I bought this book from Bob in May of 2003. A couple of years before I was over in La Grande visiting and he had shown me this wonderful souvenir book that had been in his family. It had names, stories, pictures and history of not only the Sugar Factory but many of the people of the county. Information I had never seen before in any of the written accounts of the county information.

At that time, it was only a dream of Bob's to get this book published. He joined the Union County Historical Society (UCHS) and with their help, the book was published in May of this year. In Bob's typical fashion, any proceeds from this book go to UCHS to help support the society. Bob and his wife Pearl, are truly wonderful people, who care about the history of the county and are trying to preserve what information is left before it all disappears.

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The Sugar Factory Souvenir book was published in October of 1898. It commemorates the building of a factory in La Grande by a group of citizens from the county and state who organized a company called the Oregon Beet Sugar Company. The sugar factory was the tenth one built in the United States. It  was built on 80 acres within a 1/2 mile NE of La Grande.

This book chronicles, not only the history of the book but also many of the people and businesses of the county. It gives information not only on the people and their families but also the history of many of the businesses of the county at that time. A few of the examples of people and businesses in the book, that I haven't found elsewhere are:

Buildings:
Haworth Building - Samuel Haworth; Ralston Building - Oliver Ralston; Ross Building - J.V. Ross
Companies:
ABC Steam Laundry - owned and operated by C.S. and L.F. Dunn
Bohnenkamp's Hardware store - William Henry Bohnenkamp, Proprietor.
Bolton & Bodmer - Selling agricultural implements, vehicles and machinery.
Hill & Allen - Drug Store. Proprietors Albert T. Hill & Orren V. Allen.
Holmes' Drug Store - Proprietor Frederick J. Holmes.
M&M Company (Mercantile & Milling Co.,) and the Goodnough family.
Mellquist & Thorson.
Murphy's Hardware Store
Opera House in La Grande - Proprietor David Henry Steward.
Peare's Jewelry Store - John Hickey Pear Proprietor.
Willard's Meat Market - E.E. Willard

Dentists: J.L. & L.D. Reavis. Robert L. Lincoln.

Grande Ronde Lumber Company-history of and information about Robert Smith, general manager of the Co.
Hunter & Fox - Planing mill.

Hotel:
Hotel Foley - Proprietor Jerome E. Foley.
Sommer Hotel - Proprietor Aaron Sommer.

Mills:
Oregon Roller Mills - owned and operated by the Davis brothers, including C.E., E.W. and A.B. Davis.
Pioneer Flouring Mill, North Powder Mill, Alliance Mill,

There are many more people and their families, listed other than the following. I list them because I have either seen limited information about them or no information written about them in the books I've bought.

William G. Hunter, Dr. Thomas R. Monk, Louis De Petris,David H. Layne,  Paul Bizzini, Reavis brothers, Julius Roesch, S.O. Swackhamer, W.H. Giffen, C.H. Finn, F.S. Ivanhoe, Thomas H. Crawford, John C. Ardrey, William Sargent. Duncan McLean.J.D. Casey, Charles Wesley Nessly, J.M. Selder. M.L. Causey.

If you are interested, you can buy the book at the following bookstores in La Grande. I would e-mail them or call to see if they have the book in stock and how much it would be with S&H. I've bought books from both stores. I've also ordered UCHS books from Sunflower books and they've been great. I have all the UCHS annuals that were printed in the 1960's. If they don't have them in stock, they can order them from the society.  - Janine