Back in Time - Sugar Beet Harvest

Art Stearns hefts an unknown person on his shoulders
date and location unknown
I'm not sure where these photos were taken. I doubt they were taken in South Dakota because I don't think anyone in the Edgemont/Provo area grew sugar beets because irrigation was not available in those areas. All of the photos were taken during a sugar beet harvest which makes me think the photos may have been taken in the Riverton, WY area where farmers have grown sugar beets for years.

standing, Oscar Eberle, Art Stearns, Jacob Eberle
unknown person in wagon
date and location unknown
This photo shows my mother's brothers, too, so they may have come out to Wyoming from South Dakota to help during the harvest season.

Art Stearns
date and location unknown
To my knowledge, my dad never planted sugar beets on the farm. The crops I remember on the farm were beans, potatoes, corn, oats, and alfalfa. Maybe my sisters can give me some idea where these photos may have been taken.

Comments

  1. Looks like a good crop of sugar beets—they are huge!

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  2. Great photos and looks like a bumper crop. I grew up in the heart of Minnesota sugar beet country. I lived in town, but do remember a couple of times going out into the field with a friend of my dad and picking up beets missed by the harvest. Then we took some beets home to my mom who planned to grind them. But I don't remember if she did. They really are huge which was a surprise.

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  3. My dad was a Wyoming sugar beet farmer! Everyone in the entire family was allowed to drive the dump trucks to the factory 'dump' except me! lol I spent my whole childhood playing in those beets. Remember sugar beet balls from the factory, used to play with jacks?

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  4. I love old photos--anyone's old photos! I don't even have to know who the people are. Thanks for sharing. BTW, I have just started eating beets again and using them for juicing. They are a lost delicacy from the past.

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  5. I agree with Katherine. I enjoy seeing old pictures. Yours are always interesting because you know something about the picture and people. I never lived inland always lived near an ocean even if it was an hour or two away until I was an adult. We always lived in suburbs. Now we are a far suburb with a minimum 2 acre requirement. I think we've gone a little too rural! Enjoyed the post.

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  6. Those are some great photos of your dad and certainly show life on the farm!

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  7. Holy cow....those beets are HUGE!

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  8. Cool. Fireman and I saw lots of beets at the CHicago Botanic gardens today@ How in sync we are Nancy!

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  9. That was the main crop in my little section of the world, when I was a child. I love that memory, thank you!

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  10. In the middle photo the wagon has wooden wheels...how cool is that! They look like young men possibly in their early 20's. Great old photos:)

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  11. I feel like such a voyeur but I do love the random old B&W farm photos you come up with. I feel the same way about them that I do about paintings of ordinary life scenes...they're precious.

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