Remnants of history are often sprinkled throughout a community, coming to light when some type of major change occurs. That is certainly true of the 1920s era 2-horse John Deere No. 23 riding beet lifter that occupies one corner of The Barns Museum in Marcus, Iowa. Museum owner J.R. Pearson acquired the implement when the Ottomar Leckband family of Ocheydan, Iowa, sold it on a farm sale.
“Dad was an ingenious person all his life,” Ottomar’s 89-year-old son Larry says. “When farmers here decided to try and raise sugar beets in the 1920s, Dad was among them and agreed to buy the lifter.”
In the early 1900s, beets were a new crop in Iowa, where corn, oats, clover and soybeans had long ruled the state’s fertile fields. Since 1920s beet profits exceeded those of more traditional crops, initial investments were reasonable and demand for sugar was strong across the nation, numerous farmers signed contracts with Iowa Valley Sugar Co. in Belmond, Iowa.
A one-time wonder
The Leckband family says Ottomar was quick to harvest his own beet crop, then rent the lifter out to neighbors, which more than covered the purchase price. But everything about raising beets was new to these farmers, and some aspects of the process challenged established mindsets.
“After two years of raising beets, farmers weren’t seeing a profit and went back to raising corn,” Larry says. “This lifter was only used one season before it was tucked away in an old grain storage building.”
The design of that building included a drive-through alleyway where grain-filled wagons were once parked as grain was scooped by hand into the bin. “At the time Dad bought this lifter, most grain bins had an upstairs area where it was common to store things like this,” Larry says. “They hoisted it up and put it away. We didn’t realize it was even there until the roof on that building got so bad, we needed to tear it down.”
After removing the sugar beet lifter from its longtime home, Larry kept it inside a shed on his farm. Since the implement was inside for nearly all of the past century, it still looks like new, complete with original paint.
Before selling the lifter, Larry displayed it at Iowa’s Clay County Fair (known as the largest county fair in Iowa) in nearby Spencer. “We offered a three-piece chicken dinner to anyone who could identify the implement,” he says. “No one knew what it was, and maybe that was for the best. The dinner was three kernels of corn: Dinner for your chicken.”
Enthusiastic reception for cash crop
While Larry was too young to absorb many details about his father’s beet-growing experience, the historical society in Belmond (where a beet refinery was built), as well as the agricultural publication Wallaces Farmer and other published accounts have preserved detailed history about the short-lived venture in northwest Iowa.
Larry recalls hearing stories about someone who came to his community in the 1920s to encourage farmers to try growing beets. He recalls that beet farmers were told to expect a potential net of $30 to $40 (roughly $500 today) an acre.
According to accounts in the Annals of Iowa, a representative of the Belmond factory visited the Iowa communities of Terrill, Langdon and Spencer in January 1924 to promote the beet industry. Saying that the rotation crop could be “highly beneficial,” the factory representative estimated start-up costs would not exceed $400. Among the needs to start raising beets were “a special dump box for your wagon, a small wooden shanty and plow. You can get a weeding tool from your blacksmith for a few dollars.”
The fact that sugar beets were a cash crop (payout typically came within 30 days of delivery) was an additional incentive. A.L. Luick, general manager of Iowa Valley Sugar Co. in 1924, said some beet growers netted as much as $75 per acre and the overall average per acre profit in 1922 had been $39.70. Within one week in January 1924, 288 acres were contracted for the Belmond factory. An estimated 1,000 workers would be needed to thin, weed and hoe those acres.
Community makes sizeable investment
Since the Iowa Valley Sugar Co. beet refinery was once a huge part of Belmond’s economy, the town’s historical society has maintained many photos and details about the factory that once dominated the local economy.
“Most people who live here now have no idea what that building was used for,” says Larry Turner, museum curator. “At the time it was built, local people invested $200,000 to help finance the $1,500,000 building.”
An article in the 1920 book Facts About Sugar, Volume 10, noted that the Belmond sugar factory construction was completed in about seven months’ time, a construction record for the community.
“With all the equipment on the site or in transit (by August 1920) and with a large portion of the structural steel work erected, the Iowa Valley Sugar Company’s new factory promises to be ready for operation early in August,” the article reported.
Factory at the heart of a sprawling tract
The factory, built by Dyer Co. of Cleveland, Ohio, was said to have a daily slicing capacity of 600 tons of beets. According to the company, approximately 5,700 acres of beets were contracted with local farmers.
When the refinery opened in August 1920, C.T. Fenton was president and general manager of the factory; W.C. Tyrell Jr. was vice president; A.L. Luick, a cashier at the local State Bank of Belmond, was secretary/treasurer. Fenton was described as a “sugar man of many years,” and Tyrell was identified as proprietor of Tyrell Stock Farm.
The factory site comprised 270 acres, 45 of which were devoted to buildings and railway lines. The balance of the tract was been set aside for the establishment of a demonstration farm and experiment station. Some 36 houses for migrant workers were located on the factory grounds, as well as a small store and a school for migrant worker children.
The original building was torn down several years ago. “Most people who remember the structure believed it was a soybean plant,” Larry says.
Shipping east by rail
Beet seed was planted by machine, but the plants were thinned, weeded and hoed by hand. After maturity, the beets were dug by machine. In the earliest harvest practices, the beets were topped by hand with a hooked beet knife used to pull the beet to the worker. Later, a beet harvester simplified the process.
The process of harvesting beets was entirely different from that of harvesting corn or grain. Beets were sold by weight. If harvest equipment damaged the beets, overall profit suffered.
The John Deere No. 20 two-wheel riding beet lifter was equipped with specially shaped lifting blades. In the 1918 edition of Facts About Sugar, the lifter was described as being used to loosen the soil and lift the beets 3/4 to 1-1/4 inches, leaving them upright in the most convenient position for handling. “Your hired help will get all the beets in the field,” the writer said. “It is easy work. The beets are not scattered over the ground and left exposed to rains and frost, but are protected so that the sun cannot dry them out.”
The No. 20 beet lifter’s blades were cut away in the rear. “They lift the beets gently, loosen and pulverize the soil, and do not injure the beets,” the article promised. Just two wheels on the lifter made it a light-draft implement with no tongue or truck to drag over and damage the beet tops.
The Leckband lifter is a John Deere No. 23 riding beet lifter. The improved model was said not to break beets. “It is very easy to handle,” promotional materials noted. “It is light in draft; it is easy to lift.” The frame was described as “rigid and strong, and the seat is near to the ground. The No. 23 will handle beets in rows from 18 to 28 inches apart.”
The blades on the No. 23 were said to be improved with “a new single point, faced with special alloy steel.” The blades were designed for light draft and long wear. The improved design allowed the operator to “adjust the blades to exactly the right position for the soil in which he is working, preventing the breaking of beets and insuring a lighter-running machine.” The lifter was further described as “flexible on uneven ground” and having “perfect balance.”
Larry Leckband can’t be certain but he believes beet growers in his area shipped beets to Belmond by rail. “I know they shipped them to the east by boxcar,” he says.
Facing the challenges
While many mentions in historic publications confirm that Iowa’s climate and soil conditions were favorable to beet production, Wallaces Farmer also discussed the obstacles to widespread adoption of the crop.
One of the largest hurdles, the writer said, was “the newness and the complexity of the business. In order for a beet factory to function successfully, the farmers and the factory had to work closely so that planting, blocking and thinning, and harvest were all done in a timely manner. Since much manual labor was required for thinning and weeding, it was also imperative that timing was coordinated so labor could be used most efficiently.'”
Since the beet factory could handle only a limited amount of beets in one day, it was crucial that harvest not occur at any one time on a scale larger than existing factory capacity. Historic accounts reported on deterioration of farmer-stored beets, resulting in a total loss of individual farmers’ sugar beet production. A wet growing season further dampened enthusiasm.
Predicting a battle for supremacy
The challenge of securing sufficient labor surfaced in some historical accounts. Russian and Hispanic migrants were brought in to work at thinning, weeding and hoeing, earning $23/acre for each growing season. While the beet factory provided a school for the children and some housing, migrant families typically stayed at the farm where they were working, living in small shacks.
When Don Buchan, writing for Annals of Iowa, asked about the reasons beet growing declined in northwest Iowa, he received numerous responses. “For one thing, the Mexican laborers and their families were housed in flimsy shacks,” one woman told him. “Accustomed to the warm climate of Mexico, they simply could not stand our winters. They stayed all winter, you know, and had no income during the long, cold winter months, so they became discouraged and wanted to return to their native country.”
In its December 1911 issue, Wallaces Farmer reported that, “At this writing, no one can determine the place that sugar beets will hold in the corn belt agriculture of the future. It is claimed that the sugar beet industry in the United States depends for its success upon the tariff, which amounts to $1.70 per hundred pounds. About half the sugar produced in the world at the present time comes from the cane plant. On account of the cheap labor in the tropics, cane sugar can be produced slightly cheaper than beet sugar. There will be a battle for supremacy between the beet and cane sugars.”
“Whatever the reason,” Buchan noted, “the sugar beet industry did not last long in Clay County.” FC
For more information: JR Pearson, 5506 B Avenue, Marcus, IA 51035.
The Belmond Historical Society Museum is open Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 9 a.m. to noon; weekends by appointment. Located at 223 East Main St., Belmond, IA 50421; phone: (515) 571-3264; online at belmondmuseum.org.
Loretta Sorensen is a lifelong resident of southeast South Dakota. She and her husband farm with Belgian draft horses and collect vintage farm equipment. Email her at sorensenlms@gmail.com.
