Rather, this was a spontaneous migration largely motivated by the
economic opportunities being created in Southern Alberta by Jesse
Knight, a wealthy miner and industrialist from Utah who planned to build a sugar
factory and a town. Settlers thus
would have triple opportunity for making a livelihood in Raymond. There were
jobs related to the sugar factory, business
opportunities in town, and farming and ranching could be carried on in
surrounding areas where land was relatively inexpensive.
In the spring
of 1900, Charles Magrath, for whom the town of Magrath was named, passed out
sugar beet seeds to some of the farmers at Magrath and Stirling and in the fall
sent samples of the harvested beets to the Utah Sugar Company at Lehi, Utah for analysis. The report from the Lehi
plant – that most of the beets were “wonderfully rich” and that “purity
should not run lower than 80 percent” – was one of the major factors leading
to the consideration of a sugar beet factory in the Raymond
area. Although unmoved by the Lehi report, Jesse Knight nevertheless sent his sons, Ray and
William, to Alberta to see the land he was being encouraged to buy. Further investigation prompted Jesse Knight to purchase a 30,000-acre
block from the Alberta Railway and Irrigation Company near Spring Coulee for
$2.50 per acre. On May 26, 1901
Jesse Knight arrived in southern Alberta to inspect the land he had purchased. Impressed, he purchased a further 226,000 acres and two
days later he proposed to personally undertake the construction of a sugar beet
factory somewhere between the Mormon communities of Magrath and
Stirling. On August
16, 1901, after contract terms had been negotiated, he deposited
$50,000 with the Irrigation Company as a guarantee of good faith, and Raymond,
named after his eldest son, was on the map.
To introduce
the sugar beet industry into Alberta under the conditions that existed in 1902
required a great deal of courage, vision and stamina. It also required a lot of
capital and strong leadership. Because most of these strong leaders had to be recruited
from other places, a considerable numbers of energetic pioneers came to southern Alberta
between the years 1900 and 1903. The new factory
operated for the first time in the fall of 1903 under the name Knight Sugar
Company. Success did not come immediately, largely because farmers in the area
were not familiar with the beet crop. This prompted action by the federal
government designed to encourage farmers to work with the beets; the objective,
of course, being to ensure settlement of the largely unpopulated area. The
government offered a bonus of 50 cents per hundred pounds of sugar produced, to
be divided equally between the beet growers and the factory. They also
eliminated all taxes on the sugar factory during the initial 12-year contract
period.
The CKUA Heritage Trails:
To listen to the Heritage Trails , you need the RealPlayer,
available free from RealNetworks:
- Cemetery Day in Raymond - Cemetery Day is celebrated in a certain
Alberta town each summer. Hear about the cultural history of this day, and
which town continues to celebrate it!
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