Several years ago, while producing a video documentary on the History of Sebewaing, my son, David, and I, spent considerable time at the Michigan Sugar Company factory in Sebewaing. We shot scenes of the unloading systems and the processing of the beets in the plant. The transporting and unloading is certainly different today compared to 100 years ago when farmers with their trusted team of horses and their wagons filled high with beets waited for hours in long lines to unload. The lines were sometimes a mile long in two directions. Well, that's the way it was until the gasoline-powered truck took on the task of hauling beets. So why did the sugar beet become such a popular plant to grow in the Thumb?

Americans have had a real love affair with sugar and things sweet since the 1890s. Did you know that we Americans consume more than our own body weight in pounds of sugar each year. We know it gives us energy and it is certainly in most good tasting foods. All of our snacks, even pop corn can be purchased with sugar flavoring, and because of our great consumption, five sugar beet factories operate in the Thumb area.

As a young boy, I learned a few things about the harvesting of sugar beets, the hard way! My grandfather, Carl Sting, asked me in November of 1944 to help him dig out sugar beets that were frozen in. The harvester had been in parts of the field a couple of weeks before but wet areas in the field kept the harvester from pulling all the beets. Due to high winds and extremely cold weather that November, a depth of two to three inches of frozen earth held those beets firmly in the ground. My grandfather was strong willed and did not let anything rust or go to waste, so armed with our pick axes and shovels, we dug out partial rows of beets. I helped him on Saturday and after school for one whole week. Some of the big beets came out quite easy, but scraping the frozen dirt off was a job and a half. We threw them in the bed of a large pick-up and when full, he took the load to Sebewaing. He went everyday with a load that week and I went with him a few times. He always got a good tare because he cleaned the dirt off those beets. Now I know why I didn't become a beet farmer.

As mentioned earlier, there are five sugar beet processing plants in the thumb. The Bay City complex was built in 1900. The Croswell plant started processing beets in1903. The Caro beet factory opened in 1899. The Carrollton factory near Saginaw was under construction in 1901 at which time the Sebewaing plant was being built. The Sebewaing plant was not ready to handle the 190l harvest, so beets were loaded into railcars and shipped to Bay City for processing. Three hundred and eleven railcars were used to move the beets to the Bay City plant. The following year in the late spring 50 German Russian families arrived at the Sebewaing Railroad depot to help in the thinning and cultivating of the sugar beets. The people came from Nebraska where sugar beet planting and harvesting had been a well-established crop in that region. These German Russian families knew how to manage the young plants and handle the cultivating, so they came to show area farmers how it was done.

The second year harvest at Sebewaing came from 7,000 acres of beets. Area farmers delivered 48,270 tons of beets from which the processing plant produced 9,200,000 pounds of sugar in 1902. They soon discovered cultivation and thinning was key to improving the tonnage per acre. So, in 1903, 500 German Russians from Nebraska came to assist during the growing season in the Sebewaing, Bay Port, Elkton, Pigeon and Unionville areas.

In 1933, America's first Sugar Queen was crowned. Her name was Bertha Binder who was 18 at the time and represented the Sebewaing area competition. Actually, 20 communities throughout the state of Michigan entered in the competition. This was probably the origin of the Sebewaing Sugar Festival we now enjoy each year. Twenty thousand people attended the crowning celebration at the Caro Fair Grounds in August of 1933 when Bertha received her crown. Naturally, they had a big parade in Sebewaing and the Sebewaing Blade ran a big headline, a front page story about the events. For the Queen, one of her gifts was a trip to the World Fair in Chicago. It was called "The Century of Progress Exposition," Ms. Binder was accompanied by her sister. Together they flew on American Airways to the Chicago fair and presented the president of the Exposition with 100 pounds of sugar.

Over the years new farm equipment was designed to work the soil and manage more acres of beets. The seed was also improved, which in time resulted in greater yields. By the 1950s, farmers were getting 10 tons of beets per acre…today in the Thumb area, a good crop comes in at 20 tons per acre. Now that's progress for you, and it all happened in the Thumb…and That's The Way is Was!

Al and Dave Eicher provide television production services to corporations, ad agencies, and nonprofit organizations. They also create Michigan town histories and offer lecture services on a variety of Michigan History Events. You may contact them at 248-333-2010; Email: info@program-source.com; Website: www.program-source.com; Address: PSI, P.O. Box 444, Bloomfield Hills, MI 48303.