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3 of 3 Premium Clicks used this month SUBSCRIBE Print + Online Subscriber Activation | Register x Forgot Password | Need an Account? e-edition | subscribe | newsletter | deals Home News Latest Stories Gov. Kitzhaber resigns: 'I have become a liability' Emergency services, Feb. 14 Community leaders saddened by governor's departure Successor Kate Brown must run for election in 2016 She needed time to think Crime, Courts and Emergency Services Emergency services, Feb. 14 Police arrest robbery suspects who wore underwear as masks Purple Parrot robber sentenced Busy burglar still at large in Medford Sheriff's lieutenant may face misconduct charges over ticket dismissals Politics and Elections Gov. Kitzhaber resigns: 'I have become a liability' Community leaders saddened by governor's departure Successor Kate Brown must run for election in 2016 Gov. Kitzhaber announces resignation Read Gov. 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Successor Kate Brown must run for election in 2016 ... Purple Parrot robber sentenced ... SINCE YOU ASKED Since You Asked: Medford lost out on sugar beet plant MailTribune.com Writer Posted Feb. 11, 2015 @ 12:01 am Posted Feb. 11, 2015 @ 12:01 am » Social News p bs:newslist StartDate="20121121" EndDate="p bs:datecalc Months="3"" DateSort="1" UseObjects="1" ObjectClass="81" Taxonomywords="2325,665" ExactTaxonomyMatch="1" Image="1" Count="4" --> The saga of the sugar beets that has been slowly unfolding in the 100 years ago columns has got me in high suspense. Did enough acreage ever get signed up to bring in a processing plant? Did sugar beets ever become economically viable? Who were the people signing up farmers to grow sugar beets? Please read ahead and answer my questions. — Larry S., Jacksonville   The pages of the January and February 1915 Mail Tribune contained much hyperbole in favor of efforts to bring a sugar beet factory to Southern Oregon. Unfortunately, that year's sugar saga came to a close with a Feb. 11, 1915, article, "Hope for Beet Sugar Factory Another Year."  The article noted that a soil expert determined only 210 of 2,000 acres of land proposed for beets in the Grants Pass area were deemed suitable for the crop, and the project was postponed. Volunteers at the Southern Oregon Historical Society research library helped us discover that a sugar beet factory was built a year and a half later in Grants Pass, according to a Nov. 2, 1916, clipping from the Central Point Herald newspaper announcing the factory's opening. The fact that the factory was in Grants Pass was a sore subject for Medford, and a May 26, 1920, Mail Tribune article noted that Medford Mayor C.E. Gates testified against the Utah-Idaho Beet Sugar Company and company representatives Alexander Nibley and Frank Bramwell in a Federal Trade Commission charge of unfair competition and conspiracy. "We got jipped and quit," was one of Mayor Gates' more notable quotes. It was already after the fact, though. By that 1920 article, the factory had already been relocated from Grants Pass to Toppenish, Wash. The Josephine County Historical Society informed us that the Fruitdale Grange was built on the foundation of the beet sugar factory. They also provided us with a historical piece, "The Sugar Beet Factory: From Utah to Uruguay" by Joan Momsen, which notes that the building stood for only three years, and was operational for only two. The Grants Pass plant was the only beet sugar plant built in Oregon. According to the piece, the Rogue Valley's relatively dry climate and lack of irrigation at the time prevented sugar beets from growing as large or plentifully as needed to sustain the factory. The equipment was shipped to Toppenish about 1919, and in 1925 the plant moved again to Bellingham, Wash. A new factory was built in 1937 in Toppenish. In 1941, the equipment originating in the Grants Pass plant was sold to South American sugar company Remolacheras y Azucareras Del Uruguay, Sociedad Anonima for the price of $147,500, and was installed in a facility in Esta Montes, Uruguay. Send questions to “Since You Asked,” Mail Tribune Newsroom, P.O. Box 1108, Medford, OR 97501; by fax to 541-776-4376; or by email to [email protected]. We’re sorry, but the volume of questions received prevents us from answering all of them. 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