Spotlight: Amalga, Utah

by MAGEN OLSEN

On a map, Amalga, Utah is a strip of land shaped to fit a row of residences along 2400 West in Cache County. It sits on the swampy banks of the Bear River and boasts a local grocery store, a veterinary clinic, and a park. It’s this park, Amalga Sugar Park, that serves as a center of history and culture for the town of approximately five hundred people.

Amalgamated Sugar Company had its start in Utah in 1902 as two smaller companies, the Ogden and Logan Sugar Companies, consolidated under one brand. The companies had both been founded in part by David Eccles, who also incorporated another sugar company he’d founded in Oregon as part of the merger. As Amalgamated Sugar grew, so did demand for more factories. It was decided to build a refinery in Cache County, a central location convenient to Cache valley sugar beet farms.

The Cache County factory opened in 1917, and if you hadn’t guessed it yet, the settlement around it was nicknamed “Amalga” for short. Though settlers had been farming the area since 1869, it was the arrival of the factory, its employee housing, and a hotel that made the area more than rural farmland.

Sugar beet operations in Amalga were, unfortunately, short lived. A sugar beet blight had been raging through Utah, Idaho, Oregon, and Montana since 1905. It wasn’t until the 1930s that the blight came under control as farmers introduced blight resistant plants to their crops. For the Amalga factory it was too late; their doors were shut in 1929. Crops were shipped to other factories, equipment was sold off, and buildings were torn down.

Today Amalga may look a bit more like what it did before the arrival of its namesake factory, but it is no less a lively community who celebrates its history well. This small town is very active on Facebook, where it announces community gatherings and shares photos frequently. They recently instituted an annual Christmas light show to encourage holiday cheer in the community, and the town frequently gathers at the local LDS chapel for Halloween and Thanksgiving parties.

Pioneer Day festivities are held primarily in Sugar Park. Amalga holds an annual quilt show as one of their July 24th features, where the craftsmanship of local quilters is hung on the fence for patrons to enjoy. The park features several family fun opportunities, including a playground, covered picnic area, baseball diamond, basketball court, and disc golf course.