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The sugar beet harvest in Colorado can be a race against time. The crop is planted in the spring and not harvested until late October, when an early snowstorm can leave farmers with a fraction of the yield they planned.
So on Nov. 1, 1955, Conrad Hopp and his family were working feverishly on their Weld County farm to take out the beet crop. When the clock struck 7 that evening, the crop was all in and Conrad was hungrily devouring dinner in their farmhouse…