Utah's Salt Industry and Utah's Railroads
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Overview
Salt and railroads in Utah are closely tied together. The earliest reference comes from the mid 1880s. The town of Syracuse, west of today's Clearfield, was so-named because of the salt that was being harvested and shipped by wagon to the Utah Central line. The name was taken from Syracuse, New York, a large center for salt shipments at the time. The salt from Syracuse, Utah, was then transloaded from wagons to the cars of Utah Central and shipped north to the Montana mines, mills and smelters.
The salt shipments were growing rapidly, so UP and local interests organized the Ogden & Syracuse Railway in 1887 to build a spur from a new station called Syracuse Junction, west to the salt plants on the eastern shore of Great Salt Lake. Syracuse was also the site of one of the earliest lake side resorts. Syracuse Junction was renamed as Clearfield in July 1907. Oregon Short Line's Syracuse Branch to what was by then the Syracuse plant of Inland Salt Co. remained in place until 1906, by which time the Syracuse plant had closed.
Inland Salt was an innovator of the industry when they figured out that as the water evaporated, the minerals in salt at the lake built up in layers, with the 99 percent pure common salt crystal at the center. The company developed a process that harvested the crystals at the proper moment when handling would not destroy the crystals, but the outer layers were thin enough that they could be removed economically, thus exposing the pure common salt. The end product was then screened to produce either rock salt, or a fine-grained table salt.
The harvest season was generally September to April. During the other months, water from the lake is pumped into the evaporation ponds in successive manner as the brine becomes stronger and stronger from one pond to the next after all impurities are allowed to settle out. The final pond, when the harvest season begins, is allowed to drain, leaving behind four to six inches of wet salt crust that was then shoveled by hand and gathered using wheel barrows, and moved into huge piles that continue to drain and dry out. In later years, this was, of course, mechanized using variations of small tractors and other motorized vehicles.
The Inland Salt mill at [old] Saltair was a leader in the nation's salt industry until other companies developed their own processes. Big money came to the rescue when Inland Salt was reorganized as Inland Crystal Salt in 1892. The LDS church held a large interest in Inland Crystal Salt, but sold its interest to Morton Salt in 1923, thus making Morton Salt the dominant salt producer in Utah. Morton came to Utah in 1918 when it bought the potash plant of Salt Lake Chemical Co. at Burmester, Utah. The potash plant had been built in 1916 to supply the chemical for the war effort during WWI, but was a failure, with salt manufacturing taking its place.
The Saltair plant of Inland Salt Co. was opened in 1892, at a station on the new Salt Lake & Los Angeles Railway, which was completed to the Saltair salt plant, and the Saltair resort to the north, both on the south shore of Great Salt Lake (the resort opened in 1893). Inland Crystal Salt built a seven-mile system of rail spurs on its property, serving the various sites among the 2,000 acres of evaporation ponds where dried salt was loaded, at the rate of a trainload every day, all bound for mines and mills in the surrounding states. This seven-mile system of rail lines was incorporated as the Inland Railway in 1916 as a subsidiary of the SLG&W, which itself was the renamed Salt Lake & Los Angeles company. A new connection to the west was completed that allowed salt to be shipped westward on the UP and WP from their Garfield station, without having to make the long trip east to Salt Lake City, then back to the west after interchange with UP and WP. Of course, all of this under today's massive Kennecott Copper tailings pond.
The Kennecott tailings pond, and its expansion in the mid 1990s, was also the final blow to keeping the [new] Saltair plant open. The Morton Salt plant at Saltair station was in the way of further expansion. In September 1991, Kennecott and Morton International, along with North American Salt Co. and Great Salt Lake Chemical Co., worked out a complex combination of trades and sales that allowed Morton to close its Saltair plant, take over North American's salt plant at Grantsville, and turn over Morton's 2,700 acres of salt ponds to Kennecott as the basis for the expansion of the tailings pond. As a side note, Kennecott also made a deal with Union Pacific to move its tracks out of the way. UP acted as its own contractor for the move, but Kennecott paid for the entire move. The new UP tracks at "New Garfield" went into service in June 1997.
With the Morton plant at Saltair closing in 1992, there was no reason for SLG&W to provide service west of the International Center at 7200 West, and the tracks were removed.
The following comes from Mines, Miners and Minerals Of Utah, 1896, pages 109-111.
There are very many industries in Utah, outside of its mining interests, that approximate in value the salt manufacturing business. So much has been written concerning the Great Salt Lake that it is hardly necessary to describe it in this article; but we will briefly review the methods whereby the brine or water of the Lake, which is about 18 per cent solids, is converted into salt. It was the custom in early days to gather salt from along the shore, where the salt water had evaporated; but with the advent of development, it was found that salt of this kind, besides being dirty, was extremely impure.
The Inland Crystal Salt Co., by far the largest salt company in Utah, have a very complete plant for the manufacture of all kinds of salt, and their method consists of pumping water to an elevation of about 15 feet; their pumps being located at some distance from the shore. The water, after being raised, is flumed to the shore, and there distributed in shallow ponds. The pond area of this plant is about 1,000 acres. This is covered to a depth of about 15 inches; and as evaporation commences to take place, the ponds are constantly replenished, so that the depth of water in these ponds is kept almost uniform. Precipitation occurs at a temperature of about 90 degrees with best results; and one of the tricks of the business is to prevent quick evaporation, which occurs at high temperature and precipitates impurities as well as salt. The desire is to keep the impurities in solution, and drain them back into the Lake. A good season will make a deposit of from 6 to 8 inches of salt, which is shoveled up into piles, and allowed to remain in the weather until needed. The great market in the past, of course, for this grade of salt, which is known as milling or stock salt, has been the silver mills; but that business has sadly deteriorated since the summer of 1893.
As an illustration of the extent of the industry prior to that time, the company above referred to made no less than 125,000 tons in one year. The immense value of this business to the railroads can be readily seen, and the amount distributed in wages is also great.
Hard times forced action toward the development of the refined salt business, and became characterized.
The peculiar characteristics of the Salt Lake salt made it very difficult to refine, and it was only after extensive experiments, that the Inland Crystal Salt Company discovered that it was possible to make a granulated salt that is superior to any imported dairy salt.
The process consists simply of drying thoroughly crude salt, purifying it as it is being dried, then cracking it, and treating it to another purifying process, after which it is sifted and graded.
There are a number of other companies engaged in the salt business, though the hard times have caused most of them to practically suspend operations. There are but two salt refineries in Salt Lake City. At Nephi are immense deposits of Red Rock salt.
At Salina, there are also large deposits of Red Rock salt, and the superiority of this salt over others, gives it a very fair trade over the State and in Colorado for cattle feeding.
An artificial rock salt is manufactured by the Inland Crystal Salt Company, at Salt Lake, that is meeting with great favor. It is a patented article, containing 2 per cent sulphur. It is said to be a specific for blood diseases and scab, in cattle.
There are salt springs at Nephi which furnish a very good quality of brine. A company at that point evaporates this brine, and make a very superior article of table and dairy salt. The annual output of salt in Utah may be estimated at about 60,000 tons, valued at about $250,000. This is just about one-third of what the business amounted to five years ago.
The following comes from Mineral Resources Of The United States, 1888, United States Geological Survey, pages 605-607.
The product from Great Salt Lake in 1888 was as follows:
Product of salt in Utah in 1888.
- Deseret Salt Company, 10,000 tons
- Inland Salt Company, 5,000 tons
- Syracuse Salt Company, 3,000 tons
- Hot Springs Salt Company, 1,000 tons
- All others, 2,000 tons
- Total, 21,000 tons
In addition to the above, the rock-salt quarry at Nephi produced about 100 tons, valued at $2 per ton and the salt beds at Salina about 150, with the same value per ton, making 21,250 tons of salt.
The production of salt from Salt Lake has been carried on in a small way since the Mormon settlement of the Territory. The product was small, and only intended to satisfy the local demands for table salt and for stock. By 1883 the production had increased so that several salt farms covering a considerable area were in fairly good condition on the borders of the lake. In this year the extension of a spur of the Utah Central branch of the Union Pacific railroad to the lake, to establish a bathing resort, induced the Deseret Salt Company to invest about $20,000 in a plant for producing salt on a large scale, and to supply the mills. This plant consisted of several large ponds separated by wide banks from the lake. The bottoms of these ponds must be prepared very carefully, so that they will be hard when the salt is scraped off and gathered into heaps. A steam pump is used to force the water from the lake over into the ponds. A railroad siding is laid on an embankment running lengthwise through the ponds. The product of 1883 from all the ponds was about 15,000 tons.
In the subsequent years other producers arranged ponds, and the resulting increased production reduced the price to $4 in 1884, from which it fell to $2 in 1886 and 1887, and now ranges from $1 to $2 per ton, according to the quality of the salt and its accessibility. The plant of the Deseret Salt Company described above is neither the most elaborate nor the crudest arrangement for making salt, but is the most economical plant for producing the grade for which there is most sale, namely, for chloridizing silver ores. The principal items of expense in making the salt include fuel, soft coal from Wyoming or Pleasant Valley, Utah, costing $6 per ton, delivered, 12 tons of which are used in pumping the brine for 10,000 tons of salt, and an engineer at $75 per month, making the cost $1,000 for putting the brine in ponds for making 10,000 tons of salt. The cost of "gathering" the salt - that is, shoveling the dry salt into barrows and wheeling to the pile - varies greatly with the thickness of the salt, but the usual contract price is 40 cents per ton where the salt is about six inches thick. This is probably as cheap as salt can be made at Salt Lake, even under quite favorable conditions.
At the works of the Inland Salt Company the expenses are greater on account of several costly items of handling which are avoided at some other works. The brine is pumped into a series of ponds which are six or seven feet above the level of the lake at its present state. The salt is allowed to crystallize partly, and the mother liquor is then run off to the lake again, leaving, it is claimed, salt containing less sulphate of sodium. The salt is gathered in the usual way into hand cars and stacked by a conveyor. Part of it is then dried by a steam-drier and ground for table use. The plant at this place cost in the neighborhood of $100,000.
At the lowest cost given it seems that the market price is sufficient to assure a reasonable profit in the salt business, but the variation in the seasons is so great, even in this dry climate, as to make the business somewhat hazardous. It is impossible to predict the close of the dry season far enough in advance to know just when to gather the salt, and, as the close of the season approaches, sudden violent rains, amounting to cloud bursts, have dissolved the work of the season in a single night. Furthermore, there may be sufficient rain to prevent the formation of more than 1-1/2 to 2 inches of salt, which it does not pay to gather. The chances of a crop of salt are therefore uncertain until it is finally gathered into solid piles, when it will stand exposure to rain and snow for several winters without material loss. Piles of salt at least three years old can now be seen on the shore of Salt Lake. By comparing the product of 1887 with that of 1888 a decrease is noticed, part of which is, however, apparent only, for if the salt which remained ungathered at the end of the year were included, as has been done frequently in previous statistics, the product would equal 1887. In the figures for 1888 no allowance has been made for the salt, in some cases 6 inches thick, which was not gathered.
Salt Production
1889
The top five salt producers of salt from Great Salt Lake during 1889 included Inland Salt Co. at Saltair (40,000 tons); Adams & Kiesel Salt Co. at Syracuse (15,000 tons); Jeremy & Co. at North Point (10,000 tons); Deseret Salt Co. at Farmington (9,000 tons); and Gwilliam Brothers at Hooper (6,000 tons). (Salt Lake Tribune, October 5, 1890)
October 5, 1890
"The production of salt from the waters of the Salt Lake by evaporation was commenced by the first settlers in the Salt Lake valley. Since then the industry has grown to quite large proportions. Along the shores of the lake, salt farms have been taken up. Those farms are divided into blocks of two or more acres. A hard bottom is prepared, and the salt water is run in to the depth of about six inches. Because of the dry atmosphere the salt crystallizes rapidly. As soon as a surface of salt is formed, the water is drawn off, and after a day or two the salt is gathered into piles, and is finally shipped to the mining camps, where it is used for chloridizing ores, and to points East and West. When,the crude salt is refined it makes a superior article of table salt. The price of the crude salt now ranges from $1 to $2 per ton, but the price is being reduced by competition. In the near future salt will be produced from the waters of the lake (which are, according to the latest tests, about 15 per cent salt) on a very large scale. The crude methods now used will be succeeded by more complete methods, and refined salt will be supplied to the West. I am informed that salt refined by the Deseret Salt Company, one of the largest on the lake, was sent to the Armour Packing Company at Kansas City, and was pronounced to be a very superior article for curing meats, and that if it could be supplied at anything like the price of Eastern salt, they would buy it. The long freight haul, however, is against the Salt Lake industry." (Salt Lake Tribune, October 5, 1890)
January 9, 1891
During an interview with the local Union Pacific traffic agent, he was asked about the salt traffic.
Mr. Munroe was asked how it is that his company charges the east shore salt men the same rates on salt as are charged the Inland Salt Company, located on tho south shore near Garfield, and twelve miles or over by rail from a standard gauge track. The railroad company hauls the salt for nothing over the Utah & Nevada narrow gauge into Salt Lake, where it is shoveled into standard gauge cars at an expense to the company of 12-1/2 to 15 cents, and then the same rates apply as to the east side men who load their product directly upon the standard gauge cars. Now, why the whichness of this sort of thing? It was not right. Mr. Munroe did not apparently comprehend that such discrimination existed, and he agreed to look into it. He was told in plain English that the Inland Salt Company seemed to have such a hold on tho higher officials of the road that at the beckon of the Salt company the officials hasten to obey. The Inland people are cutting prices, and, with the railroad company playing directly into their hands, it was but a question of time before the east side producers were driven out of business and the great salt industry of this section handed over to the Inland Salt Company. It would only be logical.
Moreover, while Saltair and Syracuse were made common points for salt Nephi was shut out. Mr. Munroe expressed surprise at Nephi's being considered a common point for salt, but he was informed that whole mountains of rock salt existed in the neighborhood of Nephi. This was dug out, boiled and refined in vats, and when finally dried was as pure and white as the driven snow. Because of the high rates out of Nephi the makers are unable to market the product at a distance, so they cart it around to the mines, feed it out to sheep, use it for hide covering and for any purpose available. (Salt Lake Tribune, January 9, 1891)
October 25, 1892
The top five producers of salt from Great Salt Lake for 1891 and 1892 were:
- Inland Salt Co. at Saltair: 1891 - 90,000 tons; 1892 - 75,000 tons
- Adams & Kiesel Salt Co. at Syracuse: 1891 - 20,000 tons; 1892 - 15,000 tons
- Jeremy Salt Co. at North Point: 1891 - 13,000 tons; 1892 - 5,000 tons
- Deseret Salt Co. at Farmington: 1891 - 10,000 tons; 1892 - 10,000 tons
- Solar Crystal Salt Co. at Hooper (former Gwilliam Brothers): 1891 - 7,000 tons; 1892 - 12,000 tons
- (Deseret News, October 25, 1892)
Railroads and Salt
The large salt production companies started in the early 1880s. The earliest salt shipments were made by shoveling salt from wagons into rail cars at sidings closest to the salt fields. On Union Pacific's Utah Central, it was at a siding called Summit, which later became Syracuse Junction, and later Clearfield. It was here that salt from the east shore was transferred from wagons that had traveled from the lake shore, into rail cars on the railroad siding. The Ogden & Syracuse railroad was built in 1887 to get the rail cars closer to the salt fields. The salt fields at Syracuse were shut down by 1900, and the far western part of this branch was removed in 1906.
The other salt fields along the east shore used either the narrow gauge Denver & Rio Grande Western, which reached between Salt Lake City and Ogden in 1883, with at least two sidings added along the east shore to load salt from ponds along Farmington Bay. D&RGW opened its Lake Park Branch west from Farmington in 1888. The salt fields west of Farmington closed
The large salt fields on the south shore were initially served by the narrow-gauge Utah & Nevada, which built a 2-mile spur northward to the new Saltair plant of Inland Salt company in 1888. The Saltair Railway (later Salt Lake & Los Angeles, the Salt Lake Garfield & Western) was completed from Salt Lake City, westward to the newly completed Saltair Beach Resort in 1893. This new line was standard gauge and allowed direct interchange of standard gauge cars, instead of transferring the salt loads from narrow gauge to standard gauge at Salt Lake City. The salt traffic was reported as being worth a half million dollars annually to the Utah & Nevada and this new line in 1893 diverted the salt traffic from the old line to the new line.
Adams & Kiesel Salt Co.
The Adams & Kiesel Salt Company operated large evaporation ponds on Great Salt Lake's eastern shore, and what became Syracuse, named for the salt-producing town in New York state. The company was owned by D. C. Adams (Salt Lake City) and Fred J. Kiesel (Ogden). Kiesel was mayor of Ogden in 1889-1890.
May 26, 1886
The Adams & Kiesel Salt Company was incorporated in Utah in late May 1886. (Butte Weekly Miner, May 26, 1886, "this week")
May 23, 1887
"Syracuse, as almost everybody knows by this time, is the place where Adams & Kiesel's Salt works are located on the shore of the Great Salt Lake. A spur from the Utah Central has been built down to the works. The road passes along by the salt vats and everything is conveniently arranged for the manufacture and shipment of the saline product. Two steam engines are employed in pumping water from the lake for evaporation and it is calculated that 26,000 tons of salt will be manufactured at this point this season. The firm now has $10,000 of salt on the dump from which shipments are being made every day. The kind of salt manufactured is that used for milling purposes and for which a ready market is found." (Ogden Standard Examiner, May 23, 1887)
July 22, 1887
During the hearings of the Pacific Railroad Commission, taking testimony at Ogden, Fred J. Kiesel was called upon to provide testimony concerning Union Pacific's share of the salt traffic, including the following excerpts.
At first F. J. Kiesel Co. bought salt and res-sold it. For this $2 per ton was paid for 10,000 tons, and $1.50 for all salt after that. After this the Adams & Kiesel Salt Company was formed and salt was to be taken from Syracuse on the condition that a bathing resort what would compare favorably with the other resorts on the lake should be built by the salt company.
There were no other conditions. The railroad company was to stand in and make a success of the resort. They were to pay part of the expenses of advertising, to run trains, etc. The profits of the company would accrue in hauling passengers.
The pay was always in cash.
When the salt reaches Ogden it is worth $3. The Syracuse railroad gets $1 per ton for handling it to Ogden. At Ogden salt for the north has to be transferred to narrow gauge cars. Probably seven or eight thousand tons of salt have been delivered under the present contract.
August 28, 1888
"Syracuse. - A limited number of experienced salt gatherers can find two or three months' work lifting salt for the Adams & Kiesel Salt Company, Syracuse, by the day, month or contract. Salt is from two and a half to five inches thick." (Salt Lake Herald, August 28, 1888)
February 24, 1891
"The Adams & Kiesel Salt company, which is shipping salt extensively from Syracuse to the northern mines, will soon increase the shipments to fifty carloads per week." (Salt lake Tribune, February 24, 1891)
August 11, 1891
"Salt-Making at Syracuse. - At Syracuse salt is making finely in the ponds. The company has about 230 acres in ponds, into which brine is pumped out of the lake to a depth of three feet, and then permitted to evaporate until salt is deposited on the bottom to a depth of five or six inches. From these ponds the firm of Adams & Kiesel will harvest about forty thousand tons of salt this season. It is making finely now, the evaporation being done so rapidly those warm days, and in the dry air which takes up the moisture like a sponge. It is a pretty sight to see this salt glistening in the sun like diamonds, it being so white and pure, because of clear brine and no dust this season to mix in with the salt." (Salt Lake Tribune, August 11, 1891)
October 12, 1895
The Syracuse Salt company was shown as being one of the three "heavy" producers of salt in the state, along with Inland Crystal Salt and Inter-Mountain Salt. The Syracuse company had harvested and shipped 13,000 tons of salt during the previous 12 months. (Salt Lake Herald, October 12, 1895)
April 26, 1899
"An important deal has just been consummated whereby William B. Clarke of Kansas City, Mo., secures control of the extensive salt works at Syracuse, Davis county, that have for several years been owned and operated by the Adams & Kiesel Salt company. The consideration named is $30,000. In the deed it is stipulated that all of the salt now on the premises, and all implements, tools and appliances used in the manufacture of salt shall be the property of the grantee. This indicates that the Adams & Kiesel company has entirely abandoned the salt manufacturing business. (Salt Lake Tribune, April 26, 1899)
May 8, 1899
"The Adams & Kiesel Salt company yesterday filed in the Third district court a petition for its dissolution as a corporation. The petition sets forth that all claims against the corporation have been satisfied and that D. C. Adams is the sole remaining stockholder. It asks that all property of the company be conveyed to Mr. Adams." (Salt Lake Herald, May 9, 1899)
Deseret Salt Co.
October 9, 1883
The Deseret Salt Company was incorporated in Utah.
(The Deseret Salt Company held property near Monument Point at the north end of Great Salt Lake. This property was involved with a legal suit in the 1886 to 1895 period, concerning a dispute for the property the salt company was using for its evaporation ponds. The property was claimed by the Central Pacific railroad, and the law suit worked its way through the courts, ending up at the U. S. Supreme Court, which returned the case to the appeals court, which affirmed the railroad's ownership of the land, and denying the salt company's claim for damages accrued while access was blocked during the period of the suit. George Y. Wallace was involved in both locations, at Monument Point and at Farmington.)
September 16, 1884
"One firm, Lyman & Wallace, are the chief shippers, but there are numerous other persons who have salt lands. Lyman & Wallace own extensive works near Farmington and another at Monument on the Central Pacific Railroad. Thia spring they had 3000 tons of salt piled upon some low land which overflowed, and the entire mass went into the lake, demonstrating conclusively that salt must be kept dry for market." (Boston Evening Transcript, September 16, 1884)
In 1890 the Deseret Salt Co. was shown as having shipped 9000 tons of salt from its Farmington location. (Salt Lake Tribune, October 5, 1890)
(As shown above, the Deseret Salt Co. at Farmington shipped 10,000 tons in 1891, and 10,000 tons in 1892.)
In June 1896, George Y. Wallace sued the Deseret Salt Co. to recover his promissory note. In April 1898, the court ordered that the property of the Deseret Salt Co. be liquidated at a sheriff's sale to allow recovery of the promissory note. The sale took place on May 14, 1898 and Wallace himself purchased the property of the salt company for $5,000, the same amount that was owed him. (Salt Lake Herald, June 30, 1896; Salt Lake Tribune, April 6, 1898; Davis County Clipper, May 14, 1898)
April 22, 1898
The Inland Crystal Salt company leased the Deseret Salt Works for five years. (Davis County Clipper, April 22, 1898)
April 26, 1899
William B. Clarke of Kansas City, Missouri, "has secured another valuable piece of property in Davis county by the purchase of the old Deseret Salt company's ponds and machinery. This property is located below Farmington, and was recently purchased by George Y. Wallace at a Sheriff's sale for $5000. Mr. Wallace sold for $7500. thus realizing a handsome profit." (Salt Lake Tribune, April 26, 1899)
In May 1899, the former Deseret Salt Co. property was shown as being the Lyman & Wallace property. (Salt Lake Herald, May 6, 1899)
Inland Crystal Salt Co.
Inland Crystal Salt Co. -- Information about Inland Crystal Salt Company, operating adjacent to the Salt Lake, Garfield & Western immediately east of the Saltair resort. Includes information about the Inland Railway, an in-plant railroad that was wholly-owned and controlled by the Inland Crystal Salt Company.
Inter-Mountain Salt Co.
September 21, 1892
The Inter-mountain Salt Company was incorporated in Utah. James Jack was president and Nephi Clayton was vice president. (Deseret News, September 21, 1892, "today")
(The above newspaper also reported that the James Jack property within Section 6 of Township 1 South, Range 2 West, was deeded to Inter-Mountain Salt Company. This description is the entire property of the later Inland Salt Company, south of what later became the Morton Salt plant at Saltair Junction. The SLG&W line was built along the Salt Lake Baseline.)
(The Inter-Mountain Salt company was closely associated with the Saltair Beach Company [the resort] and the Saltair Railway, later known as the Salt Lake & Los Angeles Railway, with all being enterprises of the Mormon church, either directly or indirectly. In February 1893, William White, one of the stockholders who had given up his subscriptions in the enterprises, sued to recover what was stated as additional value. Included in these enterprises was the Inland Salt Company prior to it being sold to the Inland Crystal Salt Company in 1891. See also Deseret News, February 28, 1893, and the Salt Lake Tribune, September 13, 1894.)
June 20, 1895
The Inter-Mountain Salt Company's property was reported as being 958.73 acres, all within Township 1 South and Range 2 West. (Salt Lake Herald, June 20, 1895, on the occasion of a mortgage being taken on the property)
October 12, 1895
The Inter-Mountain Salt company was shown as being one of the three "heavy" producers of salt in the state, along with Inland Crystal Salt and Syracuse Salt. Inter-Mountain Salt had shipped 40,000 tons of salt during the previous 12 months. (Salt Lake Herald, October 12, 1895)
January 1, 1896
The salt dryers of the Inter-Mountain Salt company were located at Eleventh West on South Temple street in Salt Lake City.
(Salt Lake Tribune, January 1, 1896)
December 7, 1896
Inter-Mountain Salt was shown as owning all of Section 6, comprising 635 acres, except for the right-of-way deeded to the railroad (Salt Lake & Los Angeles RR). (Desert News, December 7, 1896) (A section is made up of 640 acres.)
March 2, 1898
"The salt works of the Inter-Mountain Salt Co. of Salt Lake City was destroyed by fire Wednesday morning. The loss is estimated at $11,000. The property was insured for $6,000. The Company have made arrangements with other companies to fill their orders until a new factory can be erected." (Manti Messenger, Saturday March 5, 1898)
March 2, 1898
The following excerpts come from the March 2, 1898 issue of the Salt Lake Herald.
The works of the Intermountain Salt company, located on South Temple street, near the Jordan river, were practically destroyed by fire at an early hour this morning.
Accounts differ as to how the blaze originated, but shortly before 3 o'clock a great sheet of flame lit up the sky, and the west side department at once ran out, followed by the steamer from headquarters. The fire had gained such headway, however, and the facilities for getting water were so meager that it was almost impossible to check the progress of the conflagration for a considerable time, and at this writing it is believed that but little will be saved.
Colonel Nephi W. Clayton, the manager, was notified by telephone, and at once went to the scene in a hack.
It is learned that the plant and stock represents about $25,000, and the loss is not likely to be far below that figure. The building and machinery was well insured, but there was no insurance at all on the stock. What the excess of the loss over the insurance will be is something the officers of the company cannot estimate at this time.
James Jack is president of the company, N. W. Clayton vice president and manager; I. A. Clayton, secretary and treasurer, and Robert M. Johnson superintendent.
The works are on the line of the Saltair Beach railroad, and all who have visited that resort are familiar with their location.
March 3, 1898
"Early yesterday morning the Inter-mountain Salt company's works, on South Temple street, near the Jordan river, were burned to the ground, as reported in detail in Wednesday's Herald. The alarm was sent in by telephone about 2:40 a. m., and the west side department responded promptly. The fire had made great headway before the alarm was sent in, and when the department arrived the works were so far gone that it was impossible to save them. The water was scarce at that place, so the steamer from headquarters went down. With this, the water was pumped from the Jordan and after a hard tight the flames were extinguished, but not before the place was in ruins. The works had a capacity of about 30 tons per day and were run regularly. The buildings and machinery were completely destroyed and the loss is estimated to be $15,000." (Salt Lake Herald, March 3, 1898)
May 14, 1898
"At a meeting of the stockholders of the Inland Crystal Salt company, which absorbed the Inter-Mountain Salt company this week..." (Deseret News, May 14, 1898)
(There was no coverage of the sale in available online newspapers. Nephi Clayton was voted in as manager of the consolidated company, a position he had held with the Inter-Mountain company.)
January 1, 1899
"The salt situation has materially changed during the year. Early in the spring, the refinery of the Intermountain Salt company was destroyed by fire. This accident was followed by a
consolidation of this company with the Inland Crystal Salt company in May. The Intermountain Salt company had previously taken a lease on the plant of the Nebo Salt Manufacturing company of Nephi, Utah, and the result was the control of the refined salt Industry of Utah by the Inland Crystal Salt company. The combination has been marked by an advance in prices at such points in the territory covered as will admit of the increase, with a marked benefit to the investors in the industry." (Salt Lake Tribune, January 1, 1899)
Jeremy & Co.
Although the salt works of Jeremy & Co. were not located on a railroad spur, the site was mentioned as the destination of proposed railroads. Research suggests that the Jeremy salt works at North Point on the southeastern shore of Great Salt Lake, were in operation from the late 1870s through to the late 1880s. The receding lake was the cause of the failure of the Jeremy & Co. salt works.
The following comes from "History Of Utah's Salt Industry 1847-1970," by John L. Clark, August 1971.
Jeremy and Company was one of the first to make a major investment in the production of salt. The company was organized by Thomas E. Jeremy, Jr., Levi Reed, and Thomas J. Almy about 1870. The ponds were located at North Point, a portion of the lake shore three miles north and east of the site of the [later] Saltair resort. This company was one of the first to construct artificial evaporation ponds rather than depend on the deposition of salt in small, diked-off bays and inlets.
Jeremy and Company successfully experimented in dike construction by using two parallel rows of cottonwood stakes interwoven with willows and backed by several inches of tule. The area between the rows was filled with earth. Ponds from five to one hundred acres in extent were built at a cost of one dollar per foot. The ponds thus constructed were filled with water by using the natural rise and fall of the lake level that accompanies the changes in wind direction and seasons.
After the salt was harvested, it was hauled to Salt Lake City. Part of it was shipped to the silver mills in the inter-mountain area as crude salt. The rest was taken to the Jeremyplant at Sixth West and North Temple Streets, where it wasrefined into various grades.
Government records show that Jeremy and Company harvested over half of the salt produced in Utah during the year 1880. With a constant annual production of 10,000 tons, it accounted for only one-sixth in 1890. In the spring of 1891, Jeremy and Company reincorporated as Jeremy Salt Company. That year the new company produced 13,000 tons of salt, but the next year production fell to 5,000 tons. Individual production records following 1892 were not published by the state or federal government. It is not known how much salt was produced from 1893 until the company was sold to the Inland Crystal Salt Company in 1896.
Research in maps shows that the salt works of Jeremy &Co. were in Section 12, of Township 1 North, Range 3 West.
January 1880
The earliest reference to Jeremy & Company as salt producers in online newspapers was an ad in the January 18, 1880 issue of the Salt Lake Herald.
May 22, 1885
"The salt barge fleet of Jeremy & Co., arrived in port at Lakeside Friday, with ninety tons on board." (Salt Lake Herald, Sunday, May 24, 1885)
The Utah Western Railway of 1889 graded its line westward from its connection with John W. Young's Salt Lake & Fort Douglas at First South and Fourth (500) West, north along Fourth West to about Ninth (1000) North, then westward to the east shore of Great Salt Lake. Young's motivation had been a new railroad proposed in January 1889 to be constructed from Salt Lake City to the shores of the Great Salt Lake. The reported goal was the Jeremy Salt Works, and actual construction only awaited the arrival of better weather. This purported railroad enterprise disappeared into the mists of dreams by the end of the month, but it was sufficient to engage the interest of John W. Young. Young incorporated his own Utah Western Railway on June 24, 1889. A contract was let by July 5, 1889, and within a week four miles of roadbed was prepared. By November 10, all of the approximately fifteen miles that comprised the Utah Western was graded and awaiting ties. But the road lay dormant after that. Evidence of the completed roadbed can still be seen today.
(Read more about the Utah Western Railway of 1889)
It would be a safe assumption that salt from the salt works of Jeremy & Co. would have been shipped by wagon using the Utah Western Railway's abandoned roadbed. The roadbed would have been an ideal and direct route into Salt Lake City.
Moved From North Point To Farmington
By the early 1890s, the receding lake and the lack of investment forced the Jeremy & Co. into bankruptcy. The salt works at North Point were sold to Inland Crystal Salt company in 1896. By that time, in 1888 the company had been reorganized as the Sear & Jeremy Co., with Isaac Sears as its controlling force. After selling the North Point salt works in 1896, Isaac Sears and Thomas Jeremy moved their enterprise north in 1899 to land leased from Simon Bamberger, adjacent to Bamberger's Lake Park resort west of Farmington.
January 10, 1891
Articles of incorporation of the Sears-Jeremy Company were filed. "The object of the corporation is to carry on the business of buying and dealing in grain and all kinds of agricultural products and general merchandise, to supply storage and conduct a general commission business, and to use, own, buy or sell the necessary real estate to carry on the business. The incorporation assumes the business now conducted by Sears, Jeremy & Co." (Salt Lake Herald, January 11, 1891, "yesterday")
July 27, 1899
"At the old Lake Park bathing resort, Isaac Sears of Sears, Jeremy & Co., has secured the lease of several hundred acres of land from Simon Bamberger and these ponds will be filled in a few days. (Salt Lake Tribune, July 27, 1899)
(Bamberger's Lagoon amusement park opened on July 12, 1896.)
January 7, 1900
"Five thousand pounds of salt daily go out from the works of Sears & Jeremy, which is located near the Rio Grande Western depot, and but little of it finds its way outside of the state." (Salt Lake Tribune, January 7, 1900)
March 5, 1901
Isaac Sears was about to sell his 220 acres of salt fields west of Farmington to "the salt trust" [Inland Crystal Salt Co.]. Sears was the only salt producer during 1900 outside of Inland Crystal Salt. The Sears property was not the same as the Saginaw Salt property, which would remain as the only salt fields on the lake shore that were not owned by Inland Crystal Salt. (Salt Lake Tribune, March 5, 1901)
April 29, 1901
Sears Utah Salt Company was incorporated on April 29, 1901. Along with a lease of 80 acres near Kaysville, the company held a lease to 220 acres owned by Simon Bamberger on the site of the former Lake Park Resort Company. (Salt Lake Tribune, April 30, 1901, "yesterday")
July 7, 1901
"The Sears Utah Salt Company will commence gathering salt within a week or ten days at the ponds near the old Lake Park resort. Pumping on the plant owned by the same company near Kaysville has already commenced." (Salt Lake Tribune, July 7, 1901)
Morton Salt Co.
1916
"The Salt Lake Chemical company, a subsidiary of the Diamond Match company, began operations. at Burmester, Utah, a point on the southern shore of Great Salt Lake, in 1916, the primary purpose being the production of potash as a war industry. The Morton Salt company took over that property as a commercial plant in 1918 and has operated it continuously since." (Salt Lake Tribune, October 4, 1936)
April 13, 1916
Articles of incorporation for the Salt Lake Chemical Company were filed in Utah, "with the purpose of extracting potassium and other chemicals from the waters of Great Salt Lake". (Salt Lake Telegram, April 13, 1916, "today")
July 23, 1916
"The Salt Lake Chemical company, which is owned by the Diamond Match company, is rapidly being completed and it is expected the plant will be in operation within thirty days. The plant will take potash from the waters of Great Salt lake. It is located at Grants, Tooele county." (Salt Lake Herald, July 23, 1916)
November 11, 1916
"While the factory has been in operation for several days, no potash has vet been refined. It is announced by J. M. Sullivan, in charge of the plant, that the refining of the coarse salt which has been piled up at the factory is a matter of 'chemical division,' and that until the factory is in every way complete the match company will make no announcement of results of experiments. The company expects to extract potash from the coarse salt, but what system or formula will be used is not known. It was said by Mr. Sullivan that the process has been successful and that the completion of the pipe line means that the company is ready to begin work. The salt, which is a residue of the operations of the plant, will also be placed on the market." (Salt Lake Herald, November 11, 1916)
August 1918
"The Morton Salt Company began, several years ago, making a careful study of all possible salt-producing plants in the western part of the United States, taking into consideration the quality possible to produce. After this survey was completed, it was determined to secure a location in Utah where the product might be manufactured from the waters of the Great Salt Lake, which runs from 16 per cent to 22 per cent salt. Accordingly in August, 1918, the company entered the Utah field as one point of production, taking over the salt operations (which had recently been started) of the Salt Lake Chemical Company, located at Burmester, Utah, a little station just west of Salt Lake City." (Salt Lake Mining Review, January 15, 1920)
September 21, 1918
The Morton Salt Company of Chicago, filed an amendment to its articles of corporation in Utah, increasing its stock from $1.5 million to $2.7 million. (Salt Lake Herald, September 21, 1918)
September 22, 1918
"The Salt Lake Chemical company,which is a subsidiary of the Diamond Match company, began production [of potash] in January 1917. It, to, utilizes the waters of Great Salt Lake. The plant is one of three experimental projects started in 1916 by the Diamond Match company to obtain the potash necessary to the manufacture of matches. The original capacity of the plant was about 100 tons a month, but within a year an additional unit has been constructed which will a little more than double the capacity. Although the original intention was to manufacture only potash, it was necessary to first remove the ordinary table salt and after the potash plant was put into operation a salt refinery was erected. Besides making about seven tons of potash daily the company is now producing approximately 100 tons of table salt daily. A few weeks ago, not desiring to enter the salt market, the Salt Lake Chemical company turned its refinery over to the Morton Salt company of Chicago." (Salt Lake Tribune, September 22, 1918)
June 11, 1919
"The Salt Lake Chemical company's potash plant at Burmester closed down last Sunday [June 8] on account of not being able to manufacture potash in competition with the cheap potash being imported from other countries. The plant was built several years ago when it was impossible to obtain potash from Germany, which had a monopoly on the world supply, but now that the blockade on German products has been removed and eastern states supplied with European potash, the manufacturers of potash in the western states are not able to compete with them and are compelled to close down. One boiler is being kept in operation to supply power for the salt refinery, which was not affected by the shut-down." (Salt Lake Herald, June 11, 1919)
June 30, 1920
The Salt Lake Chemical Company was voluntarily dissolved as a company, by order of the Third District Court.
(Salt Lake Herald, May 30, 1020, giving 30 days notice)
November 20, 1949
The Royal Crystal Salt company was shown as being a subsidiary of Morton Salt company. (Provo Daily Herald, November 20, 1949)
1952
"Prior to 1952 Morton Salt Company and its wholly owned subsidiary Royal Crystal Salt Company, maintaining separate sales offices and operating under different brand names, enjoyed a virtual monopoly of the sale of salt in this area." (Justia Law - Morton Salt Company, Royal Crystal Salt Company, Deseret Livestock Company and Deseret Salt Company, Appellants, v. United States of America; US Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit - 235 F.2d 573 - 10th Cir. 1956)
December 31, 1956
Royal Crystal Salt company, a subsidiary of Morton Salt, was dissolved as a corporation and became a division of Morton Salt. This action followed the federal governments March 1955 indictment of Morton Salt and Royal Crystal Salt of restraint of trade and anti-trust action. Each company was convicted and fined $5000 in September 1955. The case was appealed in October 1955, and in July 1956 the federal court of appeals in Denver upheld the conviction. (Salt Lake Tribune, March 17, 1955; July 7, 1956; September 18, 1956; October 29, 1955; July 7, 1956; November 20, 1956)
June 13, 1991
Kennecott purchased the 2700 acres of Morton Salt Company near Saltair, for the purpose of expanding its tailings pond. Morton Salt was to move its Saltair salt plant from the site of Kennecott's planned expanded tailings pond. To facilitate the purchase at Saltair, Kennecott purchased the potash plant of North American Salt company near Grantsville, and traded the Grantsville site for Morton's Saltair site. North American Salt would then move its potash operations to Little Mountain, buying sulfate of potash from Great Salt Lake Minerals company, allowing Morton Salt to begin salt and mineral extraction at the Grantsville site. The sale and move was to be completed by September 1991. (St. George Daily Spectrum, June 13, 1991)
Saginaw Salt Co.
(The Saginaw Salt Company was named to take advantage of the fame of the high quality salt being produced at Saginaw, Michigan. This "Saginaw" salt was made by using sawdust from lumber mills to evaporate high quality salt from brine solution pumped from underground salt formations that lay beneath large parts of central Michigan. The brine solution was the result of pumping fresh water down into large underground salt domes.)
July 14, 1891
"A Branch to Saginaw. - The region near the Saginaw salt works, on the lake shore near Farmington, is quite lively at the present time, the reason being the building of a branch from the main line of the Union Pacific to the Saginaw salt works, owned and operated by the People's Forwarding company of this city. The salt industry of this company has assumed such proportions of late as to necessitate this move, which costs considerable money. The name of the new road has not yet been given out, but friends of the manager of the company suggest that it be called the Saginaw Short line." (Salt Lake Herald, July 14, 1891)
September 3, 1891
"The Saginaw Salt Mill. - Plans are out for the new salt mill, to be erected by the People's Forwarding company at Saginaw, near the old Lake Shore station on the Union Pacific. It is to be 40x60 feet and 30 feet high. The capacity will be almost limitless, but for the present is set at 20,000 tons per year. The contractors say it will be the finest salt mill west of Hutchinson, Ks. Everything will be new and modern. The spurs now being run from the main lines of the Union Pacific and Rio Grande Western to the salt beds will give the Saginaw people a decided advantage in shipping their salt, and the encouragement thus received will incite them to increase their output just as fast as possible." (Salt Lake Herald, September 3, 1891)
October 22, 1891
"The Salt Product. - The Saginaw Salt Company, which operates at the old Lake Shore grounds, is putting up over twenty thousand feet of levees, on that the salt crop for next year will be 25,000 tons anyhow. The company to also finishing a mill 60x100 feet, and in which wi11 be set up a 100 horse-power boiler, a 50 horse-power engine and a full equipment of machinery." (Salt Lake Tribune, October 22, 1891)
January 1, 1892
Saginaw was number three in production for the state during 1891, behind Adams & Kiesel Salt and Inland Crystal Salt. The company shipped 6,000 tons and had 9,000 tons on had at the end of the year. "The Saginaw Salt Company has their works farther north, at Lake Shore, where they spent some ten or twelve thousand dollars the past year in the way of improvements, among which are buildings for men and for machinery for manufacturing table and dairy salt." (Salt Lake Tribune, January 1, 1892)
February 3, 1892
The Saginaw Salt Company filed suit against the County Court of Davis County, and its members individually, claiming that the court had ordered the County Road Supervisor to enter the salt company's property and lay out a highway across the property. Trees and fences were removed in the line of the proposed road, causing $10,000 damage. (Salt Lake Tribune, February 3, 1892)
March 13, 1899
"E. E. Rich has commenced action against Mary Senter Walker, administratrix of the estate of the late S. F. Walker, to recover the sum of $14,401.64, alleged to be due the plaintiff on account of a partnership formerly existing between him and the deceased, S. F. Walker. The complaint alleges that Rich and Walker entered into a co-partnership in January 1891, under the firm name and style of the Saginaw Salt company. The object of the company was the handing and selling of salt and for the further purpose of driving gas wells. It is then alleged that from January 1st, 1891, to November 30th, 1898, Rich expended the sum of $28,803.28, on improvements, etc., which he says, Walker agreed to pay him half of." The partnership was reported as having been "orally formed." (Salt Lake Herald, March 12, 1899; Deseret News, March 13, 1899)
July 27, 1899
"Saginaw salt works again being operated." The Saginaw salt works was located "four miles south of Lagoon, and which had prior to that time [closure due to low salt prices] produced thousands of tons annually. The works were owned by the People's Forwarding company, E. E. Rich, manager. Over $25,000 had been spent in improvements. The recent rise in the price of salt, however, has guaranteed the reopening of the works. Fifteen men are now employed in and around the works, and the pump which has been silent for so long was started at noon yesterday, and the process of pulling salt water from the lake into the shallow ponds where the sun does the rest has begun." Salt "which once brought but 60 cents per ton, is now worth $3 in large quantities, and $5 in smaller lots." (Salt Lake Tribune, July 27, 1899)
(This "four miles" description, when measured from the original Lagoon entrance gate adjacent to the Bamberger railroad, at today's 300 North (Lagoon Lane) in Farmington, indicates that the Saginaw Salt company's salt ponds were directly west of today's Chase Lane in Centerville.)
January 7, 1900
"E. E. Rich of the Saginaw salt works has produced and shipped large quantities and says the old year was very good to him in a saline way." (Salt Lake Tribune, January 7, 1900)
(Edwin Ebenezer Rich was born in November 1842 in England and came to America in 1868. He settled in Morgan, Utah that same year. He moved to Colorado in 1881 but returned to Salt Lake City in 1883 where he established the People's Forwarding Company, of which he was head until his death. He died in Salt Lake City in August 1926 at age 85. He was a well-known and respected business man, banker and civic leader. His activities as a salt producer are not mentioned in any of his obituaries.)
March 5, 1901
"This deal will leave about the only available salt beds on the shore of the lake not owned by the trust in the hands of the Saginaw Salt company, and as these are on a school section they are under the control of the State Land Board, which has been holding them at a price that has been actually prohibitory. An application is now pending before the Land board to have the prices reduced." (Salt Lake Tribune, March 5, 1901)
Lake Minerals
Great Salt Lake Minerals -- Information about the extraction of salt and other minerals from the brines of Great Salt Lake.
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