,000.
Difficult as was the task of enlisting gentle- men with the necessary capital to take hold of the enterprise and build the factory and promote the raising of enough beets to main- tain the factory's operations, the energy and stick-to-itiveness of the Grand Island boosters won out. On Friday, December 6, 1889, the contracts were signed, sealed, and delivered which located in this city the mammoth sugar- beet factory, starting out with a capital of $1,000,000, and 5,000 acres of land to be devoted exclusively to the culture of sugar beets. On Saturday, December 7, 1889, the site for the buildings was selected, and on Monday, December 9, ground was broken and work commenced. The dimensions of the principal factory building are ; length 292 feet, width eighty-five feet; height, four stories, fifty feet. The structure is built of stone, iron, and brick, in such a substantial manner that it can stand indefinitely. Apart from that building are the boiler house, engine house,
The site selected for these buildings com- prised fifty acres, and was taken off the east, ends of two tracts of land, one belonging then to the United States Investment Com- pany, and one to Messrs. Thummel & Platt, situated along the west side of the St. Joseph & Grand Island railroad, and extending north to the old Union Pacific stock yards, thus touching both the Union Pacific and St. Joseph and Grand Island tracks. Various res- idence additions have built out to the line of the factory premises and thus the factory, while almost two miles from the post-office, is right at the edge of the city.
During the week of January 20, 1890, the street car line was extended to the factory grounds, but that has long since been aband- oned. But now paving and good roads reach out to the factory and it is an accessible part of the city.
HALL COUNTY FARM BUREAU
In 1918 there was a great revival of interest in organized farm work. One of the first manifestations of the spirit of organized co- operative effort on the part of the farmers was the formation of the Hall County Farm Bureau on May 3, 1918. This organization was composed of several hundred farmers who signed a call and a pledge to work to- gether in an organized manner. The officers chosen were: Leo. B. Stuhr, president ; Henry Rouse, secretary; W. L. Yates, of Martin township, treasurer; other members of the ex- ecutive committee, Miles Rainforth, South Platte; D. O. Dodge, Harrison; Clarence H. Wiese, Alda, and J. J. Lorentzen, Lake. These with the following named constituted the gen- eral board of directors: Wm. Foster, Doni- phan township; Clarence Cox, Martin; A. E. Hauke, Jackson; Everett Meith, Cameron; Verne Rouse, Wood River; Earl Mechan, Center; Hans H. Gulzow, Washington ; Ivan K. Veeder, South Loup; E. M. Alford, May- field ; Wm. Fagan, Prairie Creek.
After this organization was perfected a county agent was selected. The first county
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agent for Hall County was James R. White. Mr. White was reared in Michigan and grad- uated from the agricultural college in that state, and after experience in Arizona and Iowa came to Hall County. The county agent's office has proved to be a clearing house for a great many miscellaneous matters, a great deal on the same plan as the office of a live secretary of the Commercial Club does for the commercial and industrial interests of the town. Employment of transient and floating labor during the harvest season has been handled through this bureau, and if fees at the regular rates of employment bureaus had been paid by either the laborers or em- ployers that sum alone would almost have equalled the expense of the office. The matter of securing serum for hog cholera prevention purposes at a margin above its actual cost price simply wide enough to pay for handling it has been an item of saving a great deal of money to farms; farm crop surveys; reciept and dissemination from the State Extension department and federal Department of Agri- culture and passing it to the farmers upon special and definite inquiries, in other words acting as a clearing house between the in- dividual farmers and those agencies of the state and federal government has been a big factor in the work of this office.
This office has secured the services of dem- onstrators from the state department along agricultural, horticultural, and poultry lines at a consistent frequency. These are only a few of the many lines of work handled in this office.
At the 1919 session of the legislature a new law relating to maintenance of county farm bureaus and appropriations to that end by county boards was passed, and for purpose of complying with all conditions of that law, a second Hall County Farm Bureau was
Men interested in retaining County Agent J. R. White in Hall County and maintaining farm bureau organization to carry on county igent work, met in the office of Mr. White
in the court house Saturday afternoon. Charles Taylor presided as temporary chair- man and E. E. Hauke as temporary secretary. All were men who had petitioned the county supervisors to make an appropriation to carry ony county agent activities.
The Hall County Farm Bureau was organ- ized, succeeding the old bureau which went by the same name. The membership was listed as 501, the total number of petitioners. Officers elected were Hans Gulzow, president ; D. O. Dodge, vice-president; William Yates, treasurer; Henry Rouse, secretary. Other directors chosen are J. J. Lorentzen, E. T. N. Alford and Charles Taylor. A constitution and by-laws was adopted.
The petitions addressed to the county super- visors were filed Monday with the clerk. These petitions have been circulated since July 19 and all organization work has been completed since the new state law went into effect.
W. H. Brokaw of Lincoln, director of ex- tension work, was present and examined the records of the new bureau. He then gave the bureau a certificate of recognition as the official farm bureau of this county.
A meeting of the executive board was held after the organization session and J. R. White was employed as county agent. A budget was made out to be filed with the petitions Mon- day. The total sum asked is $1,478.06 for the period from July 28 to January 15, 1920. The new law says the amount appropriated shall not exceed a one mill levy and shall not be more in money than $5,000. The amount asked here is about one-third of a mill. The District Court (Judge B. H. Paine) in Sep- tember, 1919, upheld the constitutionality of this law and by order of mandamus directed the County Board to comply therewith but they see fit to carry the matter to the Supreme Court for review.
FARMERS' UNIONS
Within the past few years a very strong line of organization of the farmers of the state has been the work accomplished by the Farmers' Educational and Cooperative State organized and succeeded the first. The news .. ' Union of Nebraska, generally spoken of as paper account of the organization of the sec- ond bureau in August, 1919, reads :
"The Farmers' Union." This oranization has grown to a membership of a great many thou- sands throughout the state and a great many cooperative stores, elevators, and lumber and coal yards are being operated by the local unions.
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The officers of the state union are C. H. Gustafson, president ; J. M. Burdick, Norfolk, vice-president; L. M. Koch, secretary-treas- urer; directors : John Havekost, Hooper; H. D. Lute, Humboldt; Ben L. Peters, Albion ; H. G. Keeney, Cowles; A. K. Frost, Plain- view; A. L. Ulstrom, Memphis.
Prior to the summer of 1919, eight locals had been organized in Hall County, with the following officers and membership:
Local
No. Name
Secretary
Address
887 Harmony
Aug. Schimmer
Grand Island
920 Lake
Fred Moeller
Grand Island
1020 Sand Krog
J. M. Hanssen
Grand Island Doniphan
1040 Fairview
Will H. Foster
1041 Prairie Creek G. C. Geisenhagen Grand Island
1071 Center
D. L. Engleman
Grand Island
1092 Island
Wm. Bueltner
Grand Island Abbott
1320 Abbott
A. Jepson
No. of Members No. of When Members Organized Now
Date of Organization
16
58
920
April
27, 1916
15
39
1020
Dec.
15, 1916
19
52
1040
Jan.
31, 1917
18
1041
Feb.
6, 1917
15
19
1071
Mar.
8, 1917
15
14
1092
Apr.
4, 1917
15
29
1320
Jan.
7, 1919
17
27
ELEVATOR ENTERPRISES
The following newspaper account of the meeting for organizing a cooperative elevator, and perhaps coal and lumber yard, at Grand Island describes the manner and zeal with which this enterprise is approached by the farmers.
The account of a meeting held May 9, 1919, follows :
Organization of one of the largest farmers' cooperative elevator associations in Nebraska was completed Friday night when 100 farm- ers met in the court house, ratified the con- stitution and by-laws of the organization and paid in about $17,000 to the treasurer. The new association is known as the Farmers' Educational & Cooperative Union of Ne- braska.
Some idea of the strength of this associa- tion may be gained from the knowledge that it comprises seven farmers' union locals lying around this city. These locals are the Lake local, Prairie Creek local, Sand Krog local, Pleasant Ridge local, Center local, Harmony local and the Island local.
John Schimmer has been chosen president of the cooperative union and Robert Niemoth is secretary. W. A. Hagge was elected one of the directors and also was made treasurer. Directors were named by choosing one man from each local union as follows: Lake, August Stoldt; Prairie Creek, Emil Wegner; Sand Krog, John Schimmer; Pleasant Ridge, Robert Niemoth; Center, J. M. Black; Harm- ony, August Schimmer; Island no director. The Island local did not wish to put a director on the board.
The committee which has been working on the cooperative union for two years co- operated with County Agent White in getting Mr. Filley here from the state farm to assist in organizing.
The object of the new association is to buy, sell, store, ship and handle grain, grain pro- ducts and farm necessities. The capital stock is $60,000 with $20,000 paid in. Each share has a par value of $100. Only persons be- longing to one of the seven farmers' unions can join the association and no one may hold more than five shares of stock.
The first meeting was held Tuesday night with 120 present, at the court house.
The board of directors is now arranging for a proper site on which to build a ware- house and elevator, and is seeking a manager for the elevator.
Mr. Filley stated that this association is the second largest he has helped organize in the state.
Each local will still exist in its own locality. Two years ago the locals interested in this association appointed a committee to get ac- tion on reorganization, but the war prevented completion of their plans.
This is the second cooperative elevator as- sociation formed in Hall County this season. Wood River organized one about three weeks ago. Doniphan has three cooperative ele- vators, the newest one being formed last year. "This association may help prices for the farmers' products and for his purchases at the place where they belong," remarked one of the men interested in the organization.
It is understood the association hopes in the future to do much cooperative buying and selling along general lines. It is expected the ·strength of the association will give it a chance to make big wholesale purchases of coal. lumber, groceries, farm implements, and other necessities.
Another cooperative association is in pros- pect at Abbott. The local union there has applied to the county agent to get state help
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in forming an association on Tuesday night. If any other towns in the county wish co- operation with the county agent in the same work, it will be furnished, Mr. White stated.
The stockholders who signed the articles of incorporation of The Farmers Educational and Cooperative Union of Grand Island were John Schimmer, J. M. Black, Robert Niemoth, August Stoldt, August Schimmer, Emil Wagner, J. . M. Hanssen, Otto Guenther, Arthur Roby, Hans H. Gulzow, Fred J. Hagge, Henry Frauen, Walter Scherzberg, Fred Moeller, C. R. Culbertson, Henry C. J. Stolle, A. J. Niemoth, Albert Gosda, Ernest Ostermeier, Emil Hann, D. L. Engleman, Henry Knuth, B. C. Newtson, Fred A. Buch- finck, Henry Buettner, H. W. Bockbrader, Gustav Roby, William Heesch, Henry Krohn, Fred H. Gosda, J. W. Rathban, Ernest Mat- thiesen, Richard Gosda, Nicholas Kaufman, H. C. Busboom, C. Hongsemeier, E. F. Nie- moth, Chris Niemoth, Wm. F. Langenneder, August Langenneder, Fred Stoltenberg, Wil- liam Blaise, Fred Schoel, Henry Ewaldt, Reinhard Kunze, Wm. Vogel, Wm. N. Gul- zow, Elmer Gosda, P. Sanders, August Rener, John Falldorf, Wm. Niedfeldt, Wm. J. Rief, Dick Niedfelt, John Schuller, Wm. H. Bu- ttner, John Baasch, Charles Muller, G. C. Heine, T. W. Heine, Jacob Shipman, Ed Stuhr, Julius Mathiesen and Wm. Wrage. A site has been secured for elevator on West Front street.
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