At age 70, German immigrant Claus Spreckels constructed the world's largest sugar beet factory. The building consisted of 3,500 tons of steel framing, 4.5 million brick, a 74,500 square foot slate roof, and 6.5 inside stories. Its brick walls were 116 feet tall, 102 feet wide, and 582 feet long. Two brick smokestacks, 227 feet tall and 14 feet round, were externally plated with 1/4 inch steel. The total cost was 5 million dollars. Seven million bricks and the machinery were shipped around the Horn to Moss Landing, where Spreckels owned the P.V.C. Railroad linking the Watsonville-Salinas area to Spreckels, California.