MICHIGAN ROADS AND FORESTS. 



SAGINAW'S GOOD ROADS. 



Saginaw is vitally interested in the subject 

 of good roads, as shown by the number of 

 miles that have been built in the few years 

 since the subject was first agitated. The re- 

 Bults obtained have demonstrated the sound- 

 ness of the opinions expressed when the move- 

 ment was started. Today Saginaw has a net- 

 work of stone highways leading out of or to 

 the city that permit farmers in all directions 

 to bring their products there over surfaces that 

 permit of hauling heavy loads. 



Among the first of the improvements to be 

 made was an extension of Washington avenue 

 south from the city limits, which work was 

 done under the supervision of a government 

 engineer, and the expense of which was met 

 by citizens, principally of the south side, and 

 some nearby farmers. This was followed by 

 the same kind of work in other directions on 

 main roads leading into the city and then the 

 county authorities took the matter up under a 

 state law and have been pushing it forward 

 each year since. In this way both clay and 

 sand roads have been made passable at all 

 times for long distances into the country and 

 the facilities for business traffic to and from 

 the metropolis of the valley most materially 

 increased. 



In point of mileage of stone roads in opera- 

 tion Saginaw county is second in the state, 

 Bay county leading with nearly 100 miles of 

 these improved public thoroughfares. But this 

 year Saginaw is building 15% miles to Bay's 

 6% miles. 



The road being improved in Saginaw county 

 this summer are as follows: Gratiot, two 

 miles: Janlestown. King and Watrousville, one 

 mile each; two miles on the town line; Merrill, 

 three miles, the latter by special tax of the 

 township; Deerfield, one and one-half miles; 

 Washington, one and one-quarter miles; Birch 

 Run. Mackinaw. Lawndale, Kochville, Sag- 

 inawtown and the Cross road, one-half mile 

 each; Vassar road, one-quarter mile. 



SILK MILL CITY. 



If the raw silk which is daily whirled from 

 reel to spool in, the winding rooms of the Beld- 

 ing silk mills was stretched out in a straight 

 line along the equator it would surprise most 

 'people to learn how few hours would be neces- 

 sary to completely encircle the globe with a band 

 of raw silk. 



Belding, the home of the silk industry in Mich- 

 igan, the city that even gets its name from the 

 person who was one of the first to inaugurate 

 silk making on a large commercial scale in 

 America, may well be termed the Silk Mill city. 

 On all sides grim factories rise and from their 

 windows come the rattle of machinery which 

 turns the product of the lowly silk worm into 

 finished commercial silk. At noon, when the 

 doors swing open to the tune of the great chime 

 of factory whistles. Belding's streets are liter- 

 ally congested by the crowd of silk mill em- 



From the very nature of the work a great ma- 

 jority of the employes are girls, and in order that 

 the standard of the city shall not drop to a plane 

 such as characterizes most towns devoted to_ tex- 

 tile industry, the mill management maintains a 

 . general supervision over its employes' private 

 j lives. 



Everything that can be provided for their wel- 

 I fare is furnished by the mill companies. Magnifi- 

 cent boarding places not unlike clubs are main- 

 ' tained, but wherever employes live the mill man- 

 I ^gement aims to conduct a general sort of su- 

 I pervision. Late hours are not tolerated among 

 , the silk mill girls. The supervision is not dis- 

 , tasteful to the silk mill employes. The result of 

 this sort of parental supervision on the part of 

 ' the mill management is evident to even the cas- 

 1 ual observer. Belding is a icity of quiet. There 

 is none of the boisterous conduct that is so ap- 

 ii parent in most textile industry centers. This pe- 

 1 culiar sort of social settlement work, as it might 

 be termed, has gained the Belding silk mills much 

 4 favorable comment from authorities on the sub- 

 f ject who have studied their system. 



SAGINAW'S SALT INDUSTRY. 



State Salt Inspector Emery's monthly report 

 shows salt inspected in the several districts in 

 Michigan in April as follows: Saginaw, 18,052 

 barren; Bay, 1.>,S2J ; St. Clair, 92,187; Mamstee, 

 187,584; Mason, Ss,li27 ; Wayne, 62,768; total, 

 465,341 barrels. 



Ihe rise and decline of the production of salt 

 in the Saginaw valley furnishes an interesting 

 chapter, i lie tirst salt well sunk in the State ol 

 Michigan was at East Saginaw in 1859. Brine 

 was found and d salt manuiacturing plant erected 

 and the manufacture ot salt in the state inaug- 

 urated in 186U. Ihe output that year was 4,uuu 

 barrels. The industry at once took on activity 

 and in 1861 the output was 125JOOO barrels. In 

 1803 no less than 466,350 barrels of salt were pro- 

 duced on the Saginaw river. In 1870 the output 

 increased to 646,ol6 barrels and five years later it 

 amounted to 970,444 barrels. 



In the lumbering days the salt works were erec- 

 ted contiguous to saw mills, and the exhaust 

 steam from the power utilized in operating the 

 mill plants was used to evaporate the salt. In 

 this way salt was produced vtry cheaply. 



In fact, cheap tuel is a necessity in the produc- 

 tion of salt, since the price by reason of increased 

 production had declined Irom $3 a oarrel in 1860 

 to 50 cents at the present time, and it has sold 

 as low in the last ~o years as 35 cents. Think of 

 280 pounds of nne salt with a package thrown in 

 selling at 35 and 40 cents. 



As the saw mills went out of commission in 

 the Saginaw valley so too the salt blocks became 

 idle and either burned or were dismantled. 



In 1883 there was manufactured in Saginaw 

 1,185,957 barrels and in Bay City there was pro- 

 duced 1,106,461 barrels. 



These figures showing the production in the 

 years named show the top and bottom of the in- 

 dustry in recent years : 1887 Saginaw, 1,115,169 

 barrels; Bay, 891,462. 1893 Saginaw, 842,235; 

 Bay 691,334. 1903 Saginaw, 179,533; Bay, 225,- 

 081. 1907 Saginaw, 328,083; Bay, 294,791. 



With the discovery of coal in the valley there 

 was expectation, since the manufacture of salt 

 at a profit depended upon cheap fuel, that the 

 industry there would expand, and it has to some 

 extent, but not what has been expected. The 

 vast production in the country and low price has 

 not stimulated the industry. 



It would be far more profitable if the salt 

 deposits in the Saginaw valley could be utilized 

 in the manufacture of chemicals, and there is no 

 limit to the development of such an industry. 

 The North American Chemical Company in Bay 

 City has made very profitable use of the salt brine 

 in the production of chemicals. 



WOOD PULP CONSUMPTION. 



A preliminary report from the Census 

 Bureau of the manufacture and consumption 

 of wood pulp in l'J07 shows the rapid growth 

 of paper-making and allied industries in the 

 last decade. Nearly 4,000,000 cords of wood, 

 in exact numbers 3,962,660 cords, were used in 

 the United States in the manufacture of paper 

 pulp last year, just twice as much as was used 

 in 1899, the first year for which detailed figures 

 were available. More than two and a half 

 million tons of pulp were produced. The pulp 

 mills used 300,000 more cords of wood in 1907 

 than in the previous year. 



The amount 'of spruce used was 68 per cent 

 of the total consumption of wood pulp, or 

 2,700,000 cords. The increased price of spruce 

 has turned the attention of paper manufac- 

 turers to a number of other woods, hemlock 

 ranking next with 576,000 cords, or 14 per cent 

 of the total consumption. More than 9 per 

 cent was poplar, and the remainder consisted 

 of relatively small amounts of pine, cotton- 

 wood, balsam and other woods. 



Wisconsin now ranks third in pulp produc- 

 tion, New Cork and Maine ranking first and 

 second, respectively. 



The Menominee River Boom Company has 

 started the main river drive at Brule Falls. 

 The drive is a small one compared with recent 

 years. 



BUY DIRECT 



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THOS. D. BUICK CO. 



424 Detroit Street FLINT, MICHIGAN 



TRAP ROCK FOR SALE 

 Fine trap rock for sale, best in the 

 country. Inquire JAMES M. 

 YOUNG, 15 Winder St., Detroit. 



CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING. 

 Advertising in the classified col- 

 umns of the "State Review" 

 will be inserted at the rate of 7 

 cents per agate line. 



Help Wanted. 



BOOKKEEPER and general office work; sales- 

 man for gent's furnishing. 79 Home Bank, De- 

 troit. 



COLLECTOR Experienced collector, with best 

 of references, wanted at once ; good money for 

 right man. Business Men's Credit Exchange, 

 325 Hammond Bldg., Detroit. 



YOUNG MAN, good habits and scholar, position 

 to keep cost and material in sheet metal works. 

 W. J. Burton Co., 164 Lamed st. west, Detroit. 



Business Opportunities. 



BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY Men of business 

 interested in a new field for making money will: 

 find in our proposition what they are seeking. 

 We have a new plan in the Mail Order line that 

 will please those seeking a good investment 

 with large profits. A fortune for the right- 

 person. The F. H. Alden Co., 168 E. Fourth 

 St., Cincinnati, O. 



FOR SALE or will exchange for good real es- 

 tate, furniture and undertaking business in good 

 town in Gratiot county, doing good business; 

 will inventory about $3,000. Montney & Jones, 

 49 Hodges Bids., Detroit. 



IF YOU WANT a business that will pay several 

 thousand dollars annually, start a mail order 

 business; we furnish everything necessary; only 

 few dollars required. Catalog and particulars 

 free. Milburn-Hicks, 708 Pontiac Bldg., Chi- 

 cago, 111. 



LUMBER BUSINESS NOT SO BAD. 



"The lumber business is quite slow for the 

 moment," says C. A. Bigelow, the Bay City 

 lumberman, "but I am confident that it is. 

 going to pick up decidedly in a very short 

 time. I am told by a flooring manufacturer 

 from Saginaw that the flooring business is also 

 quite dull for the moment. Our business isn't 

 so bad. In May both of our plants shipped 

 2,854,000 feet out by rail and thus far the June 

 shipments are ahead of May. We are selling 

 some lumber and intend to keep our two mills 

 humming right along. We are only running 

 one camp north, the men being engaged in 

 handling the logs we have decked to be 

 brought to Bay City by rail. We have enough 

 logs piled up along the railroad to keep our- 

 plant going until September." 



