Footprints in the Sugar
A History of the Great Western Sugar Company
written by Candy Hamilton
Journey of the Book
photos below of Candy and John Hamilton as they traveled throughout Colorado with "Footprints in the Sugar"
One never knows which direction life may take them and I can certainly be included in that vast number of people. As a young girl growing up in Modesto, California, I dreamt of doing many things when I would finally be an adult out on my own. Believe me when I say writing a history book, or for that matter any type of book, was never one of my many dreams or goals.
The stories and history of the Great Western Sugar Company have come alive for John and I as we travel and meet people who were associated with the Great Western Sugar Company. The experience has brought the book to life for us and is truly the unexpected reward of my writing "Footprints in the Sugar."
- Candy Hamilton (photo of Hamiltons relaxing by Cache la Poudre River - June 2009)
The 2nd Printing of Footprints in the Sugar Loveland Museum & Gallery media release
can be purchased through this website or at the following locations:
(click on location to view website)
Farm And Ranch Museum - 12 Books
Gering, Nebraska
Fort Collins Museum & Discovery Science Center Museum Store - 3 Books
Fort Collins, Colorado
Loveland Museum & Gallery - 23 Books
Loveland, Colorado
Overland Trail Museum - 8 Books
Sterling, Colorado
Sampling of articles about Footprints in the Sugar:
(click on publication to view article)
Windsor Beacon - August 1, 2009
The Fence Post - July 21, 2009
Loveland Reporter-Herald, June 29, 2009
The Johnstown Breeze - June 18, 2009
Johnstown Historical Society, May 2009 newsletter
The Sugarbeet Grower - July/August 2009 - book review
Gering Courier - September 18, 2009
June 2009... When John and I packed our fifth-wheel and truck with books and left our home in Idaho to go to Colorado to market and promote Footprints in the Sugar, we never expected to be there for four months. We fully expected we would return home after a couple of weeks and that all our family and friends would receive a copy of the book for Christmas; after all, what in the world were we going to do with 500 books?
What we encountered when we arrived in Colorado was an immediate, heartfelt and overwhelming response to Footprints in the Sugar. I still cannot quite 'get my head around' the reaction. I knew I had written a bit of American history that I felt needed to be documented, but never imagined other people would feel the same way.
June-October 2009... While in Colorado I made presentations at the Loveland Museum & Gallery and Windsor-Severance Library, talked to six autonomous learner classes at Windsor Middle School, and had book signings at the Parish House in Johnstown, Farm and Ranch Museum Harvest Festival in Gering, Nebraska, and the Mead Rotary's Sugar Beet Festival. After my presentation at the Loveland Museum & Gallery a woman came up to me, held both my hands, and told me the 'presence' I had mentioned feeling as John and I walked through deserted Great Western factories had chosen me to write their story. Why else would someone who had no connection to Great Western or the beet sugar industry be so obsessed to finish writing a book about the Company?"
In all, John and I met and had the opportunity to visit with well over 400 people. Of the more than 400 books distributed, we personally delivered more than two-thirds. Footprints in the Sugar is now in twenty-one states and Washington, D.C., and is being reviewed by the Agricultural History Society for its Agricultural History journal.
October 23, 2009... I received an email from the Colorado Historical Society stating its Pauline Miles/Caroline Bancroft Awards Committee had selected Footprints in the Sugar for an Honorable Mention for "Researching and Compiling an Extensive Repository of Primary Sources on the History of the Great Western Sugar Company." The Breckenridge Heritage Alliance won the Caroline Bancroft award for its renovation and reinterpretation of the Edwin Carter Museum; Historic Denver, Inc. won the Pauline Miles award for its 'Denver Story Trek' interactive tour program. There were two Honorable Mention awards, the second was given to the Historical Society of Idaho Springs for community engagement and participation in its 150th Gold Rush Anniversary events. I was very honored to be recognized.
December 2009-June 2010... Christmas was wonderful even though I actually had to shop for presents instead of giving everyone we know a book! There were quite a few book orders during December and several more during the first six months of 2010, as a result, I sold out the entire publication of Footprints in the Sugar.
Summer 2010... This summer John and I returned to Colorado and Nebraska to donate my research material to three museums. The bulk of the research is now at the Longmont Museum in its archive (picture "On the Bookshelves" page of this website). The museum's archivist, Erik Mason, has assured me the material will be readily accessible by the public. Several items I had collected from the Morey Merchantile and GWS found a new home at the Loveland Museum & Art Gallery. The final box of material was delivered to Jack Preston and Nancy Haney, curators at the Farm And Ranch Museum in Gering, Nebraska. A portion of research material about the Germans from Russia, Mexican-Americans, and Prisoners of War was given to our son, Erik Brink, for use in the American and World History classes he teaches at Oakdale High School in California.
August 2010... Although John and I were quite certain we would never do a second printing of Footprints in the Sugar, we continue to get requests for the book and feel in our hearts the journey of the book is not complete. Because of continued interest in the history of the Great Western Sugar Company, in late August I signed a contract with Caxton Printers for a second printing of 500 books.
November 2010-Early 2011... The second printing came out in November 2010 and by the beginning of 2011, nearly 100 books had been sold. I guess the journey of the book was indeed meant to continue.
September 2011... Once again we loaded our truck and fifth-wheel with books and headed for Nebraska and Colorado for two sugarbeet festivals and two presentations about the book. The weekend of September 17-18 we attended the Farm And Ranch Museum's (FARM) Harvest Festival in Gering, Nebraska, and on September 24, the Rotary Club of Mead's Sugarbeet Festival in Mead, Colorado. We had participated in both events in 2009, and enjoyed seeing old friends, meeting new ones, and sharing stories about the Great Western Sugar Company. Then a case of the nerves hit, as the next two days I was scheduled to give slide presentations about Great Western and the book.
On Sunday the 25th, I gave an afternoon presentation at the Historic Parish House in Johnstown, Colorado, which was hosted by the Johnstown Historical Society. Then, on the 26th, an evening presentation at the Overland Trail Museum in Sterling, Colorado. (By the way, if you have never been to the Museum, it is well worth the drive out to eastern Colorado.) Both presentations seemed to have been well received and, of course, for John and I the best part was the opportunity to visit with people about Great Western Sugar.
We concluded our trip with a visit and lunch with Dick Riddell from Brighton. Dick is a former Sugar Tramp and spent his entire career with GWS in the agriculture department. We met Dick in 2009 and have stayed in touch ever since. On this visit I was honored to be the recipient of his vast collection of Great Western's publication "Through the Leaves" which was distributed primarily to sugar beet growers. The collection is truly a treasure and I thank Dick so much.
- Candy Hamilton
