In 1868, Ebenezer H. Dyer, took an interest in sugar beets and converting them to table sugar. He had some seeds shipped from Germany and planted some test fields to see if sugar beets could grow in Alvarado. It turned out that they did quite well.
In 1870, Dyer procured machinery, hired two German chemists, and started the California Beet Sugar Company. His factory was fairly small, so the first beets used were grown by Dyer. As he needed more, Dyer was able to convince the local farmers that growing sugar beets was profitable and he contracted with the farmers to grow the beets. Suddenly sugar beets was a major crop with Alvarado Farmers.
Over the years, the factory grew in size and capacity. With the need for ever more sugar beets, the company that Dyer started, contracted with more farmers, starting with those in Pleasanton, and going as far away as the central valley. In Pleasanton, there is a rail stop and area called ASCO, which is short for Alameda Sugar Company, a later name for the company that ran the Alvarado sugar beet factory. The rail stop was a place for the company to load rail cars with sugar beets from the surrounding fields.
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The sugar beet factory closed in 1976. It had been many years since sugar beets were grown in the local area and they all had to be shipped in via rail. That was one of the major reasons for closing the plant, and utilizing a plant closer to where the beets were grown.
With sugar beets being such a major crop for so many years, and how long it has been since they have been grown in Union City, I thought it would be interesting to grow some again.
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I was able to order some sugar beet seeds and planted them in the garden. The beet tops grew quite tall, but the beets were not all that large. The description from history books talk about beets that are many pounds each. I'm guessing that those are a different variety than the ones that I purchased.
Now that I have sugar beets, I could try and make sugar out of them, but that level of chemistry is out side my reach.