USA > Kansas > Reno County > History of Reno County, Kansas; its people, industries and institutions, Vol I > Part 32
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solidation of the smaller plants and the building of a new plant, has an annual capacity of one million barrels and a storage capacity of one-quarter million barrels.
In January, 1910, the Morton Salt Company, of Chicago, Illinois, was organized with Joy Morton, president : Mark Morton, vice-president : Sterl- ing Morton, secretary, and Daniel Peterkin, treasurer. The general offices were in Chicago. The Hutchinson office was continued until November, 1914. when the Hutchinson sales office was moved to Kansas City, Mis- souri, with Sterling Morton in charge of the sales department.
On September 21. 1906, Joy Morton, president of the Morton Salt Company, began the erection of the largest salt plant in the west. The plant was almost completed when it was completely destroyed by fire on March 25. 1907. The debris was cleaned away and a new plant was immediately begun. The boiler room and salt warehouse were made fire- proof. On September 10. 1907, the new plant was completed and began making salt on the 14th of September, 1907. This plant has a capacity of thirty-three hundred barrels of salt per day. This is by far the largest salt plant in the west and perhaps the largest plant in the United States. I. D. Libbey was superintendent of the plant until October, 1908, when WV. E. Kissick was made superintendent, which position he held until Novem- ber 1. 1914. when Wirt Morton was made superintendent and continues to hold the position at the time of the writing of this history.
There have been one hundred and fifty salt wells drilled in the salt fields around Hutchinson. The water is pumped down the outside pipe and is forced up the inside pipe, saturated with salt. These drill holes show but very little variation after passing through the first one hundred feet. The drill extends down sixty feet before striking shale. The log on well 7. drilled at Riverside salt plant in January, 1897. shows the following : 99 feet of clear sand, 68 feet of red shale or soft stone, 313 feet of white lime shale, soft stone, and 330 feet rock salt strata. The salt strata shows the following: 35 feet of salt and shale, 20 feet of salt, 15 feet of salt and shale. to feet of salt, 10 feet of salt and shale, 15 feet of salt. 5 feet of salt and shale, 20 feet of salt. 5 feet of salt and shale, 5 feet of salt. 5 feet of salt and shale. 15 feet of salt, 10 feet of salt and shale, 30 feet of salt. 15 feet of salt and shale, 15 feet of salt, 20 feet of salt and shale, 50 feet of salt. 15 feet of salt and shale. 15 feet of salt.
The total of 330 feet shows 100 feet of clear salt and 140 feet of salt
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mixed with shale. In putting down the well there was used 99 feet of eight-inch pipe, 168 feet of six-inch pipe and 775 feet of three-inch tubing. An analysis of the brine from twelve different wells made in 1906 shows the following analysis :
Specific gravity at 75 degrees Fahr.
Sulphate of lime
Chloride of calcium
Chloride of magnesium
Chloride of sodium, pure salt
Water
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1 1
I
1
1
1
100.00000
1.19980
.39139
.20757
.13625
25.49380
72.67119
1
1
1
1
I
I
CHAPTER XLVIII.
BUILDING UP THE SALT INDUSTRY.
In the preceding chapter the work of constructing the various salt plants has been recorded, as well as the expansion of the number of plants, the failure of some to succeed and the dismantling of the older ones. It took large sums of money to erect these plants. But few of the promoters of the salt business in the beginning had had any experience in that line. When the limited market of that time was supplied, the cutting of prices on salt was begun. It then was simply a process of elimination, the survival of the most experienced and the driving out of the business of the smaller of the salt men and the passing of their plants to others.
In the beginning of the manufacture of salt there were no freight rates that would allow any great expansion of the industry. The building up of railroad tariffs that would enable the manufacturer of salt in Hutchinson to get to a larger market was the problem. It was thought necessary by some of the plants to get a railroad interested in the business in order to help out the marketing of the salt. This led to the payment of rebates on freight shipments of salt that helped some of the plants. The final outcome of this rebate system was an investigation by the interstate commerce com- mission into the entire question of salt rates. This hearing was held in Hutchinson. It drew the presence of more traffic officials of the railroads, not only in Kansas but in other states that had joined with the Kansas rail- roads in joint tariffs on salt, than ever congregated in Kansas before. The private cars of the officials of these roads were sidetracked in the Hutchin- son yards, while the traffic men attended the hearing on the rebate matter.
Judge Charles A. Prouty, a member of the Interstate Commerce Com- mission, presided at the hearing. He was a shrewd, keen lawyer and knew the various methods used to evade the interstate commerce law. John T. Marchand was the attorney of the interstate commerce commission and con- ducted the examination.
Commenting on this case in the report the commission made, Judge Prouty says, "The exigencies some of the shippers felt necessary to use to evade the law developed a crop of expediencies for the benefiting of par-
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ticular shippers." "Hutchinson", continues the report, "is the center of the salt industry of Kansas, although factories are operated at several other points in that vicinity, the salt beds being of extensive area. The Kansas salt works at the present time are known as the 'trust' and the independents'. It appeared that all of the trust' mills, nine in number, were located in Hutchinson and had a capacity of three thousand five hundred barrels a day, all owned and operated by the Hutchinson-Kansas Salt Company, while the 'independent' companies, seven in number, with a daily capacity of two thousand five hundred barrels, were owned by individuals." "It was shown further," says the report, "that the salt rates from Hutchinson to the Mis- souri river were not generally maintained previous to the spring of 1902. The rate to Kansas City and corresponding Missouri river points was ten cents per hundred pounds on bulk salt and twelve cents per hundred pounds on barrel salt. Bulk salt was shipped loose in cars, with no barrels or pack- ages, and was generally used by the packing houses, saving the expense to the packers of barrels and also the expense of barreling it."
In July, 1902. a railroad corporation was organized under the laws of Kansas, known as the Hutchinson & Arkansas River Railroad Company. The purpose set out in the charter of the company was to construct a railroad from Kechi, a small town on the St. Louis & San Francisco railroad, to Hutchinson. A survey of this road was effected and estimates made of the amount of grading required, but nothing was ever done toward the building of the road. In addition to this a further purpose was to construct. combine and connect all of the plants owned by the Hutchinson-Kansas Salt Company in such a way that the cars could be conveniently handled in and out to the various plants of the company.
The largest plant of the Hutchinson-Kansas company is the Morton plant. south of the Arkansas river. It has a capacity of eleven hundred barrels of salt a day. The tracks of the Kinsley branch of the Santa Fe run on one side of the plant and the Rock Island on the other side, and there are two switches connecting both sides of the mill with these railroads, the entire length of these switches being about four thousand feet. These tracks were built by the Morton Salt Company for the purpose of furnish- ing a means of reaching the two railroads mentioned and had been con- structed for several years before the Hutchinson & Arkansas River charter was obtained. As soon as this charter was obtained, these switch tracks were sold to the Hutchinson & Arkansas River Railway for a consideration of seven thousand dollars. These were the only tracks owned by the Hutchinson & Arkansas River railroad, which had no cars or engines.
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RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
The capital stock of the Hutchinson & Arkansas River railroad con- sisted of eight hundred shares, with a par value of one hundred dollars each. Of these eight hundred shares, seven hundred and ninety-four were issued to Joseph P. Tracy, the other six shares being issued, one each to the directors of the company. These directors were Joseph P. Tracy, D. Peter- kin. Mark Morton, Joy Morton, J. C. Baddeley, Frank Vincent and G. Phillips. The officers of this "railroad company" were President Joy Mor- ton, Vice-president Frank Vincent, Treasurer Mark Morton, General Man- ager Joseph P. Tracy and Assistant General Manager Frank Vincent. Joy Morton was at that time president and Mark Morton, treasurer, of the Hutchinson-Kansas Salt Company and Frank Vincent was manager of the salt company. . All the officers of the Hutchinson & Arkansas River Railroad Company were officers of the Hutchinson-Kansas Salt Company, except Mr. Tracy. Peterkin was the private secretary of Joy Morton. In the hearing that was held. Joy Morton testified that he and those whom he represented owned the entire capital stock of the Hutchinson-Kansas Salt Company. The testimony at the hearing disclosed the fact that all three of the railroads running into Hutchinson, the Santa Fe, the Rock Island and the Missouri Pacific. were approached by Mr. Tracy, all in the same manner and making the same statement to all of them, namely, that competitive conditions existed on the Missouri river, both foreign and domestic salt being sold there in large quantities, and if bulk salt were to be moved to Missouri river points that some inducement would have to be held out to the salt companies by the railroads. He stated that he had organized a railroad, the Hutchinson & Arkansas River railroad, and asked the various railroads to make a divi- sion of freight rates from Hutchinson to Missouri river points, so that a price could be named to the packing houses on the Missouri river that would enable them to compete with the foreign companies.
The hearing disclosed further that the rate of ten cents a hundred on bulk salt to Kansas City and twelve cents to Omaha was then in force and that upon this rate the railroads would grant to the Hutchinson & Arkansas River railroad, a division of twenty-five per cent of the amount paid in freight, but that in no event was the amount paid to the "railroad" to exceed fifty cents a ton of the salt shipped. Accordingly, the Santa Fe, the Rock Island and Missouri Pacific railroads all issued tariffs allowing this division of rates to the Hutchinson & Arkansas River railroad.
Everybody entered a general denial at the hearing. The railroads claimed they had granted the Hutchinson & Arkansas River railroad the
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RESIDENCE, STREET
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RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
division and that they had violated no law in so doing. That they had a right to make division of tariffs to other roads. The Hutchinson-Kansas Salt Company denied that it had received any money paid under this new tariff with the Hutchinson & Arkansas River railroad. The traffic officials of all roads who were present were urged to state how the paying of this sum of money to the Hutchinson & Arkansas River railroad could in any way help the Hutchinson-Kansas Salt Company to compete with foreign salt at Missouri river points, unless the Hutchinson-Kansas Salt Company received the amount they had paid in rebates. The Hutchinson & AArkansas River railroad were confronted with this question, so that all of the various traffic officials admitted that the alleged purpose of the tariff. namely, to help the Hutchinson salt field to compete with foreign fields, could not have been accomplished unless the salt company received the rebate. They said further that had they considered the subject in this light. they probably would not have made the division of the rate they did make. Then Joy Morton testified. He said that he was president of both the salt company and of the "paper" railroad company. He said that neither he nor the salt company had received any of the receipts for the division of freight rates. When pressed, he admitted that Mr. Tracy had purchased the stock in the Hutchinson & Arkansas River railroad at his suggestion and that while Mr. Tracy did not hold this stock as his ( Morton's ) trustee. he would probably dispose of the stock in the railroad company and vote its shares as he suggested. That being the case, the proceeds accruing to the paper railroad could at any time be diverted either to Mr. Morton or to the salt company of which he was president.
One of the keenest-witted cross-examinations ever heard in Reno county, conducted by Mr. Prouty, followed the statement Morton made in the wit- ness stand. The shrewd Yankee judge was matched against the equally shrewd, keen-minded head of the salt company, also the head of the "paper" railroad. Judge Prouty begged Morton to tell him how any good could come to the Hutchinson-Kansas Salt Company, of which he was president. unless the proceeds obtained by the railroad were diverted and passed into the treasury of the salt company. Morton answered, with a smile, "Well, Judge. I suppose the proceeds of the salt company went into my right hand pocket and the money earned by the division of freight rates went into my left hand pocket." With a smile equally as pleasant, the Yankee judge responded, "Then, Mr. Morton, I suppose you follow the scriptural injune-
(24)
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tion of not allowing your right hand to know what your left hand is doing." The admission of Morton settled the case. The Hutchinson-Kansas Salt Company would receive the proceeds of the division of the freight given the "paper" railroad at same time. The order of the interstate commerce com- mission was the abolishing of the "paper" railroad and the cancellation of all of the tariffs that had been issued by reason of this road's alleged exist- ence. The effect of this rebate while it was in operation was exceedingly unpleasant for the small companies selling salt in Hutchinson. It gave the Hutchinson-Kansas Salt Company such an advantage that they could have sold salt at cost and made their profits out of the rebates. One of the man- agers of one of the salt companies expressed this conclusion, when he said that if it had not been for the rates granted on freight by the railroad com- panies it would not have been possible to have operated the salt plants in this city.
This statement could not be entirely true. There were salt manufac- turers who stayed in the salt business and are in it yet, who never received any rebates on salt shipment. Among these is Emerson Carey. While a competitor of the Hutchinson-Kansas Company, he made salt and made a profit on his salt. He has constantly been urging before the state railroad commission and before the interstate commerce commission, the lowering of freight rates to an equitable basis with other salt fields. He kept consist- ently and constantly working on this line so that this salt field could be extended and the Kansas field have an equal show in the hauling of salt and in the freight on coal and barrel stuff required. His plan of selling was to deal with the jobbers, shipping in car lots on contract. He kept at it until the trade territory of Hutchinson has been enlarged until Hutchinson salt is sold in the following territory: Kansas, Arkansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Iowa, Montana. Wyoming, South Dakota, Idaho, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona. Texas, Oklahoma and some territory in Tennessee, la- bama. California, Washington and Oregon.
The companies doing business in Hutchinson other than those interested in the early rebating also aided in securing a wider market for Hutchinson salt. Among those was the Barton Salt Company. Ed Barton was ener- getic all the time, pressing the salt products to the best of his ability. Since the rebating' system has ceased. all of the companies have sought by all legitimate means to keep the plants in this city in operation. They have met the competition of other fields. They have sought better and more equitable freight rates in competition with other fields. They have kept
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RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
their plants up to the highest efficiency, using the most modern machinery. They have sought to increase their trade, not at the expense of another. perhaps weaker, as was the manner during the railroad rebate system. The sales department of the Morton plant has been removed to Kansas City, Missouri. The other companies retain their sales offices in Hutchinson. increasing their trade as the country develops and as the change of freight rates will permit. The output is slowly gaining in volume and is becoming more and more each year a factor in Hutchinson commercial life.
CHAPTER XLIX.
LOCATING THE PACKING HOUSE.
The boom days had left Hutchinson in a sad way financially. People had all their money invested in town lots at exorbitant prices. There was considerable Eastern money invested in Hutchinson during the boom days, but much of that was put into houses, which were not a ready asset, as there were too many houses for the number of people. Crop failures and low prices had reduced the resources of the country to an alarming extent. The banks had but little money on hands, no account, according to one of the leading bankers of that day, amounting to over ten thousand dollars, and but few were over one thousand dollars. There were accounts, many of them. overdrawn, secured by collateral of real estate, which, after the mort- gage was paid on the collateral, was worth but little more than the over- draft itself. This same banker said the black figures on the ledger fell over like ten-pins when the boom collapsed and in their place the sickening entries in red figures, expressed in two, three, and even five and six figures, appeared in another column in the same ledger.
It was at this critical time that R. M. Easley, then editor of the Daily News, without counselling anyone and without letting anyone know of what he had done, telegraphed Dold & Son, of Kansas City, a cash bonus of one hundred thousand dollars to build a packing house in Hutchinson. To Easley's surprise. Dold answered his telegram in a hopeful letter. Easley then told some of the leading business men what he had done, and also had a double-column flash-head article the next morning in the Newes, assuring the people that the packing house was a certainty. In response to Dold's letter, R. M. Easley, L. A. Bigger and S. W. Campbell went to Kansas City to see Dold. They found he was one of the sons of Jacob Dold. the founder. a generation before, of a packing house in Buffalo, New York. They were politely received by Dold and one of the committee says that the suggestion to this Dold of building a packing house was too much of a shock to his cumbersome system to allow him to make an expression of his ideas that contained any meaning whatever. At the same time the committee called on Armour & Company and were met by K. B. Armour, a young man
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of about thirty years, who was then in charge of the Kansas City plant. He displayed a great interest in the enterprise and the committee began to worry a little on the question of how they were going to get the money in case any packer should conclude to build a plant here. The story of Hutch- inson's effort to get a packing house and the bait that was being put up for it soon reached Chicago and a short time afterward Nelson Morris, the founder of the Morris packing house, came to Hutchinson and met with the business men of the city.
Matters soon. took form. A meeting for organization was held and the plan to secure a packing plant, or rather, to secure the money for a packing plant, was outlined by L. A. Bigger and W. E. Hutchinson. The amount they proposed to raise was one hundred thousand dollars, Hutchinson sug- gested that the amount be fixed at two hundred thousand dollars, and that real estate be put into the subscription, and when this was sold the one hun- dred thousand dollars could be realized. With this proposition, a committee was sent to Chicago, consisting of W. E. Hutchinson, L. A. Bigger, J. M. Mulkey and Charles Collins. It was thought that by having a real estate subscription, part of it could be sold to the packers themselves. This is just what happened and greatly helped the enterprise, as it is doubtful if one hundred thousand dollars in cash could have been realized: but, with real estate, it was possible to secure donations because the owners realized that it was not a great asset on the market.
One of the men who greatly helped the Hutchinson committee in Chi- cago was G. A. Walkup. He was not a resident of Kansas and had no property here to increase in value, and no consideration was offered him to help in the enterprise. He never intimated that he wanted any of the profit of the enterprise, but he was one of the main helpers of the committee in Chicago. Through him the committee met Mr. Lord, the senior member of the firm of Lord & Thomas. Lord suggested that the bonus be raised to four hundred thousand dollars in real estate and organize a company with a capital of two hundred thousand dollars, to whom this property should be ceeded. This would leave two dollars of property out of which it was figured one dollar of value could be realized. Lord took an active interest in the organization matters. He was related through his wife to a Mr. Favorite, who was the right hand man of P. D. Armour. In order to have this avenue to Armour kept open, Walkup bent all of his energies and used all of his tact and judgment. Lord also interested J. P. Odell, president of the Union National Bank of Chicago. Through these sources. E. L.
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Lobdell, who was in the business of selling securities, was interested, in order that some means of disposing of this real estate might be provided. I.obdell had a good standing and was a relative of G. B. Shaw, president of another one of Chicago's banks. Walkup kept this Hutchinson committee on the go, meeting men of financial resources and arranging all of the details of all of the numerous meetings of the committee with the various financial leaders of the city. Walkup arranged meetings with G. B. Swift, the founder of the Swift Packing Company, also with Libby, McNeill & Libby, Mike Cuddahy, of the packing company which bears his name. Anderson Fowler and P. L. Underwood were all likewise interviewed. Later, the idea of a lard refinery was added to that of a packing plant and N. K. Fair- banks & Company were visited with an idea of interesting that firm.
For several weeks this work was kept up in Chicago. Lord was inter- esting many in the real estate end of the proposition and the bonus question, that was such a big stumbling block to the Hutchinson people, was largely taken care of outside of the city. Among those who were helpful in the real estate proposition was E. S. Dreyer, president of a German bank of Chicago. He had a fine standing in Chicago and did more, perhaps, in helping finance the proposition. using his own money, than any other one man the Hutchinson-committee met.
The next step was to bring the interested parties to Hutchinson, to look over the investments. There was one matter, however, that the committee in Chicago had to look after when they reached this city, namely, the mat- ter of raising four hundred thousand dollars in real estate instead of two hun- dred thousand dollars as was understood when they left this city. The town had subscribed all of the amount originally agreed on, and it required con- siderable diplomacy to get the citizens of Hutchinson to take up the burden again and do a double amount of subscribing of real estate. A public meet- ing was called at the old opera house. Even here a systematic plan was car- ried out. The speakers were told just how long each was to talk, just what they were to say and at the proper time. This was done for two nights. The second night the doors of the opera house were shut and locked. sub- scriptions were taken, but not enough was raised to close up the balance of the two hundred thousand dollars to be added to the original subscription. In fact. clearing up the entire matter took from the middle of May, when the public meetings were held until October. There was much to do in the way of examining titles and settling the details of a matter that covered so many tracts of land.
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RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
During this time the subscriptions were being arranged. The Chicago capitalists were brought to Hutchinson and they were entertained in the homes of the citizens of the city. E. R. Dreyer was among this number. Before he left Hutchinson he subscribed twenty-five thousand dollars worth of town lots, which was a great boost to the weary canvassers for real estate subscriptions. After the total amount had been subscribed, the committee was sent to Chicago to complete the work of getting the packing house. Prior to that time the committee had paid their own expenses, but the city council met and agreed to pay future expenses. There was no warrant for stich expenditure, but no one questioned it and it went through unchallenged.
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