USA > Michigan > Saginaw County > History of Saginaw County, Michigan; historical, commercial, biographical, Volume II > Part 55
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85
These industries were represented by the Saginaw Manufacturing Com- pany, Stenglein Manufacturing Company, J. 11. Benjamin, Crescent Match Company, W. G. Smith. D. Hardin & Company and the Michigan Curtain Roller Company, on the west side of the river ; and by O'Donnell & Spencer, Feige-Silsbee Furniture Manufacturing Company, Linton Manufacturing Company, Edward Germain, Avery & Company, Henry Feige, Alic Birss and E. A. Gyde, on the East Side. In the manufacture of logging tools the estab- lishment of Morley Brothers on Water Street, and in dust separators for woodworking plants the Allington & Curtis Manufacturing Company, whose factory was on Holden Street, were very successful.
490
HISTORY OF SAGINAW COUNTY
The heavy machinery business was well covered by Wickes Brothers, A. F. Bartlett & Company. Merrill & Bacon, John L. Jackson, William Williamson and Koehler Brothers, while the boiler shops were those of James McGregor & Sons and Thomas Steele and Wildman Brothers. There were also the Michigan Saw Company, MeClellan File Company, H. L. Hil- dreth and others which enjoyed a profitable trade.
Boosters Become Active
The organization of the Saginaw Improvement Company, in 1890, with its endeavors to bring in new industries, gave great impetus to the forward movement. By its plan of purchasing acreage property on both sides of the river, platting the same into lots, and acquiring factory sites convenient to the railroads, a number of new industries were secured to Saginaw with the proceeds of the lots sold. About four thousand residence lots were platted in two new divisions lying mostly within the city limits, the streets laid out were graded and otherwise improved, and railroad connections secured between the three trunk lines and the factory sites. Great interest in the project was aroused among the citizens generally, and about twenty-five hundred lots were quickly sold at one hundred and fifty dollars each.
The distribution of the lots to purchasers was by drawing, and stirred in hundreds of minds vain hopes of winning a valuable piece of property. For the capital prize, which attracted much attention, there was the old home- stead of William L. Webber, on South Jefferson Avenue, which consisted of a substantial brick house set in an attractive grove of pines. This prize was drawn by Mrs. Chauncey 11. Gage; and other valuable prizes com- prising lots on the principal streets in the new divisions, found eager and appreciative owners. Others, less fortunate, who drew lots outside the city. or removed some distance from the factory sites, were keenly disappointed ; and some never took deed of their drawings, or afterward let their lots revert back for unpaid taxes. As always follows such schemes, the business men who subscribed for the stock of the improvement company, and the majority of the lot owners, lost heavily individually.
Great benefit, however, accrued to the city at large from the activities in fostering new industries, the influence of which is still felt in various ways. In two years eight factories of importance were located here which employed six hundred and forty persons, mostly men. The sites for these manufac- tures, conveniently connected with the leading railroads, and the buildings for the immediate requirements of the companies, were given free of cost, and resulted in securing very substantial manufacturing concerns which were :
F. G. Palmerton Woodenware Company, Limited, manufacturing tubs and pails.
Ferrell, Prame & Ozier, manufacturing grain cleaning machinery of various kinds.
Beelman Manufacturing Company, manufacturing furniture, especially hall furniture.
Keystone Manufacturing Company, manufacturing adjustable shade rollers.
Saginaw Box Company, manufacturing grease boxes.
Crume & Sefton Manufacturing Company, manufacturing wooden butter dishes, berry boxes, etc.
Lufkin Rule Company, manufacturing steel and wood rules, steel tape lines, etc.
Peninsular Carriage Company, manufacturing buggy bodies, running- gears and bent work.
191
DIVERSIFIED INDUSTRIES
Shortly afterward the HI. J. Heinz Company, of Pittsburg, established a pickling station on the East Side Improvement grounds, between the Lufkin and Peninsular factories, and has been in successful operation each year since.
Along in the nineties it was determined that Saginaw was a desirable location for the manufacture of plate glass, and in due course the Saginaw Plate Glass Company was organized. A large modern plant was erected on South Michigan Avenue, west of the city limits; and in 1900, in order to utilize the great quantities of exhaust steam produced in the various processes, a complete salt manufacturing plant was built as an adjunct to the business. Later a complete chemical plant was added to work up the hitherto waste "bittern water," a product of salt making, into valuable chemical by-products including calcium chloride. This great industry is capitalized and managed entirely by Saginaw business men.
Growth of Factories
Besides the foregoing industries there were nine concerns employed in the manufacture of brick, which gave employment to two hundred and eighteen men, and paid in wages, in 1892, the sum of forty-four thousand dollars. The output of these brick yards was sixteen million five hundred thousand brick, valued at seventy-four thousand two hundred and fifty dollars. Saginaw County is one vast clay bed, a portion of which must be fire clay and potters clay of great value. Some very fine specimens of the latter quality have been discovered a short distance south of the city, yet nothing has been done to develop this hidden wealth of the soil.
In the manufacture of cigars seventeen concerns reported in 1892 a production of three million seven hundred and ninety-two thousand cigars, valued at eighty-four thousand one hundred and sixty-six dollars. These factories employed one hundred and twenty-seven men, and paid in wages thirty-seven thousand dollars.
There were five steam laundries in this city in 1892, employing seventy- nine workers who were paid twenty-six thousand two hundred dollars in wages. The aggregate business was fifty-nine thousand dollars, divided among Witters Brothers, A. Robertson, F. H. Jerome, Palace Laundry and Wolpert & Son.
Five breweries reported a product valued at two hundred and fifteen thousand dollars, and employed fifty-eight men to whom were paid thirty- eight thousand dollars in wages. These breweries were the National Brewing Company, Eagle Brewery. Jacob Raquet, Saginaw Brewing Company and J. G. Schemm.
Three concerns, R. II. Crane, Saginaw Broom Company and Fred Stoerk manufactured nineteen thousand dollars worth of brooms of various kinds, and employed thirteen men at a total wage of five thousand four hundred dollars.
Although the Mayflower Mills, which was established by Jesse Hoyt and operated successfully for many years by Emil Moores, was closed down in 1892, two other flouring mills were running in Saginaw. These were the Brand & Ilardin mill at the foot of Mackinaw Street, and the Saginaw Milling Company on West Genesee. In 1893 William Callam erected a new mill on North Franklin Street, which was modern and complete in every particular. The output of this mill found a ready market direct with the consumer, deliveries being made to hotels, boarding houses and residences.
One of the institutions of which Saginaw was justly proud was the tannery of F. W. Carlisle & Company, which was started in a small way many years before. Hemlock bark is secured from the surrounding country,
492
HISTORY OF SAGINAW COUNTY
BOILER WORKS
F
WILDMAN BROTHERS' BOILER WORKS, 1885, AT FOOT OF WILLIAMS (JANES) STREET, NOW BATTERY PARK
and hides are brought in from the outside points. The leather manufactured by this concern is of the highest grade, and is used chiefly in making harness.
An entirely new industry, established by enterprising business men of this city, was the United States Graphite Company, which employed a large number of men and utilized the product of the company's mine in Sonora, Mexico. The company manufactured axle grease, stove polish, paint, and prepared graphite for a large part of the lead pencil factories of the East.
A. Hobson's stone and marble yard, an old institution, employed a force of men in grinding and polishing stone from Lake Superior, and marble from the famous quarries of Vermont. The Bay Port quarries, located about fifty miles from this city, also supplied a high grade of limestone for building purposes. Being very hard and of a light blue color, this stone presents a fine appearance in large structures, and was used in several public buildings in Saginaw, notably the Hoyt Library. Before the opening of these quarries, in 1883, limestone for building purposes was brought by vessels from Lake Erie ports, and cost from ten to twelve dollars a cord, but the competition of Bay Port stone quickly reduced the price to five and seven dollars a cord.
Seven houses engaged in printing and binding reported in 1892 the value of their product at one hundred and twelve thousand dollars. They employed eighty-five workers and paid thirty-nine thousand four hundred dollars in wages. These concerns were Seemann & Peters, Jones & McCall Company. Saginawian, Ganschow & Son, Laing & Moiles, Saginaw Printing & Binding Company and G. Fox.
The Flint & Pere Marquette Railroad shops and general offices gave employment in Saginaw to eight hundred and fifty men, who received seventy- five thousand dollars a month in wages. A large number of men were engaged in building and keeping in repair equipment for seven hundred
493
DIVERSIFIED INDUSTRIES
iniles of road which extended from Saginaw in all directions. Two companies operating twenty-seven miles of street railways employed one hundred and seventy-five men, and in 1892 paid eighty-five thousand five hundred dollars in wages. The number of passengers carried that year was more than four million.
Of miscellaneous industries, some small but nevertheless of importance as employing labor, were the Saginaw Roofing Company, a new concern which enjoyed a rapidly growing business : the Metallic Curtain Pull Com- pany, which made wire curtain fixtures of ornamental design, and various other wire goods; Henry Passolt, who manufactured soaps and potash ; and Case Brothers, C. H. Newell and Wider & Son, engaged in making awnings and tents.
Summary of Factories and Labor
Of the total number of factory employees in 1892, which was eight thousand nine hundred and sixty-three, four thousand eight hundred and sixty-six were engaged directly in the lumber and salt production, leaving four thousand and ninety-seven employed in the diversified industries of the city. The total wages paid all employees in 1892 was three million eight hundred and eighty-four thousand nine hundred and fourteen dollars, of which two million two hundred and twenty-one thousand five hundred and thirty-seven dollars was paid to workers in diversified industries. \ sum- mary in tabulated form of the various industries will be of aid in determining their importance :
Factories
Value of Product
Number of Employees
Wages l'aid
Machine and boiler shops
$1,068,500
480
$288,621.00
Furniture factories
374,500
296
105,595.00
Breweries
215,000
58
38,060.00
Printers and binders
112,000
85
39.433.00
Laundries
59,080
79
26,201.00
Cigar factories
84,166
127
37,075.00
Brick yards
84,250
218
44,000.00
Broom factories
19,500
13
5,434.00
Miscellaneous
2,236,022
1,496
563,538.00
Street Railways
175
85,500.00
Newspapers
220
88.080.00
F. & P. M. Railroad
850
900,000.00
$4,253.018
4,097
$2,221,537.00
To the above summary which omits small shops, building trades and employees in stores and wholesale houses, might properly be added the record of the planing mills, which ran the year round. These institutions alone employed two thousand three hundred and two men, who received eight hundred twelve thousand four hundred and twelve dollars in wages: and the value of the product was five million two hundred eight thousand six hundred and thirty-four dollars. Adding these figures to the footings of the summary, we have six thousand four hundred employees, who earned three million thirty-three thousand nine hundred and forty-nine dollars, and the value of whose product was nine million four hundred sixty-one thousand six hundred and fifty-two dollars. This left two thousand five hundred and sixty-three men employed in saw and shingle mills and salt blocks, who received eight hundred fifty thousand and nine hundred and sixty-five dollars in wages, and whose product was valued at five million seven hundred five thousand seven hundred and ninety-three dollars.
494
HISTORY OF SAGINAW COUNTY
In view of the rapid decline of the Inmber and salt production in the nineties, the growth of diversified industries in Saginaw was especially pleas- ing. The increase was about five times as great as the loss in saw and shingle mills for ten years previous. In 1892 the labor employed in the latter indus- tries was only twenty-eight per cent. of the total labor employed by all industries in the city, and the wages paid was only twenty-two per cent of the total wages. The value of the product of lumber, shingles and salt, however, was nearly thirty-eight per cent. of the total valuation of Saginaw's products.
This shows that, while the saw mills and salt blocks were the main support of the Saginaws in the years of big humbering in Michigan, other and more permanent industries were gradually taking their place. The amount paid for labor was constantly increasing, the mercantile interests were expanding, bank deposits and exchanges were growing, while the saw mills were going out of existence. The value of a factory to the city is principally in the amount of labor it employs and in the wages it pays. The saw mills only ran about six months in the year, and a greater portion of their labor was cheap and unskilled. Although some of the men worked in the woods in Winter, it was all common labor, at twelve to twenty dollars a month and Keep, and many men had to find other employment at the time of year they most needed steady wages.
As a result the employees of saw mills, like the woodsmen, were a shifting element of the population, and occupied cheap rented houses living in a "hand to mouth" sort of way. The employees of a furniture factory, a carriage works, a plate glass or other permanent establishment, however, received better wages and employment the year round, and consequentily secured homes of their own and became settled residents. Such an institution em- ploying only thirty men paid as much in wages in a year as a saw mill employing one hundred men for the average run, and was a much greater benefit to the city.
A Period of Depression
Notwithstanding the improvements in the industrial situation brought about by securing new industries to the city, the material advancement of the Saginaws was checked for a time. The final extinguishment of lumbering was marked by a long period of depression, which was keenly felt by the com- mercial as well as the industrial interests of the city. This period of lassitude in business was more pronounced between 1895 and 1905, in which the population fell off heavily. According to the United States census of 1890 the population of Saginaw was forty-six thousand three hundred and twenty- two, but the census of 1900 gave the city only forty-two thousand eight hundred and forty-six, a loss of abont thirty-five hundred. This loss, how- ever, was fully recovered in the following decade, when substantial gains were also recorded, the population given by the census of 1910 being fifty thousand five hundred and ten.
A contributary cause of the depression, though not directly affecting so much the loss in population, was the failure of some of the new industries established by the Saginaw Improvement Company, the readjustment of whose affairs required much time and attention. The Peninsular Carriage Company, controlled by the Den Bleykers, of Kalamazoo, was the first to show signs of distress, and soon after failed. Later the plant was taken over by Charles W. MeClure and a new business in farm wagons and silos was established under the name of Farmers' Handy Wagon Company. After- ward the wagon business was discontinued, and the name changed to The MeClure Company.
495
DIVERSIFIED INDUSTRIES
The Beelman Manufacturing Company, which was engaged in making furniture especially for halls, was the next concern to go under. The plant, however, was soon after put to good use by the Brewer-Pryor Piano Company, in the manufacture of a medium grade of pianos which were sold direct to purchasers. Later this substantial factory building was acquired by William Polson & Company, and has since been used in the manufacture of sash, doors, blinds and interior finish.
On the West Side several other of the new industries were likewise unsuccessful. The Crume & Sefton Company, which manufactured wooden butter dishes and berry boxes, was closed down, and the plant acquired by A. T. Ferrell. The Lockwood and one or two other factories in this district were burned at different times, but the sites were afterward built up by other and more permanent concerns. Among these was the Saginaw Table Company which developed a large business, and was absorbed by the Herzog Art Furniture Company. This prosperous concern, occupying an immense plant of most modern construction and equipment on South Michigan Avenue at the Belt Line crossing, is one of the wonders of Saginaws' recent industrial development. It manufactures the highest grade of art furniture which meets with ready sale throughout the civilized world, and also several fine lines of phonograph cabinets for large producers of phonographs.
Reconstruction
Among the new developments in industrial affairs, which gave encourage- ment to enterprising men who had never lost faith in the ultimate future of Saginaw, were the Werner & Pfleiderer Company, making bakery ovens and machinery, the Oakland Vinegar & Pickle Company, E. A. Robertson & Company, fashioning ladies' silk waists and gowns, the Saginaw Silk Garment Company, the Bernhard Company in the same line, the Germain Piano Com- pany, making high grade pianos, the Mershon & Morley Company, manufac- turing wood portable houses, the Berst Manufacturing Company, making tooth-picks and butter dishes, and several large concerns which began making flooring of various grades on a large scale. This latter business has since developed into immense proportions, much of the output being exported to foreign countries. The Asphalt Roofing Company, at Michigan Avenue and Wheeler Street, and the Saginaw Paving Brick Company, promoted by John 11. Qualman and others, on South Jefferson Avenue, are also successful concerns developed in the period of reconstruction.
MAPLE FLOORING PLANT OF S. L. EASTMAN FLOORING COMPANY
196
HISTORY OF SAGINAW COUNTY
The rebuilding of Saginaw's industries might have been hastened, it is believed, had our wealthy lumbermen been willing to invest heavily in enter- prises to develop the natural resources of the valley. But, discouraged at the ill success that attended some of the earlier ventures, and believing that the greatest source of wealth lay in the pine forests, they invested their idle capital in timber lands in Minnesota and the State of Washington, and some moved their place of residence to the scene of their new activities. This policy of our moneyed men left the actual "boosting" of the city and the securing of new industries to the younger men of moderate means, and the position Saginaw holds today in the business affairs of Michigan, is due almost entirely to their efforts.
How Some Gained Unexpected Riches
In this connection it is pertinent to note that the pine forests and the saline deposits of the earth were not the only sources of wealth which came to some Saginaw lumbermen. To a few greater riches came from beneath the soil than they had ever gained from the exploitation of the forests. In a few instances wealth was actually forced npon them, though, of course, not unwillingly. The iron ore which lay in heavy beds beneath thousands of acres of pine timber in Minnesota, brought untold riches to already opulent lumbermen, the narration of which rivals the fairy tales of old.
The story of the man who became a millionaire and never know it, illustrates how sudden riches came to some men, entirely unlooked for.
In the busy days of lumbering in Minnesota, Ezra Rust and George L. Burrows were large holders of valuable timber land in that section, and they employed Gilbert B. Goff, father of E. A. Goff of this city, as land looker. Besides a salary for his services in selecting valuable timber land, he received as commission on certain deals a one-third interest in the lands acquired, some of which proved very profitable.
On a trip to the north woods he one day came across "ten forties" of timber, which ran largely to hardwoods with some choice pine, but had not enough of the latter to attract the Wrights and others who were lumbering in the neighborhood. Upon looking over the tract Goff concluded that it would be a good investment to buy the land and hold it until such time as the logging companies would want it to clean up operations in that section. The cost of the four hundred acres, at the government price of one dollar and twenty-five cents an acre, was only five hundred dollars, and he prevailed upon the Rusts to buy the ten forties for future development.
Several years after, the land looker, having settled on a farm near Eden- ville, on the upper waters of the Tittabawassee, was in need of some ready money and came to Saginaw to raise it. Mr. Rust was away at the time, but his secretary, T. H. Rusling, looked up the particular land deal of the ten forties which the parties still owned. Pine timber had greatly increased in valne since the purchase of this land. and Goff hoped to realize some money on his share of the property. Rusling, who had saved a little money which he had deposited in the bank, was tempted to help the land looker on his own account, but hesitated to accept security of such uncertain value on a loan of twelve hundred dollars, the amount that Goff needed.
The land looker, however, was so insistent in his plea for cash that Rusling at length said : "If you will give me a deed to your share of these ten forties, I will give you the money."
"All right," said Goff, "1 will do it. Draw up the papers right away."
So the sale was made and Rusling became the owner of a one-third interest in the ten forties, which he had never seen nor expected to see, while the land looker was well pleased with the deal.
497
DIVERSIFIED INDUSTRIES
Nothing further was thought of the matter until some years after when, on a trip to the north, Goff heard rumors of the existence of iron ore deposits on lands near or adjoining the ten forties, in which he had once been inter- ested. Ile looked into the subject very thoroughly, and found such strong evidence of ore under the land that he believed there might be some truth in the stories. So he came right back to Saginaw, raised what money he could. and going to Rusling. said :
"I have now a little spare cash, and will repay the money you gave me some time ago on those ten forties, with interest to date. If you want the coin instead of the third share in the land, here it is."
So Rusling went to the safe, found the deed to the one-third interest in the land, which he had not even recorded, and handed it over. The money was counted out, paid over to him, and the deed was torn up thus ending the whole transaction. This part of the deal, however, was the greatest mistake of his life, as the sequel shows.
When Andrew Carnegie began acquiring rights to ore properties on the Mesaba Range, he had tests made of the ten forties still owned by Rust and others, and concluded a lease with them whereby he paid five thousand dollars a year to hold the ore rights. Goff's share of this payment was sixteen hundred and sixty-six dollars a year, a very acceptable little wad to the land looker-farmer.
This deal, however, was but an incident in the wonderful romance of iron ore, that which follows revealing the touch of the fairie's wand.
Several years later, when the Carnegie Steel Company was absorbed by the United States Steel Corporation, the new owners decided to terminate the lease of iron ore rights by purchase of the ore in the ground. So they agreed with Mr. Rust and the other owners to buy the ore at thirty cents a ton, the quantity to be estimated by careful tests conducted by both parties to the deal. Experienced ore men were sent to the ten forties, and after exhaustive tests had been made they reported that the tract contained not less than twenty-four million tons of iron ore. At the pre-arranged price this ore was worth seven million two hundred thousand dollars, which sum was paid to the Saginaw lumbermen. Goff's share of this unlooked for wealth was tavo million four hundred thousand dollars, which he gained without the invest- ment of one cent.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.