Chemistry in the Old Northwest12

CHEMISTRY IN THE OLD NORTHWEST12 AARON J. HIDE, Departments of Chemistry and History of Science, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wi 53700 Abstract. Immediately after the War for Independence, Americans began to move westward in earnest. There were numerous factors pulling migrants westward, among them the fertile land which had a particular appeal for farmers. Ohio felt the impact first; settlement of Wisconsin was delayed until opening of the lead mines during the later Indian wars. Settlers in the Northwest Territory revealed a penchant for the exploitation of the territory's resources and the creation of educational institutions. Excellence of the soil led to significant agricultural expansion and, later, to growth of an innovative food industry. Mineral resources stimulated the growth of a metals industry and an energy industry based first on coal, then on petroleum. The extensive forests in the northern part of the territory supplied a forest products industry. Pioneer developments took place without benefit of science but after 1850 science took on increasing significance as the colleges and universities prepared individuals for a role in the innovative growth of agriculture, industry, and medicine. A critical ques- tion revolves around the disproportionate regional excellence in science (chemistry in particular) shown by universities and colleges of the region. OHIO J. SCI. 78(2): 59, 1078 Migrants into the territory created by to distant markets to the east and south. the Ordinance of 1787 were attracted by Maize did not become an important crop readily available resources, including the until much later, when animal husbandry excellent conditions for agriculture. Set- took on greater significance. tlers in the Northwest Territory were Agricultural activities stimulated in- characterized by an enthusiastic exploita- dustries utilizing agriculturally derived tion of the region's resources and the raw materials, not only food-processing creation of educational institutions. The industries such as meat slaughtering, territory's soil had a significant attrac- grain milling, cheese making, and can- tion for the early settlers. Seaboard ning, but derivative industries such as soils, never impressive for their fertility, tanning and soapmaking. With the were being rapidly depleted. The lands growth of slaughter houses around mid- to the west, even when forested, as in century, in line with expansion of live- Ohio, Michigan, and Wisconsin, were stock production and improvement in attractive and the rich prairies of In- preservation processes (canning, refriger- diana and Illinois became veritable mag- ation), large slaughtering centers began nets for farmers. The cultivation of to spread westward. Cincinnati became wheat developed rapidly since it pro- such a famed pork packing center that it vided a cash crop wThich could be moved was referred to as "Porkopolis." Chi- to more densely settled regions on readily cago dominated meat packing later in available waterways which were begin- the century, especially after development ning to carry steamboat traffic. Wheat, of the refrigerator car by Gustavus Swift in unmilled form, kept well when shipped in the seventies. The packers became economically powerful, not only by taking Manuscript received July 16, 1976 and in advantage of available livestock and pro- revised form October 13, "1977 (#76-61). cessing it efficiently by disassembly line 2Presented at the Symposium on the History techniques, but by encouraging profiit- of Chemistry in Ohio sponsored by the Ohio Academy of Science at Columbus, Ohio, April able disposal of inedible by-products— 3, 1976. offal and bone into fertilizer, hides into 59 60 AARON J. IHDE Vol. 78 leather, tallow and waste fat into soap lence of the forests for lumber attracted a and candles and, in the twentieth cen- particularly exploitative class of entre- tury, glandular extracts into pharma- preneurs who, in the last part of the ceuticals (hormones). nineteenth century, moved in rapidly to Soap-boiling was originally a farm en- remove the forests; then moved on to the terprise utilizing waste household fats virgin timber in the Pacific northwest. and potash produced from wood ashes. In various places and at various times In 1820, when James Gamble's family the forests served as a source of chemicals, immigrated from Ireland, he was ap- particularly potash and tanbark. Early prenticed to a local soapmaker in Cin- in the nineteenth century, alkalies for cinnati and in 1828 he started his own soapmaking and glassmaking were chron- business. His product was soon peddled ically in short supply. During much of by William Proctor, an English immi- the century small operators extracted grant who had learned candlemaking in potash from wood ashes for use locally for London and operated a candle works in soapmaking or for sale in markets as Cincinnati. The two men, who married distant as Europe. Such operations were sisters, joined their business activities in never large in scale and seldom were they 1837, forming a company which steadily long lived. Nevertheless, substantial expanded by developing innovative prac- amounts of alkali were produced by such tices in production and merchandising. operations (Ihde and Conners 1955). They soon adopted the lime saponification Tanbark was another forest resource process invented by de Milly in France. which took on significance when leather When they later adopted Tilghman's production became important in the autoclave process, they were sued for Northwest. When farmers turned away patent infringement—the first lawsuit from wheat growing to concentrate on involving a patent of a chemical process. dairying and meat production, and as The suit, which ended in the Supreme animal slaughtering grew in importance, Court, upheld the concept of a chemical first in Cincinnati and later in Milwaukee process being patentable (Haynes 1954). and Chicago, hides became available and The extensive waterways in the terri- a substantial tanning industry developed tory, both rivers and lakes, figured promi- in those cities. Forests also supplied nently in economic expansion of the re- charcoal for the early metal extractive in- gion. The development of the steam- dustries but charcoal declined in im- boat during the first half of the century portance as a reducing agent when metal- •coincided with growth of the territory lurgical operations increased in magnitude ;and played a significant role in bringing and coke became the reductant of choice. immigrants and essential goods in, and Ultimately, the timber lands, now largely carrying produce out. Later, in the second growth and to some extent the second half of the century, growth of result of tree farming, provided pulpwood railroad lines stimulated further expan- for the paper industry. sion of commercial activities (Klingaman Minerals figured prominently in the and Vedder 1975). economic development of the Old North- At various times, the timber which west. Coalfields of the Allegheny Moun- grew luxuriantly in the northern tier of tains extended into Ohio and provided a states was a prime attraction but else- product suitable for metallurgical coke, where it was considered a nuisance. a factor in the ultimate development of Clearing of land for farming was back- Cleveland and Youngstown as metal- breaking work and trees were generally lurgical centers. Coalfields were also hacked down and burned. Except for present in southern Indiana and central use in log cabins, out-buildings, and and southern Illinois. These deposits, fences, and occasionally for charcoal and while dirty and frequently high in sulfur, potash production, the trees were looked were important not only as fuels but as upon as an evil to be removed. Lack of industrial raw materials used in metal- trees on the prairies made those regions lurgy, for illuminating gas production, particularly attractive. In upper Michi- and in the chemical industry. The north- gan and Wisconsin, however, the excel- east quartile of Ohio developed into an Ohio J. Sci. CHEMISTRY IN THE OLD NORTHWEST 01 area of heavy industry, not only in discovered in northern Michigan and proximity to the Lake Erie shore but Wisconsin, and ultimately in Minnesota. alongside the bank of the Ohio River The northwest ore made Pittsburgh the where the industry mirrored the develop- steel center of the nation after 1873 ment on the West Virginia side of the when the Edgar Thompson Steel Co. was river. The Chicago-Gary complex also incorporated there. The Carnegie Steel benefrtted from easy access to coal from Co. was incorporated in 1892 and in 1901 Indiana and Illinois. and the U.S. Steel Corp. was created by The southern tier of states was favored merging the major works. with substantial deposits of petroleum Iron deposits were recognized in the and natural gas. The oil deposits of Lake Superior area at the time that Ohio, exploited soon after the original Douglass Houghton, an 1829 graduate of development of the industry in western Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, began Pennsylvania, made Cleveland an im- making geological surveys in Michigan portant base in the development of the after appointment as state geologist in Standard Oil complex. 1837. Before drowning in Lake Superior Geologically, a large part of the terri- cut short his career in 1845, Houghton tory had been overlain by an inland sea had mapped the rock salt springs and extending from eastern New York to wells which became the basis of the central Wisconsin. The inland sea was Michigan chemical industry and had responsible for several strata of limestone located various copper and iron deposits underlying these states and for the rock in the Upper Peninsula. At the time of salt deposits of New York, Ontario, his death, Houghton was serving as the Michigan and Ohio. These salt de- first professor of geology, mineralogy, posits figured prominently in a chemical and chemistry at the University of industry directed toward the production Michigan. Other mineral prospectors of alkalis, chlorine and bromine, related carried on from the foundations laid by salts, and metallic magnesium.

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