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Salt to Coal
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Michigan supplied not only iron and copper, but also limestone, salt,
gypsum, oil, natural gas, coal, stone, sand and gravel to the nation as it expanded after
the Civil War. |
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Salt
 Native Americans knew and used salt springs. State Geologist
Douglass Houghton identified many of these salt brine locations in the lower peninsula.
The state's lumbering
industry furnished the scrap lumber necessary as fuel to evaporate the water and
produce salt.
Michigan led the nation in salt production for all but four years between 1905 and
1958 and still has sufficient salt deposits to supply the world's needs for centuries.
Salt companies used two methods to extract salt. In one method water was pumped down to
the salt to make an artificial brine, which was pumped to the surface and evaporated.
Actual underground mining of rock salt began during the early 20th century under the city
of Detroit. The photograph shows one of the world's largest salt mines which was operated
by the International Salt Company under the city.
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Chemicals
Since the 1890s, Michigan's chemical industry has made thousands of
products based on chemical compounds found in or near salt brines. Pioneers were the
Wyandotte Chemical Company at Wyandotte and the Dow Chemical Company in Midland. Sodium
carbonates151;such as soda ash, used to make glass, soap, and other products—bromine,
calcium chloride, and magnesium chloride are but some of the compounds that have
benefited industry and the consumer. |
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Limestone
Michigan limestone has been important for smelting iron and making
cement. The world's largest limestone quarry, covering approximately 6,000 acres, is
located at Rogers City on Lake Huron. |
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Gypsum
 Underground mining of gypsum began in the 1840s
near Grand Rapids. Gypsum quarrying (above-ground "mining") began in 1861 at
Alabaster near Saginaw Bay. By the 1970s, Michigan gypsum, which is used for plaster,
wallboards and other building materials, was valued at more than $10 million annually. The
photo in the gallery shows a conveyer that took gypsum out to ships in Lake Huron south of
Tawas City
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Coal, Oil and Gas
State Geologist Douglass Houghton reported coal mining in Jackson
County in 1840. The greatest production came from mines in the Saginaw Valley which were
developed after 1890. Thirty-seven mines were producing at the peak of coal production in
1907. A small strip mining operation in Ingham County was the only evidence of this
industry in the late 20th century. Michigan's first oil wells were sunk in the Port Huron area in 1886.
By the mid-1920s, both oil and gas companies had opened productive fields north and west
of Saginaw. Since that time, activity has centered in Isabella, Bay, Gratiot, Midland,
Kalkaska and Grand Traverse counties. |
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Sand, Gravel and Stone
Deposits of sand, gravel and stone occur throughout the state, and
have remained commercially productive throughout the 20th century. In the late 19th
century, quarries at Grindstone City, near the tip of Michigan's Thumb, supplied grindstones for
sharpening tools. Sandstone, from Hillsdale and Jackson counties and the south shore of
Lake Superior, was used as a building material. Beginning in the 20th century, sand and gravel
were used in large quantities for building roads and making cement. |
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