{{Short description|Former Mormon sugar beet processing company}} {{Infobox company | parent = [[The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]] | industry = [[Sugar beet|Sugar beet processing]] | founded = {{start date and age|1851}} | founders = {{ubl|[[John Taylor (Mormon)|John Taylor]]|John W. Coward|Joseph Russell|[[Philip DeLaMare]]}} | key_people = [[Brigham Young]] | defunct = {{end date|1853}} }}
The '''Deseret Manufacturing Company''' ({{IPAc-en|audio=en-us-Deseret.ogg|ˌ|d|ɛ|z|ə|ˈ|r|ɛ|t}})<ref>[https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bofm/pronunciation?lang=eng churchofjesuschrist.org: "Book of Mormon Pronunciation Guide"] (retrieved 2012-02-25), [[Wikipedia:IPA for English|IPA]]-ified from «dĕz-a-rĕt´»</ref> was an unsuccessful venture by [[the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]] in the 1850s to process [[sugar beet]]s into refined sugar. A test factory was established in an area that is now known as [[Sugar House, Utah]].
==Background== Freighting sugar to the [[Utah Territory]] from the [[Missouri River Valley]] cost between forty cents and one dollar per pound, so the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was interested in the sugar beet industry since 1850 as a [[cash crop]] for the Mormon settlers.<ref name="taylor">{{cite book|last=Taylor|first=Fred G.|title=A Saga of Sugar|year=1944|oclc=1041958}}</ref><ref name="eb">{{cite journal|last=Burton|first=Robert A.|author2=Paul Alan Cox|year=1998|title=Sugarbeet Culture and Mormon Economic Development in the Intermountain West|journal=Economic Botany|publisher=New York Botanical Garden Press|location=New York|volume=52|issue=2|pages=201–206|oclc=1567380|jstor=4256061|doi=10.1007/bf02861211}}</ref><ref name="godfrey">{{cite book |last= Godfrey |first= Matthew C. |title= Religion, politics, and sugar: the Mormon Church, the federal government, and the Utah-Idaho Sugar Company, 1907-1921 |publisher= [[Utah State University Press]] |location= Logan, Utah |year= 2007 |isbn= 978-0-87421-658-5 |oclc= 74988178 |url= http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/usupress_pubs/44/ }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Coons|first=George Herbert|date=March 1949|title=The Sugar Beet: Product of Science|journal=The Scientific Monthly|publisher=American Association for the Advancement of Science|volume=68|issue=3|pages=149–164|oclc=45610599|jstor=19697|bibcode=1949SciMo..68..149C}}</ref> The [[First Presidency (LDS Church)|First Presidency]] of the Church even issued a statement in September 1850, calculating the amount of sugar necessary in the region and echoing nutritional information that was believed at the time.<ref name="taylor" /> [[John Taylor (Mormon)|John Taylor]] served as a [[Missionary (LDS Church)|missionary]] in [[France]], and did research at a sugar beet factory in [[Pas-de-Calais]].<ref name="arrington">{{cite book|last=Arrington|first=Leonard J.|title=Beet sugar in the West; a history of the Utah-Idaho Sugar Company, 1891-1966|publisher=[[University of Washington Press]]|year=1966|oclc=234150|pages=5}}</ref>
==Company formation== In 1851, the LDS Church attempted developing the industry in Utah in an official manner through [[Brigham Young]] and John Taylor, establishing the Deseret Manufacturing Company in Spring 1851 between Taylor, John W. Coward, Joseph Russell, and [[Philip DeLaMare]] with $35,000 in capital from the LDS church.<ref name="eb" /><ref name="godfrey" /><ref name="arrington" /><ref name="schmalz">{{cite journal|last=Schmalz|first=Charles L.|year=1988|title=The Failure of Utah's First Sugar Factory|journal=Utah Historical Quarterly|publisher=Utah Historical Society|volume=56|issue=1|pages=36–53|oclc=1713705}}</ref><ref name="ah">{{cite journal|last=Godfrey|first=Matthew C.|year=2001|title=The Utah-Idaho Sugar Company: Political and Legal Troubles in the Aftermath of the First World War|journal=Agricultural History|publisher=Agricultural History Society|volume=75|issue=2|pages=188–216|jstor=3744749|doi=10.1525/ah.2001.75.2.188}}</ref> The machinery was purchased from Faucett, Preston and Company of [[Liverpool]], leaving on March 6, 1852 and arriving in [[New Orleans]] on April 26, 1852 via the ''Rockaway''.<ref name="schmalz" /> The equipment was boated to [[Leavenworth, Kansas]], then by 40 high-end [[covered wagon]]s to Utah.<ref name="eb" /><ref name="godfrey" /> Troubles with transportation, including heavy snows, caused the company to be nicknamed the "Damn Miserable Company".<ref name="godfrey" /> Some of the equipment was abandoned in the Bear River Valley of Utah, and the original Provo factory location was abandoned by late November 1852.<ref name="taylor" /><ref name="schmalz" /> Instead, the machinery was set up in Salt Lake City for a test run in an [[adobe]]-construction [[blacksmith]] shop.<ref name="taylor" /><ref name="eb" /><ref name="godfrey" /><ref name="schmalz" /><ref name="harris">{{cite book|last=Harris|first=Franklin Stewart|title=The Sugar-Beet in America|publisher=[[Macmillan Publishers]]|year=1919|series=The Rural Science Series|oclc=1572747|url=https://archive.org/details/sugarbeetinameri00harruoft|accessdate=2010-01-30}}</ref> The community it was established in is now known as [[Sugar House, Salt Lake City|Sugarhouse]], and the test factory ready for first processing by December 20, 1852.<ref name="taylor" /><ref name="eb" /><ref name="godfrey" />
Brigham Young thought John Taylor was a poor businessman, declaring he "knew nothing about transacting business."<ref name="godfrey" /> Young, despite no knowledge of sugar beets or sugar, took over the business.<ref name="godfrey" /> The 1852 effort was a failure, partly because the important vacuum pan never worked correctly, and partly because of a lack of knowledge about the industry.<ref name="eb" /><ref name="godfrey" /> The Deseret Manufacturing Company was out of money, and the LDS church assumed the debts in February or March 1853.<ref name="taylor" /><ref name="schmalz" /> Taylor, DeLaMare, and Mollenhauer, the only people who had seen a successful sugar operation, left the company after the takeover.<ref name="schmalz" /> Philip DeLaMare later stated:
<blockquote>When the plant was started in the fall of 1852 what machinery was used ran alright and filled every reasonable expectation. The beets, however, had been grown on the lowlands, and the juice was filled with mineral and was dark. When we started, the first thing that Mr. Mollenhauer called for were the retorts, but we soon discovered we had no retorts. That important part of sugar-making machinery had never been ordered as they were not in the plans that were given by the Arras Company to use. Mr. Mollenhauer had supposed all the time they had come along with the machinery … These retorts were the cast iron ovens wherein bones were burned to make the animal charcoal that had to be used to clarify and purify the juice of the beet before it could be granulated and made into sugar. This was a fatal mishap and that settled the matter for that season as far as sugar-making was concerned … Mr. Mollenhauer and myself gathered a few bones together and burned them in a charcoal pit, and from the few bones we burned we clarified several bottles of black beet syrup until it was clear as crystal; and satisfied ourselves that the sugar could be made, and all that was needed was an abundance of animal clarifying matter. Had we secured that, Utah would have made beet sugar twenty years ahead of any other part of the United States.<ref name = delamare>''[https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://www.google.com/&httpsredir=1&article=5769&context=etd Philip De La Mare, Pioneer Industrialist]'', Hartshorn, Leon, 1959</ref></blockquote>
==The full factory== [[Image:Building in Salt Lake City, Utah in which the first beet sugar machinery brought to the United States was installed LCCN2016824495.jpg|thumb|The sugar factory, when the building was later used by Bamberger Coal]]
In 1853, a full factory was designed by Truman O. Angell, who was called by Young.<ref name="schmalz" /> A. O. Smoot, the first bishop of the Sugar House ward, directed construction.<ref name="schmalz" /> The project was plagued with delays, in part due to labor and construction materials being needed for construction of the nearby [[Salt Lake Temple]].<ref name="schmalz" /> The factory was scheduled for completion in the fall of 1854, but did not start processing sugar beets until February 1, 1855.<ref name="schmalz" /> The factory ran until March 17, 1855, but didn't successfully produce sugar.<ref name="schmalz" />
The operation closed in fall 1856, never having been successful, though the Church still believed it could be made successful.<ref name="taylor" /><ref name="schmalz" /> Later research proved the equipment was manufactured correctly, installed correctly, and similar to later successful factories; the difference was the lack of experienced operators, especially for boiling sugar in the vacuum pan.<ref name="schmalz" /> The two missing steps were an inadequate speed on the vacuum pump, and a missing graining step to produce sugar crystals.<ref name="schmalz" /> The operation was also likely abandoned due to the declining finances of the LDS Church and the [[Utah War]] of 1857, as well as Young's poor ability to handle criticism<!-- cited -->.<ref name="schmalz" />
==Legacy== The expensive equipment, acquired and shipped to Utah at great cost, was reused in other industries around Utah.<ref name="taylor" /><ref name="schmalz" /> These industries included a woolen mill owned by Young, Thomas Howard's paper manufacturing, and book binding at the [[Deseret News]].<ref name="taylor" /><ref name="schmalz" /> In the end, the operation was a $50,000 loss.<ref name="vw">{{cite news|title=The Lehi Sugar Factory—100 Years in Retrospect|last=Van Wagoner|first=Richard S. | authorlink = Richard S. Van Wagoner|year=1991|work=Utah Historical Quarterly|publisher=Utah Historical Society|pages=189–204}}</ref>
The concern of supplying sugar to the region was still under discussion.<ref name="taylor" /> In 1863, Young stated "Importing sugar has been a great drain upon our ... currency. I am satisfied that it is altogether unnecessary to purchase sugar in a foreign market."<ref name="taylor" /> After years of experimenting with [[Sweet sorghum|sorghum]] and deciding sugar beets would work better, [[Arthur Stayner]] lobbied the LDS church in 1887,<ref name="arrington-uhq">{{cite journal|last=Arrington|first=Leonard J|year=1966|title=Utah's pioneer sugar beet plant; the Lehi factory of the Utah Sugar Company|journal=Utah Historical Quarterly|publisher=Utah State Historical Society|volume=34|issue=2|pages=95–120|oclc=1713705}}</ref> but the church was not interested, due to poor church finances and a committee of the church-owned [[Zions Cooperative Mercantile Institution|ZCMI]] reporting such a venture would be a bad idea.<ref name="godfrey" /> By 1889, Arthur Stayner and Elias Morris were able to win over [[Wilford Woodruff]] to the idea of growing and processing sugar beets, leading to a new enterprise, the [[Utah-Idaho Sugar Company]].<ref name="godfrey"/>
==References== {{reflist|25em}}
[[Category:Sugar companies of the United States]] [[Category:Agriculture in Utah]] [[Category:1850s in Utah Territory]] [[Category:Defunct organizational subdivisions of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]] [[Category:Former properties of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]] [[Category:American companies established in 1851]] [[Category:American companies disestablished in 1856]] [[Category:Food and drink companies established in 1851]] [[Category:Manufacturing companies established in 1851]] [[Category:Manufacturing companies disestablished in 1856]] [[Category:1851 establishments in Utah Territory]] [[Category:1856 disestablishments in Utah Territory]] [[Category:Defunct manufacturing companies based in Utah]] [[Category:Food and drink companies disestablished in the 19th century]]