I'm 78, and I still have scars on my leg from topping sugar beets in West Nebraska and Wyoming. I began thinning beets with my grandfather when I was 8 years old. My dad work in both the Great Western sugar factory in Gering, Neb. and the Holly sugar factory in Torrington. May dad also was the hired man for Ted Nanbera, a Japanese farmer, about a mile from our home in the "Rooshin Town" sector of Gering. I remember the German prisoners who were brought to the farm help with the beet harvest, usually in very cold weather. At about age 10 or 11, I had no problem communicating with the prisoners, but my wouldn't talk them. When I asked why, he said they spoke hoch Deutsh, in dialect he didn't understand. It took me about 50 years to realize that he wouldn't speak to them because he didn't want to associate with potential Nazis. Many of the German\Russian farmers did prepare meals for the prisoners in the Scottsbluff-Gering area. My grandfather died in 1954 while I was in the Marines. He and I worked together in the beet, bean, potatoes and grain fields, but I don't recall him mentining anything about sugar beets in the Norka area. Dad was born in Melow on der Havel in 1913, just before they came to the U.S. Grandpa would be 123 if he were still living. Dad was killed in an industrial accident in Portland, Ore., in 1971 at age 57. Marven Weitzel On Thu, 10 Mar 2011 14:51:48 -0500 "Cliff" <[email protected]> writes: > Hoy hoy! > > A fine sunny day of 38F from Kakabekastan, Canada near Lake > Superior. > (and 14 inches of snow on ground) > > Our Huber gang from Bangert did not mention sugar beets to my > recollection, > but did refer to sunflowers seeds and sunflower oil plants in > Bangert, c1890. > > Our Huber grandparents, settled on land east of Winnipeg at Lydiatt, > (aka > Eugenfeld, and St Ouens) brought watermelon seeds among others. > > regards > > Cliff Huber > > Volga ancestral families from 1766 to 1900: Huber, Heinz, Otto, > Steinhauer, > Wagonleiter, Pineckenstein > > ps - All the best, Paul. > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without > the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > ____________________________________________________________ Groupon.com Official Site 1 huge daily deal on the best stuff to do in your city. Try it today! http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL3141/4d7ad9f0db28c19f7fcst02duc

Hi Marvin, Thanks for sharing the anecdotes. Much appreciated for interesting background details. cliff ps -during the late 1940s and the 1950s, I vividly recall the strong odour from the sugar beet factory in Winnipeg, Manitoba. It was located on a main route, Pemibina Highway, about 6 miles south of downtown Winnipeg. The last beet crop to be processed was in 1996.