HISTORY OF BAY COUNTY

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THE SALT INDUSTRY

When the act providing the admission of Michigan into the Union was passed by Congress in 1836, it was among other things provided that all salt springs in the state, not exceeding twelve in number, with six sections of land adjoining each, might be selected by the state, and in pursuance of this act, the Legislature of Michigan, in July, 1836, authorized the Governor to make the selection. Most of the lands were located in the Grand River Valley, but one tract was selected on the Titttabawasse River, at the mouth of Salt River. The state geologist, Dr. Houghton, was authorized and directed by the Legislature to commence boring for salt at one or more of the state salt springs as soon as practicable. He selected one point in the southwest corner of Section Twenty-four, in Township Fifteen, on the west side of the Tittabawassee, and commenced operations about the middle of June, 1838. many difficulties were encountered, and when the appropriations were exhausted the work was abandoned.

It was Dr. Houghton’s opinion from the first that the centre of the basin was along the Saginaw River, and the people of Saginaw having great confidence in Dr. Houghton, became impressed with the same belief.

In January, 1859, a public meeting was held at Saginaw, and a committee appointed to petition the Legislature for aid and encouragement in the enterprise of salt manufacture. Judge Birney was in the Legislature at that time, and was active in securing the passage of a bill giving a bounty for the manufacture of salt. The original bill proposed a payment of give cents a bushel, but he succeeded in getting ten cent grated. It

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was this encouragement that stimulated the first efforts to manufacture salt at Saginaw and Bay City. In April, of that year, the East Saginaw Salt Manufacturing Company was organized with a capital of $50,000. The boiling of salt was commenced the latter part of June, 1860, and the first salt packed was in July, 1860.

In August, 1860, W.H. Fennell, now of Bay city, shipped the first hundred barrels of Saginaw salt that left the Saginaw Valley.

OPERATION AT BAY CITY

As soon as the existence of salt at Saginaw was demonstrated, Bay City “came down” with the fever, and two companies were formed in March, 1860. The Portsmouth Salt Company was organized March 18, 1860, and its articles of association filed with the county clerk, March 20^th. The Bay City Salt Manufacturing Company was organized March 23, and its articles of association filed May 18, 1860. The principal stockholders of the first named company were James J. McCormick, Appleton Stevens, A.D. Braddock, & Co., B.F. Beckwith, Judge Miller, William Daglish, Martin Watrous, C.E. Jennison and W.R. McCormick. Their well was sunk to a depth of about 600 feet, and the first salt made in Bay County was made by them in the Summer of 1861. The well was on the present site of the McGraw Mills, and W.R. McCormick was the first superintendent and secretary. Various changes occurred in the company, and its property was finally sold to John McGraw, about the year 1868.

The Bay City Company stock was mostly owned by James Fraser, D.H. Fitzhugh, H.M. Fitzhugh and Messrs. Munger. Mr. H.M. Fitzhugh afterwards became the principal proprietor of the stock. Their works were on the present site of the Michigan Pipe Company’s works. Their well was sunk to a greater depth than the Portsmoulth well, and they made their first salt in the early Autumn of 1861. These works were continued for several years, and were changed from the kettle to the pan block, and the property finally sold to the Pipe Works.

Other works followed in rapid succession. Messrs. Harkness & Sohne sunk a well to a depth of 900 feet, and erected works with one block of kettles and one of pans, with a capacity of 100 barrels of salt in twenty-four hours.

Messrs. Hayden & Co. sank a well to a depth of 1,000 feet and established works at Portsmouth, afterwards purchased by Appleton Stevens & Co. This was a kettle block.

In 1862 Mr. A.C. Braddock came here and superintended the construction of works for the New York Salt Works. The depth of the well was 1,016 feet, and the site occupied seven and half acres with a river frontage of 200 feet. The process of manufacture was by kettles and solar covers.

The Lower Saginaw Salt Company, Dolsen & Walker and the Altantic Salt Company followed in 1862 – ’63, and Leng & Bradfield also sunk a well at Bangor. By the close of 1864 there were twenty-six salt concerns in Bay County. The manufacturers, capital invested, and product were as follows:

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SALT STATISTICS FOR THE YEAR 1864

FIRM LOCATION INVESTMENT BARRELS

O.A. Ballon & Co Kawkawlin $40,000 3,000

F.A. Kaiser “ 20,000 6,000

F. Lloyd Bangor 20,000 1,800

Beckwith, Moore & Smith “ 16,000 700

Leng, Bradfield & Co “ 20,000 4,000

Taylor & Moulthrup “ 10,000 600

Moore, Smith & Co “ 5,000 …….

C.C. Fitzhugh Salzburg 20,000 17,000

W.S. Talman “ 13,000 6,000

Fisk & Clark “ 20,000 2,000

Chicago & Milwankee Salt Co” 65,000 13,500

H.B. Parmelee “ 34,000 11,500

Cnpola Works Bay City 40,000 12,000

Atlantic Salt Co “ 40,000 11,000

Saginaw Bay Salt Co “ 15,000 8,500

Saratoga Salt Co “ 30,000 4,306

Fowler & Tucker “ 30,000 1,300

Dolsen & Walker “ 15,000 6,000

Lower Saginaw alt Co “ 27,000 7,595

Bay City Salt Mfg Co “ 26,000 11,000

Samuel Pitts “ 25,000 5,500

N.B. Bradley “ 15,000 11,527

A. Steven & Co Portsmouth 6,000 8,000

Hayden & Co “ 20,000 8,500

New York Salt Co “ 25,000 8,000

Portsmouth Salt Co “ 25,000 3,000

Total……………………………….$622,000 167,328

The first process of manufacture was by the kettle block, but it was not long before they had to be abandoned. Then came the pan block, and they too, in time were found to require too much fuel, and gave way for the present system. Between 1864 and 1868 various changes occurred. Some suspended operations and new works were constructed. The manufacturers and products of 1867-’68 were as follows:

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PRODUCT OF 1867-‘68

1867 1868

N.B. Bradley & Co, Bay City 9,520 9,500

Samuel Pitts & Co., “ 8,150 1,000

Titus Duncan, “ 6,155 3,000

Smith & Hart, “ 7,000 4,000

Bay City Salt Mfg. Co., “ 5,369 13,000

Dolsen & Walker “ 5,500 7,000

Lower Saginaw Co., “ 8,500 8,500

Atlantic Salt Co., “ 10,200 12,000

A. Steven & Co., Portsmouth 6,634 11,000

A.C. Braddock, “ 7,000 11,800

Portsmouth Salt Co “ …… 3,500

Taylor & Moulthrop, Bangor 5,100 5,100

Leng & Bradfield, “ 10,000 15,000

Keystone S. & L. Co., “ 9,006 8,000

Moore, Smith & Co., “ …… 400

F. Fitzhugh, Salzburg 1,400 4,000

Hill & Son, “ …… 7,000

Johnson & Walsh, Salzburg 2,000 3,000

Huron Salt & Lumber Co, Salzburg 7,500 10,000

O.A. Ballou, Kawkawlin 9,786 10,000

118,820 155,800

REVIEW OF THE BUSINESS

In 1871 Mr. H.M. Fitzhugh, president of the Saginaw & Bay City Salt Company, prepared an article which was published for the information of member of Congress, from which we quote as follows:

“The salt manufacture of the Saginaw Valley has had an existence of about ten years. Brine was discovered in 1860, but no considerable development occurred till 1861. In that year large investments were made in the new enterprise, and the growth of the business, stimulated by a war demand and war prices, was very rapid.

“The production of salt at Saginaw may be considered in two phases; one in which it appears as a separate and independent business, and the other where it is a mere parasite of the lumber manufacture.

“At the start of the conditions seemed to favor the production of salt as an exclusive business. There were –for distribution—a fine navigable river, emptying about midway in the chain of the great lakes; for saline material, an inexhaustible supply of the very strongest brine, underlying many thousand square miles of territory; and for fuel, the dense original forest of Northern Michigan. Accordingly, the business was entered upon in the fullest confidence that if salt would not be made at a profit here, it could not be made anywhere in the United States.

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“It must be admitted that the investments were not all judicious, and that in the inception of this, as of most new enterprises, some losses were incurred from want of experience; but this was less the case in this instance than usually happens, as the model on which the original Saginaw Salt Works were built existed at Syracuse, N.Y., which also supplied all the peculiar machinery and such sill as was required at a comparatively moderate expense.

“It should be said that the salt produced at Saginaw, in the earlier period of the manufacture, though not as good as it is now, was a fair article. It had to be sold everywhere alongside the product of the New York works, which had had the benefit of more than a half century’s experience; it must , therefore, have compared not very disadvantageously with Onondaga salt, in order to command nearly the same price, which it always did.

“However bright the prospects which induced early investments in the manufacture of salt at Saginaw, it was very soon discovered that they were delusive. The expense account of the manufacturers soon swelled to largely more than double its original proportions by the advance in labor as well as in fuel and other materials of manufacture.

“The great difficulty in making salt, the tendency to overproduction, began to appear at an early period, and within four years of the commencement of the manufacture it had become a losing business to such an extent that the production largely declined, and salt property had hardly a quotable value. I can not recall a single instance in which an original, independent investment in the salt manufacture in the Saginaw Valley, has offered a reasonable profit as a result of the manufacture itself. This may seem a bold assertion in the face of the fact that the production of salt on the whole has increased, and that it has without doubt added largely to the value of real estate. The annual distribution of large sums in this manufacture has undoubtedly had a favorable influence on the general prosperity, but the business itself has been anything but a profitable one.

“After the vast profits of the independent salt business were seen to be imaginary, it was discovered that it might be more profitably conducted as an adjunct of the saw mills. These lumber manufactories make a vast amount of refuse which must be disposed of in some way, or the mills would soon be buried in their own waste. Hence it was found highly economical to employ their slabs, edgings, sawdust and exhaust steam in the production of salt. A manufacture of this kind has now grown up which is more or less profitable in proportion to the skill with which the several manufacturer avail themselves of their advantage in this respect; indeed, the entire manufacture of the Saginaw Valley, at the present time, may be said to depend on the saw mills, because even in the cases where they have no salt works directly connected with them, and under the same management, their refuse is sold at a small figure or given away to the nearest salt works, which are thus enabled to run at a reduced expense; in fact, little or no cordwood is now used for fuel at any of the salt works of the Saginaw Valley.”

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MANUFACTURERS AND PRODUCT FOR 1877-78-’79.

1877. 1878. 1879
A.Rust & Co……………………………… 29,000 29,113 34,018
Bousfield & Co…………………………… 2,698 …….. ……..
H. W. Sage & Co………………………… 65,609 67,752 61,304
Keystone Salt & Lumber Co…………….. 11,047 11,426 22,202
W. H. Malone…………………………… 22,522 21,367 23,935
L. L. Hotchkiss & Co…………………… 34,278 30,397 35,364
Moore, Smith & Co……………………… 7,543 14,099 1,788
William Peter…………………………….. 18,933 34,874 36,306
N. B. Bradley, (trustee)…………………. 37,047 47,549 62,803
Albert Miller…………………………….. 35,536 57,094 63,713
McGraw & Co………………………….. 51,135 27,794 37,263
S. H. Webster…………………………… 26,290 26,336 ………..
S. McLean & Son………………………. 39,189 41,469 37,074
Hay, Butman & Co…………………….. 19,121 31,492 25,744
N.W. G. & Water Pipe Co……………… …… 2,947 ………..
A. Chesbrough………………………….. …….. 1,481 11,070
F. E. Bradley……………………………. 18,885 24,439 11,972
Eddy, Avery & Co……………………… 53,574 51,304 59,522
Carrier & Co……………………………. 5,388 15,076 18,339
J. R. Hall……………………………….. 38,422 48,824 48,066
John McEwan…………………………… 17,508 17,888 18,337
Dolsen, Chapin & Bro………………….. 39,688 48,864 58,560
Folsom & Arnold………………………. 22,918 19,695 22,971
Chapin & Barber……………………….. 45,881 35,747 29,885
Moulthrop & Lewis…………………….. 12,491 17,677 24,084
Laderach Bros………………………….. 13,243 16,811 14,293
Atlantic Salt Co……………………….. 3,538 3,346 1,050
Ayrault, Smith & Co…………………….. 12,837 2,830 11,491
Pitts & Cranage………………………….. 23,376 43,661 52,760
B. F. Webster…………………………… …….. …….. 22,578
Murphy & Dorr………………………….. …….. …….. 37,148
Peter Smith & Sons…………………….. …….. …… 15,421
__________________________________________________________________
Total……………………………………. 707,697 792,352 899,061

THE SALT DISTRICTS

The salt producing territory of the state is divided into seven districts, having a manufacturing capacity as follows:

District No. 1, Saginaw County.—Employs four deputy salt inspectors, has fifty-six salt companies, with forty-three steam, eighteen pan blocks, and 4,000 solar salt covers, having a manufacturing capacity of 1,400,000 barrels of salt.

District No. 2, Bay County.—Employs three deputy salt inspectors, with thirty-eight steam blocks, thirty-one salt companies, and 500 solar salt covers, with a manufacturing capacity of 1,300,000 barrels of salt.

District No. 3, Huron County.—Employs four deputey salt inspectors, has ten salt companies, with five steam and eight pan blocks, with a manufacturing capacity of 400,000 barrels of salt.

District No. 4, Iosco County.—Employs two deputy salt inspectors, has eight salt companies, with eight steam blocks, having a manufacturing capacity of 400,000 barrels of salt.

District No. 5, Midland County.—Employs one deputy salt inspectors, has four salt companies, with one steam and three pan blocks, having a manufacturing capacity of 100,000 barrels of salt.

District No. 6, Manistee County—Employs one deputy salt inspector, has one salt company, with one steam block now in operation, with a manufacturing capacity of 50,000 barrels of salt.

District No. 7, Gratiot County.—Employs one deputy salt inspector, has one salt company, with one pan block having a manufacturing capacity of 40,000 barrels of salt.

NUMBER OF BARRELS INSPECTED IN BAY COUNTY IN 1882.

The following table is taken from the state salt inspector’s report, and shows the amount of salt inspected during the year. This does not show the full amount manufactured:

L. L. Hotchkiss…………………………………….. 54,860
Laderach Bros……………………………………… 17,217
W. H. Malone……………………………………… 28,665
H. W. Sage & Co………………………………….. 64,352
J. D. Ketcham……………………………………… 5,697
Keystone Salt & Lum. Co…………………………. 31,593
Burt & Lewis………………………………………. 3,006
C. E. Lewis………………………………………… 23,888
Smith & Sons………………………………………. 28,018
McGraw & Co…………………………………… 29,239
Birdsall & Barker………………………………… 70,508
A. Chesbrough……………………………………. 580
G. C. Myers……………………………………… 17,662
Murphy & Dorr…………………………………. 37,300
Miller & Lewis…………………………………. 54,079
S. McLean Son & Co……………………………. 24,930
Hamilton, McGregor & Co………………………. 25,623
A. Rust & Bro…………………………………….. 58,418
Hay, Butman & Co………………………………. 26,298
N.B. Bradley & Sons…………………………….. 61,412
W. Peter………………………………………….. 39,588
F. E. Bradley………………………………………. 37,818
Eddy, Avery & Eddy……………………………. 59,081
Pitts & Cranage………………………………….. 55,484
J. F. Ewing……………………………………….. 13,686
R. J. Briscoe………………………………………. 32,000
Folsom & Arnold………………………………… 30,349
Eddy Bros. & Co………………………………… 31,556
Atlantic Salt Co…………………………………… 4,800
Rouse Bros……………………………………….. 18,914
J. R. Hall…………………………………………... 53,569
Carrier & Co………………………………………. 26,583
McEwan Bros…………………………………….. 34,831
Dolsen, Chapin & Co……………………………. 56,675
_____________________________________________
Total…………………………………………… 1,158,279

SHIPMENTS BY WATER FOR 1882.

April……………………………………………… 53,937
May………………………………………………. 87,722
June……………………………………………… 47,194
July………………………………………………. 32,311
August…………………………………………… 62,831
September………………………………………. 37,629
October………………………………………….. 68,225
November………………………………………. 50,147
_______________________________________________
Total………………………………………………. 439,996

The shipments by rail during the year were about 500,000 barrels, making the total shipments for the year 939,996 barrels.

The total number of barrels inspected in Bay County during 1881 was 1,125,290.

The total salt product of the state in 1869 was 560,818 barrels. In 1881 was 2,750,299 barrels.

Most of the production now is by the grainer system. Steam blocks are used and evaporation is procured by the use of exhaust steam from the engines which drive the saw mills. The expense of fuel is thus reduced to the minimum, as were the steam not used in the salt manufacture, it would be suffered to escape without further service. This mode of manufacture has practically superseded all others, because of the economy of fuel.

In 1873 the product of Bay City amounted to a little more than 352,000 barrels, which was sold at an average of $1.40 per barrel.

In 1882 there were thirty-four salt making establishments, and the amount inspected was 1,193,479 barrels. The total product for the year was considerably more than that.

In the early days of salt manufacture here, the prices reached as high as $3.50 a barrel. The past year the average price has been about seventy cents.

YEARLY PRODUCT AND PRICE

The salt manufacture in this state commenced in 1860, and the

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inspection law was not enacted until 1869. Previous to the inspection law the annual product was as follows:

Barrels Barrels
1860……………………… 4,000 1865…………………….. 477,200
1861……………………… 125,000 1866…………………….. 407,077
1862…………………….. 243,000 1867……………………. 474,721
1863……………………… 466,356 1868…………………….. 555,690
1864……………………… 529,073 ……………………………………….

The product since 1869, at which time the inspection law took effect, is as follows:

Barrels. Barrels.
1869……………………. 560,818 1876……………………. 1,462,729
1870…………………… 621,350 1877………………………. 1,960,997
1871…………………… 728,175 1878……………………… 1,855,884
1872……………………. 724,481 1879…………………….. 2,058,040
1873……………………. 823,346 1880…………………….. 2,676,588
1874…………………….. 1,028,979 1881……………………… 2,750,299
1875………………………. 1,081,865 1882………………………. 3,037,317

AVERAGE PRICES.

The average net price to manufacturers for the salt product during a series of years show as follows:

Average price per barrel, 1866……………………………….. $1.80
“ “ “ “ 1867………………………………. 1.77
“ “ “ “ 1868………………………………. 1.85
“ “ “ “ 1869………………………………. 1.58
“ “ “ “ 1870………………………………. 1.32
“ “ “ “ 1871………………………………. 1.46
“ “ “ “ 1872………………………………. 1.46
“ “ “ “ 1873………………………………. 1.37
“ “ “ “ 1874………………………………. 1.19
“ “ “ “ 1875………………………………. 1.10
“ “ “ “ 1876………………………………. 1.05
“ “ “ “ 1877……………………………… .85
“ “ “ “ 1878………………………………. .85
“ “ “ “ 1879………………………………. 1.02
“ “ “ “ 1880……………………………… .75
“ “ “ “ 1881………………………………. .83 2/3
“ “ “ “ 1882……………………………….. .70

SALT ASSOCIATIONS.

The association of salt manufacturers of the salt producing counties of Michigan, organized in 1876, under the title of “Michigan Salt Association,” and reorganized in 1881, under the name of “Salt Association of Michigan,” has, during its few years of existence, met with flattering success on all sides, the consumer of salt as well as the producer being profited thereby.

Early in the history of the great industry, associations from time to time were organized about the year 1868, the most prominent salt manufacturers along Saginaw River being members. The capital stock was $200,000, with 8,000 at $25 each. The amount actually paid in was $19.25 per share. The officers of the company were as follows:

President, H. M. Fitzhugh; vice-president Newell Barnard; secretary, J. S. Judson; treasurer, N. B. Bradley. Executive committee, H. M. Fitzhugh, J. F. Bundy N. Barnard, T. Cranage, Jr., N. B. Bradley.

This association was discontinued in 1871, and from that time until 1875 there was no regular organization to take hold of and handle the saline article. The salt producer during that time saw the real necessity for an organization A number of salt manufacturers in the Saginaw Valley had a meeting, and on the 8^th of July, in that year, organized an association, known as the Saginaw Salt Company. Its purpose was the marketing of all salt it stockholders manufactured, and such as was delivered to it for that purpose by others, and in connection therewith, the establishing of agencies for the sale of salt in principal markets, and the buying, selling and manufacture of salt. The capital stock was $500,000, of 20,000 shares of $25 each. The amount of capital stock paid in was $18,000. This company was of a few months’ existence. On March 31^st, in 1876, the Michigan Salt Association was formed, to exist as an organization for five years. At it first annual election following officers and committees were chosen:

President, W.R. Burt, East Saginaw; vice-president, Albert Miller, Bay City; secretary, D. G. Holland, East Saginaw; treasurer, Thomas Cranage, Jr., Bay City. Board of directors, J. L. Dolsen, H. C. Moore, J. R. Hall, H. M. Bradley, John McEwan, of Bay City; W. R. Burt, W. J Bartow, G. L. Remington, Ezra Rust, Newell Barnard, G. F. Williams, H. A. Batchelor, of the Saginaws, W. R. Stafford and James Ayers, of Port Hope; E.F. Holmes, of Oscoda. Executive committee, H. M. Bradle, J. L. Dolsen, of Bay City; W. R. Burt, W. J. Bartow, N. Barnard, East Saginaw.

The capital stock was $200,000, of 8,000 $25 shares. The amount actually paid in was $2 per share. This organization was probably the most successful one in the history of the Saginaw Valley. Its stock-holders numbered forty-eight, twelve of whom resided in East Saginaw, fifteen in Bay City, two in West Bay City, fourteen in Saginaw City, and one each in Port Austin, Caseville, New River, White Rock, and Port Hope. It appointed a committee consisting of Thomas Cranage, Jr., N. Barnard, and one other member, who drafted an amendment to the salt law, which was passed by the Legislature, and it is now considered the best that could be drawn, it covering all the points desired.

In 1881,on March 31^st, the organization expired by limitation. At that time a new combination was organized under the name of the Salt Association of Michigan. This company is in existence at the present day, and is doing effective work. Its officers are about the same as of the old association. The purpose for which this organization was formed is the manufacture of and dealing in salt, and to engage in the transportation of its products to market. The capital stock is $200,000, divided into 8,000 shares of $25 each. The amount actually paid in is $2 per share. The affairs of the association are managed by the Board of Directors, who are all manufacturers of salt. The places for the transaction of the association’s business are Bay City and East Saginaw.

Any manufacturer of salt in this state is entitled to become a stockholder of the association by signing articles of association, and designating the number of shares taken, which shall not exceed one share of the capital stock for every barrel of the daily average of his manufactory on a fair estimate. From the proceeds of the salt sold there is paid an annual dividend of 8 per cent to each stockholder on the amount paid in, payable on the 30^th days of March and September, which together with all losses sustained and all expenses incurred in handling and selling, together with the inspection fees, are charged up as expenses before a division of the proceeds of sales are made. Annual meetings of the stockholders are held on the third Thursday in January, in each year. Special meetings are held at times when the president or directors shall appoint.

Every manufacturer, in becoming a member of the association, is obliged to execute and deliver to it a contract for all salt manufactured by him, or a lease of his salt manufacturing property. Each stockholder makes slat solely on the association’s account. The board of directors has power to determine the rate of advance in the price of salt, and it also has power to appoint traveling or resident agents for the sale of salt.

Transcribed by Katie McIllaney

Proofread by Virginia Smoot & Sheryl Retlewski

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