The first entrepreneurs to try to make sugar from beets in Utah were the
Mormon pioneers in the early 1850s, who used machinery shipped from
Liverpool, England, but their attempts to produce
granulated sugar failed because they could not overcome the problems created by growing beets in
alkali soils. Stayner studied the
sugar industry in California. He was energetic and using his property, he conducted experiments with sugar cane,
sorghum cane, and sugar beets in
Utah. In 1887, he produced the first 7,000 pounds of commercial sugar in Utah and received a $5000 award from the legislature. With the support of
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) and other business leaders, he formed the
Utah Sugar Company in 1889 with 20 stockholders. This company was ultimately instrumental in building a $400,000 beet sugar factory constructed by
E. H. Dyer in 1891 at
Lehi. The company was so successful that it encouraged the building of other factories in Utah and Idaho that resulted in great economic growth in the two states from the research and the manufacturing of sugars and sugar syrups. ==Death and legacy==