Old photo of Mt. Pleasant Salt Works is part of Clarke Historical Library exhibit on drilling for brine in Mt. Pleasant. (Photo courtesy Clarke Library)
DRILLING FOR BRINE: Clarke Historical Library Exhibit Ends This Week
History of American Chemical Society Regional Section Also Displayed
August 10, 2013
By: Dave Rogers
"Drilling for Brine," an exhibit at the Clarke Historical Library, Mt. Pleasant, will close at the end of this week, Aug. 17.
The current Clarke exhibit tells the story of the Dow Chemical facilities in Mt. Pleasant, according to Frank Boles, director of the Clarke Library.
Bryan Whitledge, research assistant at the Clarke, said the exhibit was curated by Dr. Robert Kohrman, retired director of the Science and Technology department at Central Michigan University.
What brought Dow to Mt. Pleasant? It was brine -- water trapped underground that is mixed with various salts. In 1903, Dow drilled brine wells and built a bromide plant in Mt. Pleasant. By early 1904, bromide was being shipped from Mt. Pleasant to Midland. Despite investments in equipment during the late 1920s to meet the demand for brine, the Mt. Pleasant plant doors closed in 1930.
Dr. Kohrman wrote: "H.H. Dow's early studies at the Case School for Applied Sciences led him to potential Michigan geological locations for salt brine and, when coupled with his invention for producing bromine from brine, to the future success of his career as a chemical manufacturer."
"Despite numerous professional setbacks, he was able to create the Dow Chemical Company in 1897; and after the turn of the century, the company became a leading producer of both bromine and bleach derived from the brine found at Midland, Michigan.
"Shortly thereafter, compelling circumstances drove H.H. Dow to seek locations other than Midland for possible brine wells. The citizens of Mount Pleasant banded together to attract the company to their community, and the resulting plant ultimately became a nationally important center for the manufacture of potassium bromide.
"The production of bromide products and other chemicals in Mount Pleasant generally followed the ups and downs of the bromine marketplace; but, ironically, the plant ceased operations in 1930, at a time when the country's demand for bromine was increasing."
A small exhibit of items from the Midland Section of the American Chemical Society, spanning the years 1919, when the Section was founded, to the present also is being shown in the Clarke Historical Library.
"Initially the Section primarily provided an opportunity for scientific discussion among those employed at The Dow Chemical Company in Midland, Michigan," said Dr. Kohrman. "Over the last 90 years the Section's purpose has evolved with its growing support and education of the scientific community and the public.
The Section has expanded from its initial territory of Midland County to a five-county area in mid-Michigan that includes Bay, Gratiot, Isabella, and Saginaw Counties and the major population centers of Alma, Bay City, Midland, Mount Pleasant, and Saginaw."
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