The Garland Sugar Beet Refinery (1903-1979) was part of the Utah-Idaho Sugar Company and was located east of town on Factory Street.
From loc.gov: The history of the beet sugar industry in Utah began at the Lehi Plant of the Utah Sugar Company. In that plant on 15 October 1891, Edward Dyer reached into a whirling centrifugal and withdrew a handful of white crystals – the first white granulated sugar manufactured in the Mountain West, also the first beet sugar made with American machinery, and the first sugar made from irrigated beets. The Garland Plan is now the oldest working sugar beet refinery in the Mountain West and a remarkable example of early agricultural-industrial ventures in the State of Utah. Reorganized in 1901 as the Utah-Idaho Sugar Company, the firm turned out more than 16 billion pounds of sugar in its first 75 years and now distributes its product in the twenty-four Western states.
This factory was built in 1924 for canning peas and during World War II it was used to sew parachutes for the military. It closed down in 1960 and had a fire in 2016 but still stands for now.
On this site, in 1862 the first Cotton Factory was erected in the west. Designed and operated by William Marsden and owned by Ebenizer Hanks. Here the first ball of Cotton Yarn was made west of the Mississippi River.
The first Sugar Factory in Utah was built in Lehi, UT, and it was also the first beet sugar factory in the Mountain West, the first to use beets grown by irrigation, the first to have a systematic program for producing its own beet seed, the first to use American-made machinery, the first to use the “osmose process” of reprocessing molasses, and the first to build auxiliary cutting stations. This factory also served as a training base for many of the technical leaders of the sugar beet industry of the United States.
Needless to say, the Lehi factory was a marvel of modern engineering, and one of the most important buildings in Utah Industry for many years. Most of the history linked to the Spanish Fork Factory finds its way back to Lehi. At one point one could say that quite literally, as until the building of the Pleasant Grove pipeline, the beet pipeline between the Spanish Fork and Lehi factories was the largest beet pipeline in the world, although eventually it corroded due to high alkali soils found in the valley.
After the initial success of the Lehi factory, many other factories were built around the state. Spanish Fork in particular became the bloodline for the Lehi factory, as the world’s largest and longest pipeline used to transport beets ran between the two. Built sometime in the early 1900s, the factories were owned by the Utah-Idaho sugar company (originally a commercial venture of the LDS / Mormon Church). The current Spanish Fork factory that you can see today was was built in 1916. Much of the plant equipment was transferred from Nampa Idaho to the Spanish Fork area.
The plant was designated as a beet slicing factory and then the beets were shipped to Lehi via pipe. The factory was able to grind 450 to 500 tons of beets per day, 50 tons more than the Lehi factory. The pipe from Spanish Fork to Lehi was, at the time, the longest pipe used for transferring beet pulp in the nation. Trains were an important park of the beet industry, and several railroad lines were extended into Spanish Fork (and possibly down to Payson) expressly for the shipping of sugar beets. There were several factories around the valley, including factories in Payson, Springville, and Provo, although the one in Spanish Fork was one of the largest in the state.
Eventually, the industry changed course. Anti-trust laws broke the back of the company, and many of the factories closed down as a result in the 1920s. Finally, in 1952 the Spanish Fork factory was closed as well, as the industry for sugar swung to sugar cane as the main source of sugar, because it could be grown year-round and the labor to produce it was much cheaper.
Today, the factory is owned and used by the Wasatch Pallet Company, though most of it is condemned and not considered safe. The owners do not mind letting people get closer just as long as you speak with them and get their permission (you should find them at their office on the south end of the property) and they should oblige. Though a shell of its former self, it is still nevertheless a prominent feature on the landscape, and certainly an important part of the local history.
Located at 521 South 1550 West in Spanish Fork, Utah
The Lehi Factory of the Utah Sugar Company, of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, occupies a pre-eminent place among early sugar mills in America. As historian Leonard Arrington has written: “It was the first sugar-beet factory in the Mountain West, the first to utilize beets grown by irrigation, the first to use American made machinery, the first to use the ‘osmoses process’ of reprocessing molasses, the first to built auxiliary cutting stations and the first to have been established as part of a great social and religious movement.”
The factory was built in 1891 and the first sugar strike was completed on October 15 of that year. During that first growing season 565 farmers planted 1500 acres of sugar beets which processed into 12,500 100-pound bags of sugar. The success of the factory had a dramatic effect on Lehi‘s financial well-being.
Between 1890 and 1896 nearly thirty new businesses came into existence. Many local men, with valuable experience gained at this factory, were relocated to other areas and helped establish many additional factories in Utah and Idaho. The Utah Sugar Company eventually became the Utah and Idaho Sugar Company and then the U and I Sugar Company.
During 1899 and 1900 the factory doubled in size. To accommodate the growing demands for sugar during World War I, a huge fourteen-million-pound capacity warehouse was completed along with the 184-foot high smokestack, both of which are still standing in 2008 (and 2014).
The demise of the Lehi Sugar Factory was ultimately caused by two beet maladies: nematodes (round worms) and “curly top” from white fly infection. Farmers did not plan sufficient acreage in this area to sustain the factory and it closed after the 1924 campaign although beets continued to be grown locally and processed at other factories until the 1960s. The machinery was shipped to new factories in other locations and in 1939 the main buildings of this factory were demolished. Many of the bricks were used to construct the Joseph Smith Memorial Building on the BYU Campus and the Lehi First Ward Chapel.
The large sugar warehouse continually stored sugar from 1914 until the late 1960s. The Utah and Idaho Sugar Company sold the property in 1979 to the Thomas Peck and Sons trucking Company. In 1996 the smokestack was remodeled into a cell phone antenna tower. Until Micron established its Lehi Division during the late 1990s, no single business provided greater financial benefits to the local economy than the Sugar Factory.
After the initial success of the Lehi factory, many other factories were built around the state. Spanish Fork in particular became the bloodline for the Lehi factory, as the world’s largest and longest pipeline used to transport beets ran between the two. Built sometime in the early 1900s, the factories were owned by the Utah-Idaho sugar company (originally a commercial venture of the LDS / Mormon Church). The current Spanish Fork factory that you can see today was was built in 1916. Much of the plant equipment was transferred from Nampa Idaho to the Spanish Fork area.
See other historic markers in the series on this page for SUP Markers.
The stack is also an NGS Benchmark. “LO0797” LEHI U I SUGAR CO STACK
