E. H. Dyer
Encyclopedia
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
businessman who established the first successful commercial beet sugar mill in the U.S., and as such was called the "father of the American beet sugar industry".
Dyer was born in Sullivan, Maine
Sullivan, Maine
Sullivan is a town in Hancock County, Maine, United States. The population was 1,185 at the 2000 census. The town was named for Daniel Sullivan, an early settler.-Geography:...
; his family was one of the original colonists of New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
. Unlike his brother Ephraim who was drawn by the California Gold Rush
California Gold Rush
The California Gold Rush began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The first to hear confirmed information of the gold rush were the people in Oregon, the Sandwich Islands , and Latin America, who were the first to start flocking to...
, Dyer stayed in Maine when the number of immigrants to California skyrocketed. However, Ephraim needed help running a farm, and asked his brother to join him. Dyer had previously run lumber
Lumber
Lumber or timber is wood in any of its stages from felling through readiness for use as structural material for construction, or wood pulp for paper production....
and quarry
Quarry
A quarry is a type of open-pit mine from which rock or minerals are extracted. Quarries are generally used for extracting building materials, such as dimension stone, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, and gravel. They are often collocated with concrete and asphalt plants due to the requirement...
companies and as an 1883 biography states, "Seeking a wider field he came to California." He arrived in 1857 and determining that the situation was favorable, returned to Maine for his wife Marion Wallace Ingalls, whom he had married in 1850, and two children. Returning in April 1858, they settled on Ephraim's farm in Alvarado
Union City, California
Union City is a city in Alameda County, California, United States. It was incorporated in 1959, combining the communities of Alvarado and Decoto. Alvarado was the original county seat of Alameda County, and the site of the first county courthouse is a California Historical Landmark . The city...
(now part of Union City). After his wife's death in 1863, Dyer married Olive Ingalls, his sister-in-law. In total, he had six children, three sons and three daughters, three from each of the sisters.
In 1859 he was elected County Surveyor
Surveying
See Also: Public Land Survey SystemSurveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, and science of accurately determining the terrestrial or three-dimensional position of points and the distances and angles between them...
of Alameda County
Alameda County, California
Alameda County is a county in the U.S. state of California. It occupies most of the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 1,510,271, making it the 7th most populous county in the state...
and re-elected two years later. Also that same year he was appointed United States Deputy Surveyor by Surveyor General E. F. Beale, and he served in that position for about ten years. In 1876 he was chosen by the Second Congressional District of California
California's 2nd congressional district
California's 2nd congressional district is a congressional district located in the U.S. state of California. The district contains much of the far northern part of the state, north of Sacramento. It is the largest district by area in California...
as a delegate
Delegate
A delegate is a person who speaks or acts on behalf of an organization at a meeting or conference between organizations of the same level A delegate is a person who speaks or acts on behalf of an organization (e.g., a government, a charity, an NGO, or a trade union) at a meeting or conference...
to the Republic National Convention at Cincinnati, Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
.
Meanwhile, Dyer had noticed that much of America's sugar was being imported from abroad. Although several sugar beet mills had been established in the U.S., none of the ventures were able to remain in business for more than a few years. Dyer felt that with proper management, something he had experience in, a sugar company should be able to succeed. To determine if the land was suitable for growing sugar beets, he ordered seeds from Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
to plant on his farm. To his delight, he found the plants to thrive in California.
These experiments attracted the attention of the owners of one of those failed companies, a pair of Germans named A. Otto and A. D. Bonesteel, who had left sugar beet processing jobs in their home country to try to establish a sugar beet industry in the U.S. The Dyers, the Germans, and some other partners formed the California Beet Sugar Company. The Germans, who were tapped to manage the mill's operation based on their previous experience, turned out to be less than competent and the enterprise turned out to be a failure. In 1873, Bonesteel and Otto moved to try their luck in Soquel
Soquel, California
Soquel is a census-designated place in Santa Cruz County, California, United States. The population was 9,644 at the 2010 census.-Geography:Soquel is located at ....
, but they proved to be unsuccessful yet again.
Undeterred, Dyer purchased the Sacramento Beet Sugar Company. This attempt also was a failure, but Dyer persisted and in 1879, finally found the right formula when he formed the Standard Sugar Manufacturing Company. Still, in 1886 the company was forced to close, not due to poor business, but after some equipment exploded, causing the death of a firefighter. Dyer liquidated
Liquidation
In law, liquidation is the process by which a company is brought to an end, and the assets and property of the company redistributed. Liquidation is also sometimes referred to as winding-up or dissolution, although dissolution technically refers to the last stage of liquidation...
the stock and reorganized the company as the Pacific Coast Sugar Company. Three years later, the business was sold to the Alameda Sugar Company.
Dyer continued to be in the sugar business, however. He and his son Edward, who was a chemist
Chemist
A chemist is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties such as density and acidity. Chemists carefully describe the properties they study in terms of quantities, with detail on the level of molecules and their component atoms...
and mechanical draftsman
Technical drawing
Technical drawing, also known as drafting or draughting, is the act and discipline of composing plans that visually communicate how something functions or has to be constructed.Drafting is the language of industry....
, toured sugar beet factories in Germany and brought back to improve their existing facilities as well as for his next project, designing the factory for the newly incorporated Utah Sugar Company in Lehi, Utah
Lehi, Utah
-Attractions:Lehi Roller MillsLehi Roller Mills was founded in 1906 by a co-op of farmers. George G. Robinson purchased the mill in 1910, and since then it has remained in the family. It is run today by grandson R. Sherman Robinson....
. He retired in the 1890s and died in 1906.
A street in Santa Ana, California
Santa Ana, California
Santa Ana is the county seat and second most populous city in Orange County, California, and with a population of 324,528 at the 2010 census, Santa Ana is the 57th-most populous city in the United States....
is named after Dyer.