182 MICHIGAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 



showing- the hirge increase in product which it would have in a normal 

 season. As it is, :Michigan last year produced about throe-fourths of 

 the sugar it consumed, and if the coming season is a favorable one, will 

 have sugar for export after having satisfied the home demands. Michi- 

 gan ranks as the second State in the Union in the production of beet 

 sugar, producing almost thirty per cent, of the total amount manu- 

 factured. California stands first, producing about thirty-six per cent, 

 of the total, but this year would have lost its supremacy to Michigan 

 had the crop in this State been at all favorable. 



It is interesting to note how one industry brings others in its train. 

 The forests of Michigan with cheap charcoal brought the charcoal iron 

 furnaces to this State, and the last census reports seven establishments 

 as still in existence, with an output during the census year valued at 

 12,327,153, which is about two-fifths of the total value of the United 

 States product. The charcoal Imrners have collected more and more 

 carefully as competition pressed them, the acetic acid and methyl alcohol 

 from their kilns, until now in a well-conducted works the value of the 

 once neglected by-products has become greater than the charcoal. 

 Furthermore, since small wood yields almost as much of these products 

 as good lumber, one of the largest saw-mills of the State has recently 

 installed an expensive chemical works to take care of the slabs and refuse 

 from the mill, where methyl alcohol and calcium acetate are principal 

 Iiroducts, and charcoal a by-product. 



In a somewhat similar way the ammonia produced in the destructive 

 distillation of coal and wasted from the old beehive coke furnaces has 

 become such a valuable product that the Solvay I'rocess Company has 

 extended its by-product coke oven plant to such an extent that it has a 

 large amount of gas to sell to the Detroit Gas Company, and has brought 

 about the erection of an iron furnace near its plant to take care of its 

 surplus coke. ^lichigan will then ap]»ear as a ])r()ducer of coke pig iron 

 as well as the charcoal iron. 



The magnitude of Michigan's co})per industry is well known. Not all 

 the ])roduct of her mines is refined in this State, but the census returns 

 show three coi)per smelting and refining establishments with an output 

 of refined copper valued at 117,340,041. 



The electrochemical industries of Michigan should be mentioned not 

 so much iK^cause of the jsresent value of their [troducts as because of their 

 promise for the future. The tendency of these industries has been to 

 collect around sources of cheap water power, and their concentration at 

 Niagara is well known. The recent completion of the American power 

 canals at Sault Sainte Marie with its 40,000 available horse power has 

 already atti-acled some manufacturers and plants for the manufacture 

 of alkali and bleaching powder, calcium carbide, and for the electrolytic 

 refining of copper and nickel are reported to be making arrangements to 

 locate there. There is abundant room for the erection of plants for the 

 j)ro(luction of bleaching ]»owder in this country, nearly seventy-five per 

 cent, of the amount consumed being imported. The factories at Niagara 

 produce most of this, but ^lichigan ranked second in output during the 

 census year. The raw malerial, salt, is cheajx'r in ^fichigan than in any 

 other State, and .Micliigan has almost continuously taken the lead in its 

 production. It is wortliy of note that this industry has developed in this 

 State without the advantage of cheap water ])Ower and that though the 



