USA > Michigan > Saginaw County > History of Saginaw County, Michigan; historical, commercial, biographical, Volume II > Part 49
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The changes in the method of manufacture were such that the stock- holders of the East Saginaw Salt Manufacturing Company, who had paid in on the capital stock (which had been increased to two hundred and fifty
433
THE SALT INDUSTRY
thousand dollars ). the sum of one hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars, found themselves with practically a worthless property on their hands, their competitors, who had profited by their experience, keeping the price so low that no profit could be realized from the manufacture by their method. At least one hundred and fifty thousand dollars was sunk by this company for which no return was ever received, and the stockholders had to content them- selves with the satisfaction of knowing that to them, and to their enterprise and expenditure. was the State indebted for this industry which assumed such enormous proportions within twenty years.
The State Reaps the Benefits
The advantages which the State received from the manufacture of salt on a commercial scale within its boundaries, were inestimable. From 1860 to and including 1881, the production of salt in Michigan amounted to eighteen million eight hundred sixty-five thousand three hundred and sixty- nine barrels. Everything used in the manufacture and packing for shipment was produced at home, except the nails to hold the hoops and heads on the barrels, so that practically all the money received for the product added to the wealth of the State. At an average price of one dollar per barrel for all the salt produced in the twenty-one years, the total valuation was almost eighteen and a half million dollars. Prior to the discovery of brine. the price paid for salt by the people of Michigan was much higher than prevailed afterward; and on a basis of one bushel a year for each individual, the consumption in 1881 was about three hundred thousand barrels. If the saving to these consumers was only half a dollar per barrel. the total amount for twenty-one years was fully two and a quarter million dollars. In addition to this, the value of taxable property was greatly increased. thus lightening the burdens of other portions of the State.
The Purity of Saginaw Salt
At an early day in the development of our salt industry it was deter- mined by practical tests that the quantity of brine in the Saginaw Valley was inexhaustible. Every new well bored produced an abundant supply, and excessive pumping reduced the strength only temporarily, the brine at once regaining the prime standard when the excessive drain was checked. The brine was perfectly clear and apparently pure when drawn from the wells. but by exposure to the atmosphere some impurities were precipitated. and in the process of manufacture others were developed and removed by careful treatment. Care in the process greatly enhanced the preservative qualities of salt, and the majority of the Saginaw manufacturers produced an article so pure and wholesome as to stand the test of most thorough experiment and investigation. As a result a high reputation was soon attained for Saginaw salt in all the markets it reached.
Early Methods of Manufacture
Almost at the beginning of the salt industry there were two modes of manufacture, one by the evaporation of the brine by artificial heat, the other accomplishing the same result by the heat of the sun.
The mode first employed here was that evaporating by artificial heat, of which there were several processes, the original being the kettle process. salt block consisted of fifty or sixty kettles and the stone or brick work in which they were set. The kettles were arranged close together in two rows, over two arches with only a dividing wall separating them, reaching from the month of furnace to the chimney. The arches in front were about three feet deep, the bottom gradually rising as they receded. so that under the back kettles the space was only ten or twelve inches. Each block was
SAGINAW RIVER IN THE EIGHTEEN-NINETIES, FROM THE WEST END OF THE PERE MARQUETTE RAILROAD BRIDGE
435
THE SALT INDUSTRY
housed under a wooden building from seventy-five to one hundred feet long, and about twenty-five feet high in the center, with sheds on each side contain- ing bins for the drainage of the salt as made. After remaining in these bins for two weeks the salt was packed in barrels for market.
When the works were in operation, an engine at the well pumped the brine through pump logs to vats or cisterns close by, flowing in through a spout over the top. From these vats another set of pump logs carried the brine into the block, and along the top of the masonry between the rows of kettles, with a spout extending over each kettle. When the kettles were filled and the brine was heating by the ronsing fire of four-foot cord wood beneath, before boiling commenced, a scum arose on the surface and was removed. After boiling a short time the crystals of salt began to form on the surface and fall to the bottom; and when boiled down about one-half the salt was dipped out with a long-handled pan and thrown into a basket placed over one side of the kettle, for draining: The "bitter water" thus (Irained off carried with it the Calcium Chloride and other impurities, the elimination of which was an all important point in this mode of manufacture.
Solar salt, produced by the other mode of manufacture-evaporation by the heat of the sun, was made in shallow wooden vats, and was much purer than that first made in vats in the ground. A salt cover was eighteen feet square, and had an annual capacity of fifty bushels. The solar process was very simple and entailed but slight expense in operation.
Late in March the water which had remained in the vats during the winter, to preserve them from the action of frost, was drawn off, and every- thing cleaned and put in order. As soon as the sun's rays began to have sufficient warmth, the brine was poured from the reservoirs into the hundreds of wooden vats, each of which was provided with a movable cover or roof, mounted on a trolley stage, so that it could be moved backward and forward over the vat to protect or expose the brine. as the state of the weather rendered desirable. The appearance of these acres of rows of wooden pent covers from a distance, gave the otherwise desolate marshes over which they spread the semblance of a barrack ground. On approaching them the illusion was quickly dispelled, and instead of a bugle call or sentry challenge. the sharp shriek of the engine whistle, calling the men to their labors, or the noise of the pumps, greeted the ear.
The brine was allowed to remain in the vats from six weeks to two months to evaporate, according to the number of warm sunny days, when the salt was all deposited, drained off and dried, and at once packed in barrels for shipment. The works produced three crops of solar salt in a season, the first being gathered about the middle of July, the second in September, and the third the last of October. A small quantity, about a tenth of a crop was gathered in November, from the vats which produced the first crop. The middle crop was considered the most valuable due to the exceeding coarseness of granulation, by reason of its more rapid evapor- ation in hot, dry weather. This coarseness of solar salt gave it increased value, and it was highly prized by pork and beef packers, as it prevented the meat from packing too closely and permitted a free circulation of the brine. It is also peculiarly adapted for salting hides and for other purposes of like nature. The last solar salt works to be operated at this end of the river was that of Mitchell, MeClure & Company, below Zilwaukee, but it was abandoned and fell into ruin about ten years ago.
Rapid Development of the Industry
By means of various processes in manufacture, such as kettles, solar and steam evaporation, pans, and Chapin's Patent which originated here, the production of salt at Saginaw increased very rapidly. In 1867 one and a
436
HISTORY OF SAGINAW COUNTY
quarter million dollars were invested in the industry, which produced three hundred and fifty-eight thousand barrels of salt, and gave employment to four hundred and seventy-one men. The following table gives the names of manufacturers, location of works, production, number of men employed and the investment :
George D. Lord, Zilwaukee.
11.224
15
$100,000
Western Salt Company, Zilwaukee.
35,000
40
82,000
Oneida Salt & Lumber Co., Crow Island.
10,900
11
35,000
Orange County Salt Co., Carrollton. .
14,000
20
75,000
Saginaw Valley Salt Company, Carrollton
16,000
14 74,000
Chicago Salt Company, Carrollton
22,500
30
30,000
Empire Salt Co., Carrollton
10,000
14
50,000
Elisha C. Litchfield, Carrollton
14,000
18
30,000
Haskin. Martin & Wheeler, Florence.
47,467
50
70,000
East Saginaw Salt Mfg. Co., East Saginaw
21,500
75
140,000
Buffalo Salt Co., East Saginaw
15,000
15
35,000
1. Briggs, East Saginaw.
11,049
10
18,000
Chapin, Barber & Company, East Saginaw
1,250
3
7,000
Burnham, Lawton & Co., East Saginaw
2,863
6
25.000
D. G. Whitney, Saginaw City.
8,500
13
28,000
Mack, Schmid & Kull, Saginaw City
11,550
8
10,000
Barnard & Binder, Saginaw City
16,000
10
25,000
Green & Hardin, Saginaw City.
13,148
10
12,000
Heather & Allison, Saginaw City
4,500
1
10,000
Forest City Salt & Lbr. Co., Saginaw City
9,219
()
15,0000
N. B. Nye & Co., South Saginaw
28,000
Ann Arbor Salt & Lbr. Co., South Saginaw.
0,030
11
17,000
Rust & Ingledew, South Saginaw.
6,000
6
10,000
Allen Sutherland, South Saginaw
1,660
5
8,000
Steven, Cromwell & Co., South Saginaw
7.252
16
30,000
Medina Salt Company, South Saginaw
12,000
Salina Salt Company, South Saginaw
16,300
25
30,000
New England Salt Works, Buena Vista
3,000
6
5,000
Wayne County Salt Co., Tittabawassee
9,589
=
5,000
Albany Salt Co., Cass River.
9,000
15
85,000
Gordon, Penny & Co., Cass River
30,000
Union Salt Works, Bridgeport.
500
10,000
Difficulties Beset the Manufacturers
Along in the sixties the salt industry began to feel the effects of over- production and the want of co-operation among the manufacturers in the matter of proper handling of the market demand. Experience was also having its effect in teaching the lesson of economy and perfection in all the processes of manufacture. From the excitement of the early years, caused by tapping an inexhaustible reservoir of wealth, leading too frequently to enterprises suggested by imagination rather than by calm judgment. the industry was getting down to the hard pan, which was reached when it was discovered that skill was required to make good salt, economy and industry to make cheap salt, and business tact and judgment to put it on the market in competition with Onondaga and Ohio River salt, so as to produce a profit. The combination of the salt block with the saw mill, peculiar to this valley, was a remarkable instance of mutual adaptation and co-operation between separate industries, the use of exhaust steam from the saw mills in evaporation of the brine, being an important economic measure, as the cost of fuel for this purpose was eliminated.
437
THE SALT INDUSTRY
Formation of the Saginaw & Bay Salt Company
As a result of these economie changes in the salt business, an associative movement began in 1866, under the name of the Bay County Mutual Manu- facturing Company. The following year the concern adopted the name of Bay & Saginaw Salt Company, and broadened its operations in an endeavor to market the production of the Saginaw Valley. Shortly after the company was reorganized under the name of the Saginaw & Bay Salt Company. with a capital of two hundred thousand dollars; and Henry M. Fitzhugh was president, Newell Barnard, vice-president, John S. Judson, secretary, and N. B. Bradley, treasurer. This was a long step in advance in the salt business, and its operations gave steadiness to the market, prevented speculation, and the absorption of the profits of manufacture by middle men.
The company was organized on strictly mutual principles, its stock being held by manufacturers only, who chose the directors from their own number. It received all the salt made by the stockholders, giving liberal advances on the product on their docks, sold it on the best terms, and made monthly settlements of accounts dne; and by circulars issued each month kept its members well informed of the entire situation and of the affairs of the company. It gradually extended its business with the largest markets, reaching many points never before touched by individual effort. and realized better prices as indicated by the appended table of average prices per barrel for 1867 :
May $1.77
September $1.73
June
1.77 October
1.75
July
1.74
November 1.85
August 1.78
December 2.16
These prices were net, covering all expenses, and paid in cash to the producers. In addition five cents a barrel was retained by the company to cover expenses of administration and incidentals, from which revenue a con- siderable surplus accumulated for the payment of dividends to the share- holders.
The cost of producing a barrel of salt in Saginaw at this time was estimated as follows:
Pumping $ .05 Labor $ .30
Barrel
.40
Fuel .50
Packing, etc.
.0831
Interest and Repairs .15
Inspection .01 14
$1.50
The number of men employed directly and indirectly in the manufacture of salt was about one thousand, and the average wage was two dollars a day.
In 1868 the company sold and shipped three hundred eighty-two thousand two hundred and fifty-two barrels, the Chicago market receiving and consuming the larger proportion of this quantity. Its operations brought about a uniform system of inspection and introduced order and reliability into a business which, without such general regulation, had proved unrenumerative.
The State Salt Inspection
In 1869 a rigid inspection of Michigan salt was instituted, and in a few years fully realized the expectations of its originators. Owing to its estab- lished character Michigan salt met with steadily increased demand, and found a ready market throughout the country. Samuel S. Garrigues, a scientific and practical chemist of ability and reputation, was the first State Salt Inspector with an office at East Saginaw. In 1874 George W. Ilill was deputy inspector at East Saginaw, II. Estabrook filled the same position
r
435
HISTORY OF SAGINAW COUNTY
SALT BLOCK, SAW MILL AND COOPER SHOP OF CHARLES MERRILL & COMPANY
at South Saginaw, V. W. Paine at Saginaw City, James Hill, at Carrollton. and John Haight, at Zilwaukee. In later years Mr. Hill became the State Inspector, an office he held for an extended period.
Four grades of salt were created, the product being packed in barrels of two hundred and eighty pounds, or fifty-six pounds to the bushel. No. 1. Fine, was for general use and all family purposes: Packers was suitable for packing and bulking meat and fish, one of the finest and best brands for such purposes ; Solar salt, when screened and branded as"C Solar C" for coarse, and "F Solar F" for fine grades, was equal in all respects to New York solar salt: No. 2. Second Quality, was a grade intended for No. 1, of any of the above grades, but which for any cause did not come up to the standard tests, and was so branded and sold as such. It was good for salting stock, hay, hides and such purposes.
During 1873 the distribution of Saginaw salt was three hundred and twenty-five thousand barrels to the Chicago market, one hundred and fifty thousand barrels to Milwaukee. fifty thousand barrels to Cleveland. one hundred and fifty thousand barrels to Toledo, twenty-five thousand barrels to Sandusky, and about seventy-five thousand to Michigan points. So high was the favor in which the local product was held that the managers of the exposition at Cincinnati awarded a handsome silver medal and diploma to the exhibitors of Saginaw salt, namely: Burnham & Still, for two barrels of fine steam salt: Bundy & Youmans, for fine kettle salt: T. Jerome & Company, for fine pan salt and packers; Thomas Saylor & Company, for exceptional quality of solar salt. This prize was awarded from a locality heretofore supplied by the Ohio River and Onondaga Salt Companies, and was a high compliment to Saginaw salt which attracted much attention at the exposition.
In 1872, at the Union Fair at Grand Rapids, and at the State Fair the following year, Saginaw salt from the works of John F. Driggs took the first premium in competition with Onondaga salt. Fifty years of progress in the manufacture of salt in New York State, where it had been produced since 1797, did not equal the progress made in five years in the Saginaw Valley.
439
THE SALT INDUSTRY
Michigan Salt Association
The Michigan Salt Association - the successor of the older co-operative companies, which was managed so many years by Dwight G. Holland with great skill and energy, was a powerful factor in the business and constantly extended its field of operation by introducing its product into new markets. The Association was organized in 1876 and embraced as members all the manufacturers of salt in the State excepting thirteen. Its object was to secure united action among the many producers and to market their product through one channel, thus by a minimum expense of distribution obtain better net prices for its members. Taking their salt as fast as it was made and ship- ping it to the consumers direct, or to its different reshipping points, the Association made liberal advances on the monthly output and paid the manu- facturers in full when sold.
This method of handling such a large quantity of one commodity, proved such a success from the start that the members conceived the idea of building spacious warehouses at the large fake ports, for reshipping to the interior. those at Chicago, Milwaukee, Toledo, Detroit and Michigan City being the largest. The prices at which the salt was sold was fixed by the Association. and each member contributing received the same price per barrel, or per ton in bulk, no limit being placed on the output.
The first officers of the Association, which was capitalized at two hun- dred thousand dollars, were: Wellington R. Burt, president : Albert Miller, vice-president ; Thomas Cranage, Jr., treasurer, and Dwight G. Holland, secretary. The executive committee was composed of Wellington R. Burt. J. L. Dolsen, Thomas Cranage, Newell Barnard, and W. J. Bartow. These officers were elected year after year and by their management the salt busi- ness of Michigan reached such gigantic proportions, the Association market- ing from three to four million barrels per year.
Wellington R. Burt held the office of president until 1894, when Thomas Cranage was elected to this position. In 1896 he was succeeded by E. D. Wheeler, of Manistee, who served two years : and in 1898 Walter S. Eddy was elected presi- dent and continued until 1914.
The secretary of the Association was Dwight G. Holland, who served continuously from the organization until his death in 1903. a period of twenty-seven years. The office of secretary and treasurer were then consolidated. and C. M. Ireton, who was assistant secretary for many years, was elected to fill both offices which he continued until 1914.
On January 1, 1914, C. M. Treton and A. A. White associated together. and securing the assets and good will of the Association, are continuing the business of distributing and wholesaling salt, with offices in Saginaw.
C. M. Ireton was born in Kalamazoo, Mich- igan, July 23, 1857, and came to Saginaw four years later with his parents. From the age of twelve to seventeen he worked during the Sum- C. M. IRETON mer in and around saw mills on the river. being able to "hold down" any job that was assigned him; and he attended the public schools in Winter. He then went to the Highland Military Academy, at Worchester, Massachusetts, from which he graduated with the class of 1877.
440
HISTORY OF SAGINAW COUNTY
His business experience was gained through service with Morley Brothers, Avery & Company, and Eddy Brothers & Company; and through Wellington R. Burt he was appointed to a position in the office of the Mich- igan Salt Association. There by strict attention to business he has gained his present standing in commercial circles, being recognized for his integrity and sterling qualities.
On December 11. 1878, Mr. Treton was married to Miss Isabelle Fraser. daughter of Murdock Fraser, one of the earliest pioneers to this section of Michigan. The two children living as a result of this union are a son, Russell, and a daughter, Winifred.
Mr. Ireton received a First Lieutenant's commission under Governor E. B. Winans, in 1892. Fraternally he is a 32nd degree Mason, Past Com- mander St. Bernard Commandery. K. T. : Past Potentate Elf Khurafeb, Shrine A. A. O. N. M. S., being organizer and captain of this Shrine's famous patrol.
Decline of Salt Production
The manufacture of salt, even at the height of the industry, was produc- tive of very small profits, but the making of by-products from the waste bittern by new and economical processes gradually brought about a revolu- tion in the business. The cost of fuel was the largest single item of expense of manufacture, and the effect of the decline of the lumber business, upon which the salt industry depended for its existence, was noticeable in the eighteen nineties. Without the once free exhaust steam from the saw mill engines, and refuse from the saws, no salt wells could be operated at a profit, and hundreds of pumps that in former years were active soon fell into disuse, and the salt blocks were dismantled. The industry was kept alive, however, by the development of the coal fields in Saginaw Valley, by which cheap slack coal was burned under the saw mill boilers to furnish steam for the brine pumps and salt blocks. Even this means of bolstering up a declining industry was not altogether successful, and the price of salt declining to forty-five cents or less a barrel, its manufacture here was rendered unprofit- able.
The industry in the Saginaw Valley has not failed absolutely, as in recent years the price of salt has risen to a more profitable plane. In 1916 the business at Saginaw was represented by six active corporations, five of which were engaged in wood-working, and one in making plate glass. They were the Bliss & Van Auken, Mershon, Eddy, Parker Company, S. L. Eastman Flooring Company, Strable Lumber & Salt Company, E. Germain Estate and the Saginaw Plate Glass Company. It was at the last named plant that the most complete salt-making works in the country were com- pleted and put in operation in 1906, and since that time has been the largest producer in Saginaw County.
Economics of Modern Salt Making
In erecting this new salt block advantage was taken of all new devices, machinery, and methods of handling the product, so that one thousand barrels of fine salt packed ready for market, without the touch of a hand of lift of an arm. are produced in twenty-four hours. The cost of producing fine mer- chantable salt, moreover, has been reduced to a figure astonishing to all salt experts. The three factors that bring about this economy are solid rein- forced concrete grainers, waste exhaust steam from the numerous engines of the glass-making plant, and automatic machinery by which no hand touches a crystal of salt. Only the master saltmaker and a few helpers are required to watch the machinery and keep it in perfect running order.
441
THE SALT INDUSTRY
The salt brine is supplied by twelve wells about one hundred and fifty feet apart, ranging in depth from seven hundred and seventy-five to eight hundred feet, and penetrating the rock salt for some distance. The wells are encased with heavy tubing extending down into the rock, through which the saturated brine is brought to the surface ; and above rise the drill honses with their high towers protecting the pumping machinery. Each well is equipped with a brine pump operated by a seven and one-half horse power electric motor, the current being furnished by generators in the power plant of the glass works. From the drill houses the brine is pumped to an elevated circular tank of two hundred barrels capacity.
All brine is more or less impregnated with iron and other impurities; and to free it of these it is drawn from the elevated receiving-tank to one of a series of settling tanks, to which it flows by gravity. These tanks are built of solid concrete, each one hundred and seventy feet long by twenty feet wide, and seven and one-half feet deep, and are reinforced by long cor- rugated rods of iron. Every alternate dividing wall is provided with a narrow plank walk, so that the saltmakers can more readily examine the brine. The flow of brine through the troughs along the top and end of the settling tanks is controlled by a simple arrangement of gates, through which it may be made to flow into any of the tanks desired.
In these settling tanks the brine is treated to a solution of lime, which precipitates the remaining impurities held in suspension, leaving the brine as blue as ocean expanse, and as pure and clear to the eye, but far more salty to the taste. The purifying of the crude brine through the agencies of the sun, air and chemical action, having been fully accomplished, the clear brine is ready for the next important operation-its conversion into crystaline form. This is the most interesting part of salt making. The clear brine is pumped into one of the salt blocks, a wooden building one hundred and eighty feet square, and conveyed to two concrete pre-heaters, where it is heated by steam coils and made ready for evaporation.
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