DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about cane syrup production in Van Zandt County — and friend, this one's worth savoring. Now, every good story has a beginning, and this one starts somewhere in the second half of the nineteenth century, when folks migrating out of the Deep South brought a tradition with them into East Texas — the making of syrup from sugar cane and sorghum. They were lookin for land, and Van Zandt County handed them something special: fertile soil and abundant water.
The kind of combination that makes a farmer's eyes go wide. But one farmer's eyes went wider than most. Willis Jarrell Hale.
The first man to gain real notoriety for syrup production in Van Zandt County. In 1884, Hale started farming on a piece of ground two and a half miles east of Canton — ground that would come to be known simply as the Hale Farm. He planted ribbon cane, and here's where things get interesting: Hale figured out how to irrigate that cane using the flood method, drawing water from a large spring right there on the property.
And when nature and know-how line up like that, the results can be something to talk about. Hale was frequently making six hundred gallons of syrup to the acre. Six hundred gallons.
Word spread. Hale Farm Syrup developed a reputation for superior quality — not just all over Texas, mind you, but nationally. And Hale kept at it, producing that famous syrup for twenty-three years.
Twenty-three years of ribbon cane and spring water and something that people all across this country apparently could not get enough of. Now, the farm changed hands in 1915. Henry D.
Jones acquired it from Metza Hale — son of W.J. — and rather than let that legacy rest, Jones picked it up and carried it further. He built a modern syrup mill with a gasoline engine. He expanded the operation to twenty acres of ribbon cane.
He worked the publicity angle until Hale Farm Syrup was selling from Missouri all the way to California, and all points in between across the State of Texas. And then came the hard years. The Great Depression settled over this country like a heavy sky, and the Hale Farm became something more than a syrup operation — it became work.
Employment. It employed many members of the Van Zandt community during those lean times. That's the kind of detail that sits with you.
Demand for ribbon cane syrup declined after World War Two — the world was changin, tastes were shiftin — but production kept going. All the way until 1960. Forty-five years after Henry D.
Jones took over, the operation finally wound down. The land, though? The ownership of that land still remains in the Jones family.
Same ground where Willis Jarrell Hale first flooded a ribbon cane field from a spring and made something the whole country wanted. Still in family hands. Some things, turns out, don't need to end.
What the marker says
The tradition of making syrup from sugar cane and sorghum started in East Texas in the second half of the nineteenth century. Syrup production arrived along with migration from the Deep South to East Texas. Van Zandt County provided the ideal combination of fertile soil and abundant water for the farming of sugar cane syrup. Willis Jarrell Hale was the first farmer to gain notoriety for producing syrup in Van Zandt County. In 1884, Hale started farming and growing ribbon cane on what became known as the Hale Farm which was located two and a half miles east of Canton. Hale developed the land so that he could irrigate the cane using the flood method from a large spring on the property, frequently making 600 gallons of syrup to the acre. Hale Farm Syrup developed a reputation for superior quality all over Texas as well as nationally. Hale produced this famous syrup for 23 years. Henry D. Jones acquired the farm in 1915 from Metza Hale, son of W.J., and carried on the tradition of syrup making. Jones managed to expand the operation and create publicity over the next 45 years. He built a modern syrup mill with a gasoline engine and was farming 20 acres of ribbon cane. The sale of his Hale Farm Syrup reached from Missouri to California, as well as all over the State of Texas. The Hale Farm employed many members of the Van Zandt community during the Great Depression. Demand for ribbon cane syrup declined after WWII, but production continued until 1960. The ownership of the land still remains in the Jones Family.