The Goderich Signal-Star, 1977-04-14, Page 27or
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ter MacEwan's drill started salt industry....
ued from page 1 1
rilier, it stated that
aving the home farm
Bert "he came to
h and drilled the
set, salt well." That
not now well known,
e well belonged to
Niebergall, and has
escribed as located
ase of the present
h salt block," which
lace it near the Huron
•
rward," according to
al account, MacEwan
ngaged in the grain
in Seaforth, where
put down several
for Dr. Coleman,
nes` Salt Co. and the
oung & Sparling Co.
eaforth he went to
Mitchell and
s, where other salt
were drilled. Then,
to Goderich, he
ed the International
mpany. From that
he was engaged in
g the International
harbor salt works,
the past 20 years the
ch Salt Works in
the International
the southwest part of
n salt was carried
e lake hank in open
a sloping track for
ipment. At peak of its
on, 125 barrels daily
ained.
icated in the Signal's
of the Saltford
y, salt keds had
been tapped at
e, N.Y., and Saginaw,
hen' the U.S., plants
porting, MacEwan's
tional lost its
eadvantage,
s, it is • recorded,
the existence of the
to early settlers in
acuse area. Gordon
rmer manager of the
ine in Goderich,
an interesting note:
cuse they had a solar
n (to dry the brine)
n a storm blew up a
was rung so that the
ould be quickly
arbor" salt well was
by Purity Flour
1954then by the Sifto
of Domtar, which
down.
"20 years" of
ih Saltford, men-
tioned in the Signal. dated pounds, two shillings and
from February 11, 18h2, when sixpence — just under $900 as
Peter MacEwan Durchasect the pound sterling was then
from the Goderich Petroleum valued. Nineteen years later,
Company. the original seeker he raisetJ 2,250 pounds by
for oil, one acre in Saltford mortgage.
and the
•
,.
pranist.s thereon. When he died, in July, 16,3,
-Thereafter, on his printed as a result of a full, Sheriff
price list, he advertised: Macdonald left his con-
"Goder•ich Salt Works, sidcruhle estate to his third
established 1866. Peter wife, Mary (Fraser) Muc-
MacE wan, proprietor, donald, and she from that
Goderich, Ont. This is the time was continuously in -
oldest salt works in Canada, volved in Saltford real estate
operating the well where rock transactions. After her
salt was discovered." marriage to Rev. Robert Ure,
About the time MacEwan their names appeared jointly.
took over at Saltford, Joseph When the Goderich
Kidd came from Dublin to Petroleum ' Company was
manage the International, organized in 1865, it bought
and was listed by Goderich from Macdonald one acre in
Board of Trade as "salt Maitlandville and leased I I.
manufacturer". In January, 1866, the county
council of Huron and Bruce
OWNEDKOLFAGE voted $1,000 to Charles
• "In 1888 and 1889," the Fletcher,. treasurer . of the
Signal stated, "Mr. company, to encourage
MacEwan drilled six artesian boring "for oil and salt".
wells for the water system of "Discovery Day" evidently
Goderlch, and in the same was early in May, and the
year put down an artesian well was regularly worked
well at Mimics Asylum. from October.
While running the Saltford Several other wells in the
well he engaged in the area were in production by
sawmill and cooperage stock 1868. In that year Richard H.
business, and for many years Kirkpatrick, tanner, and J. V.
was a vessel owner." Detlor, merchant, sold 'to the
MacEwan owned the "Maitlandville Salt Well
schooner Kolfage. His son, Company" for $500 a lot and
Peter James, wrote that this road allowance "next the
vessel "was considered one of school lot, Bridge End
the fastest on the Great Place".
Lakes. A picture of my On June 9, 1868, Saul
father, painted by a marl Macdonald and Clement
named Clucas, was painted Grasett (mortgagees) sold
on the stern of this vessel, and "part of Block C" to the
so. was carried into nearly "Canada Salt Works and the
every port on the lakes." Corporation of Goderich",
(At a time when William G. In August, the Goderich
MacEwan, third son of Peter, Petroleum Co. sold to Mac -
occupied a double seat with . donald the acre it had bought.
the present writer, in the from him three years earlier.
entrance class of Central These , Maitlandville
school, Clucas' son Ike drew transactions call for more
magnificent steamers on the • explanation than is available
blackboard • whenever' now. The 1Vlaitlandville Salt
distinguished visitors were Well Company would appear
expected.) to have hada site north of the
' John Macdonald, ' whose bridge.
name appears frequently- in Peter MacEwan's eldest
these transactions, carne to son, Peter James, once
Goderich with John Gilt and wrote, for a student, a
succeeded Henry Hyndman description of the method
as sheriff of Huron and then used for salt production.
Bruce. In December, 1837, he Here it is, in part:'
purchased from the Canada "In Goderich we have the
Company Block , "C", first ',rock .salt well in
Colborne township, along America,, discovered in 1866
with the southwest part .of at 1100 feet. A pipe is lowered,
.Block "E". Thereby he somewhat smaller than the
-became sole Owner of the hole drilled, allowing the
present Saltford. He paid 184 fresh water to run down
outside. • In Goderich this is
struck at 350.400 feet. I'ha
water: saturates the salt rock,
and
the brine, pumped up
through the pipe, is taken to
large
tanks and chemically
Y
treated to take outri4»purities,
then
it evaporated in the
open pan system, :'6 by Ip0
feet, one loot deep, the brine
kept li to 6 inches deep, The
salt is drawn onto 4 -foot.
platforms.irt the side, and the
brine allowed to drain back
into the pan. The salt is
shovelled into bins and
Becomes dry enough to put in
Barrels as common salt.
Under the pans are
fireplaces, four in number,
and heat travels the length of
the pan, smoke going up the
chimney provided for that
purpose, The finest salt is
made directly over the
greatest heat: the farther
hack the coarser.
"Coarse salt is sold in hulk
for curing meat, fish, etc.
Dairy and table salt goes
through another process. The
finest is put through a dry
kiln, usually ;a long boiler
with both ends open but one
end a little higher than the
other. Under this revolving
boiler, fire heats the salt that
is' thrown into the high end; it
slowly travels to the low end
of the boiler and is hot and
dry, runs over screens that
separate it into table, dairy
and cheese salt. ",
In retrospect, it seems
strange that the barrel should
for so many ,years continued
the normal unit in marketing
salt, but the wood was cheap..
Stores handling farm and
garden supplies now offer 100 -
pound bags (paper) in a
variety of kinds of salt, and of
course great quantities are
sold in bulk. For household
purposes, fine salt comes in
attractive t2 -pound packages.
"`I was not very old when
the Saltford plant closed
down," writes Mrs. Alex,
Forbes, a daughter of Peter
James MacEwaii, "but the
workmen would occasionally
let me take some of the hot
salt out of th'e evaporating
pans onto the draining
boards, or shovel the hot
dried salt into the bins
behind. Sometimes they
would break us off salt icicles
to play with, On the whole, I
think I was t7aore knterested in
the coop% shop; where they
nrade barrels fur the salt, or
watching the machine cut the
jointers off the staves for the
barrels
1
ROM 1
1 (;I
ntiGow AREA
The MiacFwan family came
From (ar•munnock, °nc•ur
Glasgow. Peter Macl':wan,
and his wife, Isabella
Scheuller, 4:', arrived in
(',nada in Play, 185J, with
tfrret• ,anti and two
tl,itiJ;hlers John Scheuller,
George Million, Peter,
Margaret, Mary and Bella.
Peter,, the future driller, was
horn in Scotland in 11440.
From Mrs. H., C. McLeod, of
London, (tell., a niece, it is
learned that Peter's brother's,
John and George, were also
engaged in drilling, "hut
George got into the grain
business. and John Scheuller
went to Minneapolis."
George Million MacF?wan
was born in Scotland in 1649'.
He was deputy reeve and
reeve of Hay township, and
served as warden of Huron in
1898. He was 'Member for
South Huron in the House of
Commons from 1900 to 1904,
and in his Parliamentary
Guide sketch (here the name
is spelled McEwen) he
described himself as a far-
mer, manufacturer of salt
and flax, and a grain dealer.
CODER ICH SIGNAL -STAR, THURSDAY, Apia ' 1877... -PA
As Liberal candidate for the
Commons seat he defeated
the Liberal member, and the
unusual cirrumsturu es may
be set forth al lhis point '1 he
matter l.r was cleared up
through the assistance of A..
1. McLean, publisher of the
Huron 1:xpusitor, Seaforth.
Anticipating the general
election, South Huron
I.it•ter'als held a convention in
Dixon Hall, lir•uceficld, on
Oct: •l, when .luhri McMillan,
of McKillop, for many ye
the member, was prnprr5'ed,
with four others. All withdrew
except Mr. McMillan and
George Mcl.lwuri, and
' McMillan came out with an
overall majority.
The official nom ination w
held in Curdno's Hall,
Sea forth, on October '29, when
McMillan was proposed by M.
Y. McLean and MitcFwan by
Robert McMordie. It was
indicated that the Con-
servatives were ready to
nominate if MacEwan had
not qualified.
MacEwan won by 221, and
had strong support in Hen -
sail, Stanley and elsewhere in
the south, indicating possible
Liberal dissatisfaction so far
as McMillan was concerned.
That was stated by MacEwan
in his address to the electors.
He said the choice of th'e
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I iberal t•om.ention was not
that of the majority of
Liberals in South Huron. He
dee lart:d+ilimselh "in h, ttty
sympathy" with the present
( Laurier i administration.
Mr McMillan died in 1901.
How it came about that
George Nlo('J•.wan was a
Liberal When the rest of the
family were Conservatives —
,one a candidate of the party
for the House of Commons —
must remain a mystery,
George did not marry. lie
died in 1913•and is buried in
the MacEwan plot in
Maitland Cemetery.
(to he continued)
next week )
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•
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