00:00One man turned Colorado's sugar beet industry into a billion-dollar empire,
00:04and most people have never even heard his name.
00:08Benedict T. Palin Jr. wasn't just a farmer.
00:12He was the guy who convinced entire communities, she, that sugar beets could save their economy.
00:19In the early 1900s, he built processing plants across the state.
00:23He brought in experts from Europe to teach farmers the techniques.
00:26And he personally guaranteed loans so families could afford the equipment.
00:32By the 1920s, Colorado was producing more sugar than almost any state in the country.
00:39Palin didn't just grow crops.
00:40He built the infrastructure that made modern farming possible in Colorado.
00:45That's the kind of leader most history books skip over.
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