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Satellite)
I have already noted a
Michigan Sugar plant in Croswell, MI. Those notes also have information on contemporary harvesting machinery for sugar beets.
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Michigan Sugar Company posted
Over the years, we've shared historic photos of our factories, including images of our Caro factory. We found this one of our Caro factory hanging on the wall at The Oven, a restaurant located at 875 S. State St. in Caro. Opened in 1899, the Caro factory is the oldest sugarbeet processing factory in the United States and one of the oldest in the world. It was built by the Peninsular Sugar Refining Company and remains unique today for a few reasons. First, Caro is the smallest of Michigan Sugar Company's four factories. Second, it is the only Michigan Sugar factory that produces liquid sucrose. Third, it is the only Michigan Sugar factory with a horizontal silo. We love when our company's history comes together with community pride and we thank the team at The Oven for displaying this photo on their walls along with many other historic images from the community. |
Viral Media posted four photos with the comment:
Built in 1899, Michigan Sugar Company's factory in Caro is unique in that it is the oldest sugarbeet processing facility in the United States. It is also the smallest of Michigan Sugar's four factories and is the only one where liquid sugar is produced.
Adding to the uniqueness of the facility is the fact that it boasts Michigan Sugar's only horizontal sugar silo. We recently found a couple great photos from 1966, the year the silo was constructed. Those are included in this post along with a more recent aerial photo that shows both the vertical and horizontal silos in Caro, as well as a look inside the horizontal silo.
The horizontal silo stands at 220 feet long and 60 feet wide. Its side walls stand at 21 feet high and they are gabled 46 feet above ground.
The silo holds about 20 million pounds of sugar, as compared to the vertical silo that holds about 38 million pounds.
Douglas Klaver: Loaded a lot of molasses out back there, plus liquid sugar there!
Zak Zanders: Grand Island NE had the first sugar beet processing plant in the US but I believe it no longer exist..so you may well have the oldest still in operation.
Jamie Leyerle: Curious...is liquid sugar uncrystallized sugar or is it sugar that's been crystallized then dissolved in water?
Michigan Sugar Company: Thanks for the question Jamie. Liquid sugar is white granulated sugar that has been dissolved in water. Simple syrup is liquid sugar with a 1:1 ratio of sugar and water.
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Google Earth shows that this image was taken in Aug 2024. Note that the storage piles are mostly empty.
In Dec 2019, the piles were rather full and steam was coming out of the smokestack.
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| Google Earth, Dec 2019 |
The piles appear to be empty in Jul 2024, but we can see the beets must be relatively light because that is a big bucket on the front loader. (I looked for views from a different time of year, but they all had trees on this side of the parking lot and I could not see anything.)
In the satellite images, we see that each pile has a stacker on one end. The red thing in this view would be one of them, but it's not being used because its boom is down.
This lego model shows how a stacker works. But I can't figure out what the purpose is of the little conveyors that stick out the side. If you know, please leave a comment.
3 of 7 photos
posted by Michigan Sugar Company with the comment:
SOMETHING SWEET ON SUNDAY: Today, we are excited to share the talents of John Bos, who formerly farmed with his father George in Lambton County, Ontario, and grew about 100 acres of sugarbeets for Michigan Sugar Company in early 2000s.
John has been a lifelong Lego builder and set out to construct very accurate models of a sugarbeet piler, ROPA MAUS, and a "Michigan Special" 8-axle trailer. He didn't build these from a kit, but rather by looking at photos and videos. His attention to details - right down to the orange and white safety barrels - is certainly impressive.
John said he's had an affection for building with Lego blocks since he was a child and today has a whole room full of Lego creations in his basement.
Thank you, John, for sharing your talents - and these photos - with us!
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