East Tawas, Michigan - Where Fools Rushed In

By the turn of the 20th century, Michigan, a statewho worked well with farmers, added his name
that had pegged its economic fortunes to theto the shareholder list and one thousand dollars to
lumber industry began to accept the reality that itthe treasury. Citizens of more modest means
had sold its heritage for pennies on the dollar. Thetook note of the large commitments of men of
lumber that had been its economic mainstay waspower and dipped into slender savings to follow
gone! For sixty years lumberjacks had ragedsuit.
across the state from Lake Michigan on theChurchill, eager to get the wheels in motion, and
state's western shore to Lake Huron on thewell satisfied with the performance of Joseph
eastern shore and from Lake Erie in the south toKilby in constructing the Bay City Sugar
Lake Superior at its northern end ripping awayCompany's Essexville factory, set about to
forests and leaving behind economic depression,appoint him for the East Tawas project. Joseph
an ugly environment and hopelessness.Kilby handed in a bid of $598,500. Based on each
Gradually, the state's leaders became aware of aone thousand tons of beet-slicing capacity, the
new industry, one that did not tear downprice was nearly fifty percent greater than was
resources but rather added resources -the cost of the Essexville factory, indicating a
agriculture, especially agricultural products thatshift away from the quickly built small factory to
included processing factories. The developing beetlarger facilities consisting of quality engineering and
sugar industry fit the bill with perfection. Michiganequipment. Nevertheless, Vice-president Charles
Sugar Company's new factory in Essexville, aBewick said to hold on-not so fast. He too had a
suburb of Bay City, proved beyond question thatcandidate for the construction contract. Bewick
farmers, industrialists, and venture capitalists couldhad gained some experience at Caro and Croswell
profit equally by raising sugarbeets and thenwhere new factories had been constructed. He
processing them into table sugar. Soon, the rushwas then serving as the first president of the
to build beet sugar factories developed into a fullSanilac Sugar Refining Company, owner of the
scale stampede. The Michigan sugarbeet industryCroswell factory, and had a long history in the
escalated at a breathtaking pace.Detroit manufacturing sector. He included among
Nine factories followed Essexville's successfulhis friends Joseph Berry, a noted manufacturer of
experiment. A burst of cyclonic enthusiasmvarnish who owned with his brother Thomas an
caused a mad scramble when investors,eight thousand acre farm near the middle of the
constructors, bankers, and farmers combinedMichigan Thumb. The Berry brothers became
energies and skills to bring to life eight factories insignificant stockholders in Bewick's Croswell
a single year! That was 1899 when new factoriesfactory along with D. M. Ferry, the largest
were built in Holland, Kalamazoo, Rochester,distributor of garden seeds in the world-all
Benton Harbor, Alma, West Bay City, Caro, and apackaged in Ferry's sprawling Detroit factory.
second factory in Essexville. In Marine City,According to Bewick's point of view, the Oxnard
investors, inspired by success at Essexville, paidConstruction Company offered experience,
Kilby Manufacturing $557,000 to build Michigan'squality, and an unbroken record of success.
tenth sugarbeet factory. Despite the paucity ofJoseph Kilby, on the other hand, was an upstart, a
factory constructors and the engineers toformer top hand with E. H. Dyer who had gone
operate them, fourteen additional factories roseoff on his own. Bewick protested Churchill's
on the outskirts of Michigan towns during the nextpremature announcement and pushed forward his
six years, the last of which appeared in Charlevoixchoice. Churchill countered, and prevailed, with an
in 1906. Fifteen years later, Monitor Sugarobjection to Oxnard's practice of submitting
Company built the state's twenty-fourth and finalcost-plus contracts. He wanted a firm bid and got
beet factory.it from Kilby whose bid matched dollar for dollar
Unhappily, the unbridled enthusiasm for new beetthe bid for the Churchill's Bay City factory built
sugar factories often resulted in the constructionthree years earlier at a cost of one thousand
of factories in places that had not won thedollars per ton of beet-slicing capacity. The
farmer's heart. One such place was East Tawas,contract went to Kilby who in turn assigned the
a lovely village on Lake Huron's shore that wouldjob to John Shepherd, a noted construction
one day attract tourists who sought its Lakeengineer who supervised the construction of
Huron's sandy beaches and gently lapping waves.factories at Benton Harbor, Holland, and Carrollton.
But until 1903, East Tawas, like most of Michigan,In the short run the selection of a builder made
had relied on the lumber industry for its daily fare.little difference. Tawas was the wrong place to
When the lumber barons packed up their moneygrow beets. Lake Huron lay east of the factory
bags and departed for greener pastures,site and while it served well as a water source,
investors turned to the beet sugar industry thatbeets could not easily take root among its waves.
was blazing as hot as the dot com industry wouldThe nearby slopes, stripped of trees, would have
blaze nearly a century later. Instead of fame andbeen a difficult place to grow and tend beets but
fortune, however, East Tawas earned theeven that impractical source of beet ground had
distinction of having in its environs a sugar factoryalready surrendered its soil to newly made
that would have the shortest lifespan of any beetswamps. Where the ground was level, stumps
sugar factory in Michigan.interfered with farming. There was some arable
The total operating time its two-year life spanland, however, but the farmers who owned it
was twenty-nine days, eighteen the first year andlacked experience with sugarbeets. Those who
eleven during the second and final year. The totalsuccumbed to the persuasive entreaties of Gus
weight of beets sliced during that period wasCarton, the factory's agronomist and chief
17,648 tons, far from enough to support therecruiter of farmers, lost money when they failed
factory's overhead expenses, much less provide ato produce enough beets per acre to generate a
profit to the investors. Some named it Churchill'sprofit.
Folly after Worthy Churchill, the president of theKilby's field staff under the direction of Jack
Bay City-Michigan Sugar Company.Shepard performed better than any factory built
With the construction of the Bay City Sugarup to that time in Michigan. Shepard, known and
factory in Essexville underway, Worthy Churchillrespected for attention to detail that included
wanted to secure a sugarbeet growing estaterunning thorough water tests--that is, operating
somewhere north of Bay City where inexpensivethe factory with only water to locate
and idle timberland awaited someone to put it toweakness--constructed a factory that exceeded
better purpose. Coincidentally, East Tawas wasexpectations. The factory sliced five hundred
burdened with a bankrupt sawmill situated at aninety-four tons of beets per day during its
fork in the road a few miles north of the town,inaugural run, a clear record, and only six tons
where, today, U.S. 23 intersects with Tawasshort of its planned capacity. Unhappily for
Beach Road. Its proximity to Lake Huron offeredShepard and his crew, there were only 10,690
a handy source of water. Rail lines built to haultons of beets available, enough for a mere
lumber from sawmills would now carry sugareighteen days of operation.
equipment to the site. The residents of EastThe next year, the frost stayed late, keeping
Tawas, much like residents of villages throughoutfarmers indoors. A late start, combined with a
the state, were loathe to depart even though itsprofitless crop the previous year and rumors that
gently undulating hills, once covered withthe factory would close, caused farmers to
magnificent white pine were now barren. Rich soilsreturn to traditional crops. The factory acquired
drifted from unprotected hills to settle in mossonly 6,958 tons of beets, enough for a mere
covered swamps. Jack pine, short and crooked,eleven days of slice. Gus Carton proved himself
and weeds grew in the dry crevasses near theindomitable. He proposed a plan whereby the
edges of the swamps.company would purchase lands and resell them to
East Tawas residents clamored for a sugarbeetRussian immigrants at attractive prices. He
factory. The infant industry was three years old,attracted the Russians and invested $25,000, but
but already legends involving sudden wealth anddidn't get the beets, the Russians proving no less
entire communities saved from extinction, causedindependent than were the farmers who were
an outcry for one in their community. Significantly,already present.
others who had made substantial investments inA bolt of lightning shattered the brick chimney in
the new industry did not heed the call. AbsenteesJuly 1905. The directors, all experienced investors,
included the most successful of the pioneer sugarknew better than to add more capital. The
manufacturers: Ben Boutell, Penoyar brotherschimney lay where it fell and arrangements were
William and Wedworth, Nathan Bradley, Rasmusmade to ship the beet crop to a Bay City beet
Hansen, Thomas Cranage, and every other majorfactory. Disaster had also struck in St. Louis Park,
investor in Michigan's then existing sugar industry.Minnesota where a beet factory burned to the
That left Worthy Churchill who showed hisground. The East Tawas board of directors
support with a $50,000 investment and Charles B.viewed the fire as an opportunity. When the
Warren, a representative of the Sugar Trust,beets destined for the St. Louis Park factory
tossed $25,000 into the pot. Warren's fellowwent to another factory, their quality captured
Detroiter and good friend, Charles Bewick, ainterest, especially the beets from Chaska,
Detroit industrialist signed on for $50,000 andMinnesota. At the direction of the board of
accepted a vice-presidency while Warren addeddirectors, Kilby dismantled the East Tawas
the treasurer's title to his growing list offactory and re-installed it in Chaska where it
responsibilities. Eugene Fifield of Bay City, who hadremained in operation for the next sixty-five
earned a reputation among investors as someoneyears.