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Tri City Monthly Lifestyle Magazine
Logs, Bleach, Beets & Cars:Everything old is new again in the economic revitalization of the Tri-Cities
by Nancy Sajdak Manning
Get out your white suit, your tap shoes and tails
Put it on backwards when forward fails
Better leave Great Garbo alone
Be a movie star on your own
. . . Dreams can come true again
When everything old is new again
—“Everything Old is New Again,” Peter Allen at His Best
These days, visitors entering the Saginaw Valley’s once-labeled “Golden Triangle” Tri-Counties will delight to find many residents putting “white suit(s), tap shoes, and tails on backwards” to rethink and re-gear our region’s economy.
While we await a major economic engine(s) to renew or replace the longtime-sustaining automotive industry, we can draw assurance from Valley predecessors who weathered similar challenging times and enjoyed economic success from industries in logs, bleach, beets, and cars. Increasing regional economic advances also help us to trust that “dreams can come true again.”
The combined histories of the Tri-Counties tell of a shared beginning and enduring interactions. In the 1957 Bay County Centennial Souvenir Program, past Bay City Times journalist/local historian Les Arndt writes ofthe Saginaw News’ past “Golden Triangle” label for our region and the “Sagbaymid” phrase to describe the hopefully coming one city with “promise of being the second largest metropolitan district in the state.” This mirrors today’s regional promotion by the Bay Area, Midland Area, and Saginaw County Chambers of Commerce, VISION TRICOUNTY, Bay Future Inc., Saginaw Future Inc., Midland Tomorrow, and area convention and visitors bureaus.
The Saginaw River
The northerly flowing Saginaw River flows into the south end of Saginaw Bay in Lake Huron, the St. Lawrence Seaway, and out to the Atlantic Ocean. Historically, our Valley’s economy has prospered from its proximity to the Saginaw River and surrounding waters that enabled exploration, travel, and settlement; sustained wildlife and fish; and supported industry and commerce. The cities of Saginaw and Bay City built up alongside the 22-mile-long Saginaw River, formed by the union of the Cass River from the east, the Shiawassee from the south, the Tittabawassee from a northerly direction, and other tributaries running hundreds of miles into past-forested areas. The city of Midland grew up near the Tittabawassee River, at the confluence of the Pine and Shiawassee Rivers, which flow into the Saginaw River.
Settlement of the Valley
In Michigan in the 1600s, French explorers, missionaries, and fur traders were the first Europeans to arrive and interact with Native Americans in the swampy, heavily wooded, and mosquito-ridden environment that earliest Michigan Territory surveyors later deemed “uninhabitable.” Following French and British rule and the American Revolution, the Michigan Territory was organized out of the Northwest Territory. Detroit was the government seat, and the Saginaw Valley area was part of Oakland County when it was organized in 1820. When fur trading declined by the 1830s, Eastern land speculators arrived, followed by settlers and workers from New England, then Swedish, German, Polish, French-Canadian, and Irish immigrants.
Tri-County Development
In 1822, the Territorial Legislature established Saginaw County, which, by 1830, included parts of present Bay, Gladwin, Midland, and Tuscola Counties. In 1831, Midland and Arenac Counties were created, each including parts of present Bay County. Saginaw County, more organized than other counties, governed in Northeastern Michigan until Midland County was organized in 1851 and Bay County was finally organized in 1857. In 1889, East and West Saginaw combined to become the city of Saginaw. (East) Lower Saginaw and West Bay City villages merged to become Bay City in 1903. In 1860, major industries developed rapidly in the Valley, and populations grew quickly. By 1910, the city of Saginaw (pop. 50,510) was the third largest city in the state. Bay City (pop. 45,166) was fourth largest.
Logs
The Valley’s vigorous lumbering industry enriched our economy, supported many related businesses, and created dozens of “lumber baron” millionaires. In By these Waters (1976), Les Arndt writes that from 1850 to 1898, Saginaw River lumber mills produced about 23 billion “board feet” (1-foot square and 1-inch thick) of lumber. In 1882, 112 mills operated from the river mouth upstream to Saginaw. In peak year 1888, over four billion feet of logs were cut in mills along the Saginaw River. Historian Stuart D. Gross, in Saginaw: A History of the Land and the City (1980), expands, “So much sawdust was produced it was used to fill the swamps in the East Saginaw Business district; it is still said . . . that Saginaw’s east side is built on forty feet of sawdust.” In Midland County, with fewer lumber mills, loggers sent huge numbers of logs down the Tittabawassee to Saginaw River mills. The 1884 Midland County Gazetteer reports that, in 1880, 580,000,000 feet of logs were rafted on the Tittabawassee and that an 1884 jam of logs extended 40 miles. The Pine and Chippewa Rivers converging at Midland carried nearly as many logs, and the Flint & Pere Marquette Railroad helped transport logs.
Beets
Near 1900, when the Tri-Counties were lumbered out, Valley residents sought ways to revive the economy—and to revive stump land. The sugar beet industry provided one solution. The Michigan Sugar Company Web site attributes the rise of sugar beet popularity in the Valley in the 1890s to the “father of the sugar beet,” Dr. Robert C. Kedzie of Michigan Agricultural College [now MSU]. Kedzie identified beet growing potential in Michigan and imported 1,500 pounds of French beet seeds that adapted to the Valley. Kedzie is quoted: “Three crops of beets grown in three successive years are worth as much as one crop of pines, which required 100 years to mature.” An upsurge of 23 sugar processing plants followed, then thinned down. Today Michigan Sugar Company is the only sugar company in the state, with holdings including corporate offices in Bay City and four factories in the Valley and Thumb. Owned by 1,250 grower-owners, it is the fourth largest beet processor in the nation, generating over $300 million in local economic activity.
Bleach
In 1890, 24-year-old Herbert H. Dow arrived in economically struggling Midland to start a chemical industry based upon the potentials of salt brine under the community. Dow, a recent graduate from Case School of Applied Science in Cleveland, was determined to extract the brine’s individual elements of bromine, chlorine, sodium, calcium, and magnesium, and find uses and markets for them. By 1897, Dow succeeded in extracting bromine and chlorine, which enabled bleach production and the establishment of Dow Chemical Company. The company manufactured and sold bleach commercially, mostly to paper mills in nearby states. In 1898, Dow successfully penetrated Europe’s bleach market and helped develop a U.S. chemical industry independent from foreign nations. In Dow’s career, he produced over 100 products, many firsts, and drew a large number of professionals to Midland. In a Michigan History April 1927 article, Lawrence H. Conrad writes, “[T]he Dow Chemical Company . . . has kept so busy using up the waste from the waste from the waste that it doesn’t know what its ultimate chief product will be.” Today, Dow Chemical, a multinational company, has annual sales of $54 billion and maintains headquarters in Midland.
Cars
During industrialization in the early 1900s, Ransom Olds’ popularization of the automobile and Henry Ford’s auto industry accomplishments helped Michigan and Detroit become the automotive manufacturing center of the world. In the Tri-Counties, early auto and truck manufacturing efforts in Bay and Saginaw Counties were replaced with many first-, second-, and third-tier machine and parts suppliers plus parts builders and assembly plants, largely supporting General Motors. In Midland County, Dow Chemical applied magnesium extraction and magnesium metalmaking skills to create gasoline-saving magnesium pistons. Though not initially adopted by major auto manufacturers, many purchased Dowmetal magnesium pistons, used also in Tommy Milton’s 1921 winning Indy 500 racecar. Dow Automotive remains a leading global auto industries’ supplier.
Today
In today’s transitioning Valley economy, employment in service exceeds manufacturing. The “U.S. Census 2006 Selected Economic Characteristics” shows highest overall Tri- County employment in three areas of industry: educational services, health care, and social services; manufacturing; and retail trade. The region is sustained by a strong infrastructure, including abundant roads and the MBS International Airport that has just announced plans for a new $48 million terminal. The area’s diverse services include dining, shopping, and living. There are highly regarded religious, education, and health institutions, plus recreation opportunities and abundant festivals and special events. Valley colleges, Delta College, Saginaw Valley State University (SVSU), Northwood University, and Davenport University, serve over 20,000 students and tailor programs to respond to higher skills required in employment today. Education is also collaborating with local medical institutions to create a regional hub for medical field training and specialized health care. Recently, SVSU received $250,000 from the state-run Michigan Nursing Corps and Saginaw’s Covenant Medical Center to hire educators to respond to a statewide nursing shortage. In Bay County, Bay-Arenac ISD Career Center opened a $6.2 million health and science wing. And, both SVSU and Delta are working to add health science buildings. Ongoing regional healthcare expansions and improvements include investments of $54 million at McLaren Health Care’s Bay Regional Medical Center and $121 million at MidMichigan Medical Center-Midland. City-and-state-aided virtually tax-free Renaissance Zones support real estate developments such as the $10 million Michigan CardioVascular Institute on Saginaw’s riverfront and Saginaw City Council’s $1 sale of 60 acres of riverfront property to establish a $10 million Mayo Clinic-rival medical research facility. Central Michigan University in Isabella County is progressing with medical school plans and considering partnering with a Valley healthcare organization for hands-on medical training. Other industry progress includes $25 million renovations at downtown Midland’s new upscale H Hotel that features gourmet dining. Saginaw County’s Hemlock Semiconductor (HSC), the world’s largest producer of polycrystalline silicon, which supplies raw material used in many electronic devices and solar panel construction, is investing $1.5 billion in expansion. And, Bay County’s Consumers Energy-owned Karn-Weadock plant, waiting for final permissions to build a $2.3 billion coal-fired power plant, is spending $22 million to install a seawall and freighter dock. The Saginaw River continues to flow through the Valley, out to the bay, lake, and finally to the sea, reminding us that life is never static. The River bears witness to many sunny days in the Valley and to the diverse abilities our predecessors applied to triumph over prevailing economic challenges. It reminds us that the way is always forward and that this is our time—our turn—to return the golden glow to the Valley.
Better leave Great Garbo alone
Be a movie star on your own