Amalgamated Sugar Company-Lewiston Sugar Company records
Scope and Contents
This collection consists of thirty-six boxes and thirty-three oversized record books containing documentation relating to the Lewiston Sugar Company and its merger with the Amalgamated Sugar Company. Along with the thirty-three oversized books, many smaller sized record books are contained inside the thirty-six box collection. The voucher (receipts and invoices) and returned checks collections consist of a ten percent sample from the original donation. The voucher collection also contains other special interest invoices, such as payroll, beets hauled, and tax records. Although the box and book collections appear together in the inventory list, they are physically stored separately. The records span from 1905 to 1921. This collection is organized into two series.
Series I contains records relating to the financial aspect of the business and the interaction of the company with farmers. For a financial assessment of the company consult the monthly financial reports, returned checks, invoice books & vouchers, payroll, letters of correspondence, and sugar sales. The oversized record books provide a useful view of how the business functioned, but they only provide data from 1905-10. Boxes labeled as financial records along with boxes containing vouchers and returned checks contain information that continue where the oversized books leave off. Payroll is covered from 1905-07 and 1913-18 in oversized books, vouchers, and payroll booklets. Sugar sale and production information is found in oversized books and sugar account receipt booklets. For an assessment of company-farmer relations examine beet contracts, voucher records on beet haulers and farmers, field books, receipt booklets of seeds furnished, the ledger book, and letters of correspondence.
Series II contains shipping records of beets deliveries and sugar exportation. The Monthly Shipping Reports (boxes 28 & 29) give a good overview of shipping during the years of 1905-16. For information pertaining to sugar exports, view oversized book 34 (Sugar Shipment) and Straight Bills of Landing (railroad records for car arrivals). Beet deliveries records are contained in boxes 30-34 and books 24-33. Straight Bills of Landing from 1915-17 also contain information on beet deliveries.
Dates
- Creation: 1905-1921
Language of Materials
Collection materials are in English.
Restrictions
Open to public research.
Copyright
It is the responsibility of the user to obtain permission to publish from the owner of the copyright (the institution, the creator of the record, the author or his/her transferees, heirs, legates, or literary executors). The user agrees to indemnify and hold harmless the Utah State University Libraries, its officers, employees, and agents from and against all claims made by any person asserting that he or she is an owner of copyright.
Permission to publish material from the Amalgamated Sugar Company-Lewiston Sugar Company records must be obtained from the Special Collections Manuscript Curator and/or the Special Collections Department Head.
Biographical Note
The Lewiston sugar beet plant operated from 1905 to 1971. With significant encouragement and influence from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, David Eccles, Charles W. Nibley, and others combined to finance factories in Ogden (1898), Logan (1901), and Lewiston (1905). The plant in Lewiston was named the Lewiston Sugar Company until it–along with the Ogden and Logan plants–merged into the Amalgamated Sugar Company in 1915. The peak year for production at the Lewiston plant was 1920. During its operation the company purchased substantial amounts of stock in the Oneida Irrigation District to obtain influence over the area’s water rights. Beet Contracts–between the factory and the farmer–could be viewed as ‘binding contracts of serfdom,’ which possibly pushed farmers to abandon the beet farming industry for more profitable crops. (Powell John L.) The factory operated until its abandonment 1971. Within one year after its closing, the building was purchased by Presto Products, which manufactures plastic goods. The building is located at 1200 East 200 South, Lewiston Utah.
Sources for further information:
Arrington, Leonard J., Beet Sugar in the West; A History of the Utah-Idaho Sugar Company, 1891-1966, University of Washington Press. 1966 (Special Collections call # 338.17633 Ar69)
Arrington, Leonard J., David Eccles; Pioneer Western Industrialist, Utah State University Press. 1975 (Special Collections call # 920 Ec27)
Powell, John L. ‘The Role of Beet Growers in Cache Valley; Sugar Beet Industry 1898-1981.' Thesis. 1995 (Special Collections–Thesis)
Shaw, Joan. ‘Sugar Beets' Lewiston-North Cache Valley Historical Board, July 1996. Report # 4 (Special Collections call # 979.27 L589L no. 4).
Bernhisel, John M. III., History of Lewiston (Special Collections call # 979.27 B457).
Extent
36 boxes and 34 ledgers (24 linear ft.)
Abstract
This collection consists of thirty-six boxes and thirty-three oversized record books containing documentation relating to the Lewiston Sugar Company and its merger with the Amalgamated Sugar Company, dating from 1905 to 1921.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
This collection was donated on December 17, 1999 by W. Chip Anderson, Acting Plant Manager of Presto Products. The collection was discovered in the attic of the Presto Products (home of the former sugar beet plant) in Lewiston. Presto representatives contacted Special Collections and offered to donate the materials for historical study.
- Title
- Guide to the Amalgamated Sugar Company-Lewiston Sugar Company records 1905-1921
- Author
- Finding aid created by the Special Collections Department at Utah State University
- Date
- ©2008
- Description rules
- Finding Aid Based On Dacs (Describing Archives: A Content Standard)
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Language of description note
- Finding guide is in English in Latin script.
- Sponsor
- Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) grant, 2007-2008
Revision Statements
- 2009: Template information was updated to reflect Archives West best practice guidelines.
Repository Details
Part of the Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library, Special Collections & Archives Repository
Merrill-Cazier Library
Utah State University
3000 Old Main Hill
Logan Utah 84322-3000 United States
435 797-8248
435 797-2880 (Fax)
scweb@usu.edu