I am a few years younger than those of you who actually worked in the beet fields. My father and his family had worked beets and after my father was married he became a share cropper. We grew sugar beets and had migrant Mexican labor who worked them in the early 40s. The German-Russians by that time had prospered and owned their own farms and new families were not immigrating anymore. The Michigan Sugar Company arranged to have migrant labor and we provided a house for them to live in while they were there. They arrived in the spring and did the blocking and thinning of the beets then the hoeing. During the summer they would also hoe and pick cucumbers for other farmers and in the fall top and pile the beets. We also had dairy cattle and my brother and I would have to load the beet tops on a trailer and take them out in the pasture for the cattle so the tops didn't go to waste. We lifted the beets with a 1 row lifter pulled by an A Farmall which I would drive while my dad handled the lifter. We hauled the beets to a piling station about 1-1/2 miles from the field at a railroad siding which then took the beets to a processing facility. Sugar beets need to be handled carefully when piled as then can start to heat and then rot. A series of air tunnels made with 55 gallon barrels were put under the piles of stored beets and air forced in the tunnels to keep them cool. Today they have a more sophisticated system of keeping them cool. The next phase of the sugar beet industry changed. By then, the early 50s, my father had bought his own farm and continued to share crop also. We bought a 1 row beet harvester which was financed through Michigan Sugar Co. We were paid $20 an acre to harvest beets which we did in about a 20 mile radius of our farm. We got half and the other half went to pay off the beet harvester. In a long day, even having to milk cows twice a day, we could harvest 8 acres of beets which at that time, late 40s early 50s, was a lot of beets compared to the old way. Michigan Sugar had sugar plants in Bay City, Sebewaing, Caro, and Croswell at that time. For an interesting look at early history of the sugar beet industry in Michigan take a look at: http://www.michigansugar.com/about/history.php Dick Schmidt Greenville, NC ----- Original Message ----- From: "frank jacobs" <fjacobs@cox.net> To: "frank jacobs" <fjacobs@cox.net>; "List" <Ger-Volga-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Friday, August 10, 2007 6:04 AM Subject: [GV] beet field history > Enclosed are a series of Topeka newspaper articles of the beet field > migrations of 1906 and 1907. > They glorify the economic gains but miss the tale of hard labor and human > toil. I found them interesting enough to > retype them for the list. enjoy. > Frank Jacobs > > > Several of the Russians who have been working in the sugar beet fields at > Sterling, Col. returned to North Topeka yesterday, > and have reopened their homes in Little Russia and gone to housekeeping. > They say that their venture proved to be very lucrative to them. > The Topeka State Journal Dec 14, 1906 > > > The Russians who have during the summer , been working in the sugar beet > country, are returning home by the car loads. > This week two coach loads ot them arrived from the west and one car load > of household goods. These people lived in the > vinegar works neighborhood and in Little Russia and left the train on > Curtis street. Topeka State Journal Dec 21, 1906 > > > The United States Land and Sugar Beet Company have arranged wiith Charles > Gerteisen, agent for the > Santa Fe, to place two coaches and one baggage carat the Santa Fe Junction > depot at 6 o'clock Wednesday morning > to accommodate about 150 Russian adults and children and their baggage, > who will leave at noon via the Santa Fe > for Garden City to work in the sugar beet fields. The Sugar Beet Company > pays the expenses. These same Russians > cleared and brought home last year all the way from $300 to $900 per > family and they expect to do as well this > season. The Topeka State Journal April 23, 1907 > > > Charles Gerteisen, agent for the Santa Fe Junction depot, received word > yesterday from the United States Land and Beet Sugar Company at > Garden City, Kansas., that they would arrange to ship 100 more Russians > from North Topeka to Garden City at once. > > > The United States Sugar beet Company of Garden City have arranged with > Charles Gerteisen, agent for the > Santa Fe to have one coach and one baggage car placed at the Santa Fe > Junction depot to take some more > Russians and their effects to Garden City Tuesday afternoon. > The Topeka State Journal May 27, 1907 > > A coach load of Russians and a baggage car of their effects left today for > the sugar beet fields. > J. Statler has charge of the party. Mr. Statler rented his property and > taken his family to the > sugar beet country for the summer. May 1907 > > Adam Degand and George Desch left last night for Sterling, Colorado, to > work in the sugar beet fields there. > The Great Western Sugar Beet Co. at Sterling, Colo., will advise Charles > Gerteisen agent here, in a day or two > as to whether they will need any more laborers or not. If they do there > will be several families more to go. > They get $20 an acre to cultivate the sugar beets. Some families take > care of as much as 60 acres. > This would be $1,200 earned and they can live from May until October when > they return for less than $300, this enables them to bring home about > $1,000 per family. The Great Western Sugar Beet Co. at Sterling, Colo., > has nearly 10,000 acres > in sugar beets this season while the United States Land & Sugar Beet Co. > at Garden city has about 12,000 in sugar > beets this season. The Topeka State Journal May 6, 2007 > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > GER-VOLGA-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > > -- > No virus found in this incoming message. > Checked by AVG Free Edition. > Version: 7.5.476 / Virus Database: 269.11.10/943 - Release Date: 8/8/2007 > 5:38 PM > >