| Notes |
- Patent 485490 - Charles A. Hascall - Shirt
Patent 499788 - Charles A. Hascall - Shirt
_____
Sunday, February 22, 1998
THIS WAS NEVADA: Phillip I. Earl
Sugar beet factory near Fallon a failure
By Phillip I. Earl
Nevada Historical Society
From the earliest territorial days to the present, much of Nevada's history has focused on economic diversity and the search for economic stability. The mining boom on the Comstock Lode came to an end by the mid-1880s, and the state was left without an industrial or manufacturing base due, in part, to the machinations of the Central Pacific Railroad. Although new markets for cattle, lumber and agricultural products took up some of the slack, the '80s and '90s were hard years for the Silver Stat
Among the crops that interested some Nevada farmers were sugar beets, already being grown profitably in California, Utah and Colorado. California sugar king Claus Spreckles investigated prospects for the best cultivation and sugar production in Nevada in 1891, and R.H. McDowell, a university chemist, found that beets grown in Mason and Carson valleys averaged as high as 21 percent in saccharin content
Spreckles would agree to put up a processing facility in Nevada only if he could be assured of at least 2,000 acres in 14 percent beets. The few beets grown by Nevada farmers were thus fed to livestock. Interest in beets continued, however, and Nevada farmers sent a beet exhibit to San Francisco's Mid-Winter Fair in 1894. By that time, Spreckles was requiring a minimum of 10,000 acres to justify the expense of a sugar plant, so beet production never got off the groun
With the development of the Newlands Project in Nevada's Lahontan Valley after the turn of the century, interest in beets revived. In 1909, members of the Fallon Commercial Club set up a committee to investigate beet culture. A Southern California enterprise, Case, Heinze & Co., sent engineers to Fallon in April 1909 to explain cultivation techniques and promote
Statistics from Utah and California indicated an average $3,000 per acre rise in land values when beet cultivation replaced alfalfa; local farmers signed contracts for 7,000 acres. Charles A. Hascall, chairman of the sugar committee, raised some $20,000 in stock subscriptions and the Nevada Sugar Co. was organized in March 1910 with a capitalization of $1 millio
Plans for a sugar factory southeast of Rattlesnake Hill on 20 acres donated by Thomas Dolph were completed in July 1910. The Heinze firm shipped two railroad cars of equipment from California that summer and invested $35,000 in the construction of a building. Other euipment came from a Spreckles operation in Watsonville, Calif., and the facility was ready for operations by late summer 1911.
Thirty tons of beet seed from Bohemia had been planted in April and May, but most of the crop failed after the plants developed a fungus called curly top. The factory began operations on the remaining small crop and the first sack of sugar was produced Jan. 6, 1912. Visitors on hand that day were given small souvenir sacks embossed with the company logo, and several thousand one-pound sacks were sold. Local farmers, having lost their investment in the 1911 crop, contracted for only 2,000 acres in 1912. Beets from Lovelock, Mason Valley and northern California were imported, but the fungus again took the local crop and production totaled only 15,000 sacks.
In 1913, the company went into receivership with I.H. Kent, a Fallon businessman, named administrator. The plant had another disappointing year and closed in 1914. Even the high sugar prices return the company to prosperity. Financier George Wingfield and a group of Michigan investors purchased and reorganized the company in 1916, but 1917 production amounted to only 24,000 sacks. The factory sat idle until Wingfield and a group of local investors tried again in 1927. Many problems -- beet shortages, transportation woes and equipment problems -- resulted in another loss and Wingfield gave up.
Low sugar prices in 1928 canceled another attempt and the factory and equipment were sold to a San Francisco metal dealer. In April 1934, work began on scrapping out the machinery for sale and shipment to Japan. Before the work was completed, several local bootleggers moved in, setting up a large still to produce illicit liquor from the sugar remaining in the vats. They shipped their product out in cans labeled "honey." On June 23, federal prohibition agents raided the facility, arresting Albert Bondi and confiscating 100 gallons of liquor and 25,000 gallons of a sugar solution and mash ready for distilling. Scrap crews finished their work later in the fall and Fallon's sugar beet experiment faded into histor
Phillip I. Earl is curator of history for the Nevada Historical Society
_____
In 1876 C. A. Hascall was proprietor of Turkish Baths in Watertown, Wisconsin
_____
California Eclectic Medical College, Los Angeles, 1904
_____
Reno Gazette Journal
July 16, 1928
Dr. P. J. Haskell [sic C. A. Hascall], a resident of Fallon for twenty years, died at his home at Center street and Broadway, Fallon, at 6:30 this morning, following a stroke of apoplexy late last night.
Born in Aspland [sic Ashland] Wis., on April 26, 1861 [sic 1851], Dr. Haskell came to Fallon in 1906. He was active in community affairs, and through his efforts the first creamery was established at Fallon. He was also known in Fallon as the "father of the sugar factory." He retired from practice two years ago on account of failing health. He is survived by a son, A. L. Haskell, and two daughters, Mrs. North of Los Gatos, Cal., and Mrs. Dickson of Oakland.
|
1851 - 1928 (77 years)
[1, 2, 3, 4] 
