History of Saginaw county, Michigan; together with ... portraits ... and biographies ... History of Michigan ...

HISTORY OF SAGINAW COUNTY.

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which, in order to give some idea of the magnitude of the business, I will say that if the lumber had all been cut into one and
one-half inch plank, there would be sufficient to lay a walk three
feet wide around the circumference of the earth, and have 25,000,000
feet left.
"Many who are present to-day will remember the genial, talented and now greatly lamented Dr. Houghton, who many years
ago lost his life while prosecuting his researches in bringing to
light the hidden riches of the Peninsular State, and who, I believe,
was the first to adopt the theory and define the limits of our great
salt basin, which theory has been very nearly verified by subsequent development of facts. You remember also the undertaking
of the State, under Dr. Houghton's supervision, to develop the
salt interest, near the mouth of the Salt river, far up the Tittabawassee; which point Dr. Houghton selected in opposition to his
better judgment. fearing that in case of a possible failure, if he
undertook to penetrate the salt rock in the lower part of the valley,
he would be voted a humbug by the people, and the development
of one of the great interests of Michigan be indefinitely postponed.
"The work of sinking a well was prosecuted under many difficulties till they had reached a depth of about two hundred feet,
when difficulties incident to such operations occurred at the well,
which delayed the business till our great State became bankrupt,
and unable to furnish more money to prosecute the work, and it
was abandoned, and twenty years passed away before another effort was made to penetrate the salt rock of the Saginaw Valley.
In the meantime other scientific men so fully demonstrated the
correctness of the theory adopted by Dr. Houghton, that some
enterprising citizens of East Saginaw determined to penetrate the
earth, and bring forth the riches that had so long remained beneath its surface. Their enterprise proved a success, as has every
other one of the same kind that has been undertaken in this part
of the valley. Last year there was produced over 800,000 barrels
of salt, for which there was paid to the manufacturers nearly
$1,250,000.
"The wealth lying beneath our rivers and marshes is greater
than that of any equal span in the rich State of California. The
gold placers of California will be exhausted while the wealth beneath us is a perennial spring, which will flow, to enrich the inhabitants of our valley till the great convulsion which shall overwhelm
all sublunary things. The commerce of our river must necessarily
have kept pace with the other material interests of our valley.
There are those present who remember when the 'Savage,' a
schooner of 40 tons burden, was the only craft, larger than the
redman's canoe, that disturbed the placid waters of our beautiful
river; and two trips of that craft per year was sufficient for all the
carrying trade of both the white man and red; and the supplies
that were brought in were in proportion of four barrels of whisky
to one of pork and two of flour; and sometimes when the vessel