East Saginaw courier. (East Saginaw, Mich.) 1859-18??, 1860-02-23
From the Bay City Press, Feb l
SALT AND SAGINAW.

We have eaten salt for a great while
without ever inquiring where il came
from, and caring less but to-day at din
ner we salted our potatoes, with salt that
came from more than 600 feet under the
ground hardly the Saginaw River. Salt
indeed is very common article, and no
people perhaps will fail of being kept in
a state of preservation for the want of it,
But the more common, the moreimportant
1t is almost as essential to us as the air
we breathe or the water we drink. 1t is
therefore no small matter that we have it
at our doors and under our feet.
The fact now appears to be incontcsti-
bly, established that we who live in the
Saginaw Valley, live upon one of the
great basins of SALT and that the conver
sion of the brine, so abundantly furnished
into the solid article, is to be one of the
main sources of our wealth and prosperi-
ty. In another column we have shown,
what legislation we have to aid us. We
now propose to allude to few Of the
benefits that must result from the manu-
facture Of salt.
In the first place, the bounty offered
by the State of Michigan is most liberal
and encouraging. Michigan has adopted
policy much more liberal than New
York. AS early as 1779 New York
treated the slime districts as belonging
to the State and enacted laws regulating
the salt works. The State furnished
tanks and reservoirs, and pumps, and let
them. She at first charged two mills a
bushel for pumping the water and six
cents duty on the salt made. This charge
has been gradually reduced so that now
it is one cent per bushel of 56 pounds, on
all the salt manufactured. SO extensive
has the demand become that this furnishes
to the State an annual revenue of near
1000 dollars.
On the other hand Michigan furnishes
nothing; but binds herself to give to all
manufactures within her boundaries,
whether individuals or companies, ten
cents for every bushel manufactured, and
release all taxes upon property used for
that purpose.
This She can afford to do for ycarsfo
come, as matter of economy. Now the
money paid for all the salt used in the
State is sent out of the State; when n
sufficient supply is obtained at home,
that money will be retained, and used i'll
building other interests.
The manufacture Of salt in the Sagi-
nav Valley will bring into use property
that has heretofore been considered of
triang value. Those large prairies that
skirt the borders of our rivers seem to
have been fashioned for that very pur-
pose The skill of man could not have
prepared the ground better. The business
is one that can be INCREASED almost with
out limit.
In 1897 the Onandaga salt springs
made 20, ,i74 bushels. In 1855 the same
springs made 6,0S2,SS5 bushels And
while the amount made at this AMI other
springs has increased so largely, the
amount of foreign salt imported also in
creased. In the year 1921 the United
States imported 3,943,727 bushels, and
in the year 1867 she imported IL, l65, ,704.
In this connection it is an interesting
fact to observe that the actual cost OF
manufacturing instead of decreasing,
gradually increases. At the New York
works, the costs of manufacturing bar
rel of salt in 1850 was from 70toS0 cents;
in 1852, 81; in 1858, S1,l2; in 1854,
81 ,25; in 1855, sl,3O; in 1856, sl,40 pei
barrel.
i We know not how to account for this
except from the increasing scarcity OF
fuel in that region. The abundance Of