196 



RURAL CALIFORNIA 



new factories not only in California but in other 

 states. For a number of years California led the 

 country in beet-sugar manufacture but more re- 

 cently other states have shared this distinction. In- 

 teresting facts about the numbers of factories in 

 operation in California and their output and prices 

 paid a ton for beets are compiled from the records 

 of the United States Department of Agriculture as 

 follows : 



The fourteen factories included above are widely 

 scattered over the State. Three are in central coast 

 counties (Eegion 2 of Chapter I) ; seven are in south- 

 ern coast counties (Eegion 3) ; and four are in in- 

 terior valley counties (Region 4). In some cases 

 beets are carried over a hundred miles by rail to the 

 factories. 



At the time of California's greatest output of 

 beet-sugar (1916), her rank was second in the United 

 States, Colorado leading by about eighteen thousand 

 tons. Since that time production has decreased. 

 Confidence in the industry was unsettled by removal 



