Pioneer history of Ingham County, compiled and arranged by Mrs. Franc L. Adams, secretary of the Ingham County pioneer and historical society.

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PIONEER HISTORY OF INGHAM 'COUNTY

From this supply a constant stream flows into the shallow pans of
the evaporator. These pans are about 2 x 5 feet in size, and are
connected with each other by tubing at the ends, so that the
boiling sap is kept constantly circulating. After making the circuit of the first evaporator it is piped to the other.
The furnace man's chief anxiety is to boil down the sap as soon
as possible after it is brought in, as the making of the finest qualities of syrup demands that the sap be gathered once a day or
oftener, and used immediately. Openings in the roof of the sugar
house allow clouds of steam from the boiling pans to escape.
When the syrup reaches the proper consistency it is strained and
allowed to settle. It is then carried to the house where its density
is determined by the hydrometer, after which it is sealed in gallon
and half gallon tin cans, each bearing the makers name and certified as to its purity. For sugar the syrup is boiled again then
molded into five pound cakes.
The output depends on the length of the season, which is never
two years alike. Extremely cold weather changing rapidly to
warm spring weather oftentimes starts the buds on the trees and
makes a very short season. Work in the sugar bush does not stop
when the sap ceases to run, as then the thousands of pails and
spouts, together with the tanks and evaporating pans must be
overhauled and scalded, then packed away to await the next
season's run.
Five years later sees this all changed. In 1914 Mr. Chapin
was working with a hay fork in his barn when the machine fell
and struck him, and death followed instantaneously. Mr.
Chapin, in addition to conducting this sugar bush mentioned,
worked about 200 acres of farm land in a superior manner, and
was considered an authority on all matters of an agricultural
nature. After his death Mrs. Chapin and the son who remained
home found the farm land all they could attend to, and when the
fuel shortage struck the county in 1918 the City of Lansing bought
the wood lot, which included the sugar bush, to supply its municipal wood yard, and this wonderful landmark containing trees
centuries old went up in smoke. This was a blow to the maple
sugar industry in Ingham county, which was augmented by the
sale of several other good-sized, well-known sugar orchards in
this vicinity which went for the same purpose, among them the