The Beet Factory
The Beet Factory
Posted September 4th, 2015 by Charlevoix Courier
In 1902 it was announced that a sugar beet factory would be erected in Charlevoix to the south of the D. M. & Ferry & Co. seed warehouse, now the Foster Boat Works Association condominium, along the Lake Charlevoix shoreline at the intersection of the railroad tracks and Stover Creek. Construction began in August that year and was completed in 1903, one of the largest buildings ever constructed in the Lake Charlevoix basin. The more than 300-foot long, 70-foot tall building spread across a 12,500-square foot factory floor, kiln house, machine shop, offices, boiler house, scale house and 15,000 square feet of sheds capable of holding 8,000 tons of beets. Stover Creek was dammed to direct its waters into the sheds from where the beets were washed into the factory to avoid the expense of having to pump two million gallons of water a day. There was 200 men, who manned the factory for half a year during high production, 50 to 75 in the off season. But there was a problem. None of the regional farmers had been interviewed regarding their willingness to plant sugar beets, a highly labor intensive, thus expensive, agricultural endeavor. It was the “Field of Dreams” syndrome—if you build it, they will come. Many of the farmers didn’t, refusing to plant even one acre devoted to beets. A substantial percentage of the beets had to be imported to keep production going. Pleadings from the local newspaper editors and business leaders, several of whom probably had investments tied up in the plant, fell on the farmers’ deaf ears. While reportage of the plant’s activities and production statistics appeared rosy and impressive, underneath there was much reason to worry.