Historical events that made Goderich: Searching for oil, finding salt

By: Kathleen Smith

Even though dazzling white salt from Goderich outclassed the more famous English salt by winning first prize at the 1867 Paris Exhibition, mass production of salt in Goderich did not begin until 1880.

In September of 1858, James Miller Williams discovered oil while attempting to drill a water well in the Ontario town of Oil Springs, in Lambton County.

The discovery of oil brought hundreds of speculators and workers into southwestern Ontario, and many profitable refineries were started in nearby towns such as Petrolia.

With oil excitement at its height, a company was formed in Goderich by local merchants and politicians with the intent of striking oil.

The Goderich Petroleum Company secured $10,000 in capital and contracted local mill owner Samuel Platt to oversee the drilling process.

Platt contacted and hired Peter MacEwan to perform the actual drilling. As a chief driller, MacEwan had successfully drilled over 20 oil wells since 1861 and was well known for his experience.

On November 17, 1865, drilling commenced on the north bank of the Maitland River in what was then known as Maitlandville, or present day Saltford.

Platt and MacEwan drilled to a depth of 686-feet but failed to strike oil.

The Goderich Petroleum Company had exhausted its funds and the investors decided to abandon the project.

The local municipal council, optimistic that striking oil was still a possibility, offered up to $1,500 to anyone who would drill to a depth of 1,000-feet in search of the black gold.

Platt and MacEwan continued, and after 102 days of drilling, were compensated for their efforts.

The joint stock company known as Goderich Petroleum Company that funded the drilling efforts, changed their name to the Goderich Salt Company.

They began to market salt to buyers predominantly in Chicago and Milwaukee throughout the early months of 1867.

The company saw huge profits during the first year of production, and shareholders were paid a 51% dividend.

Production facilities were soon built and by 1872 the facility was producing 21,000 barrels of salt annually.

Workers placed rows of 100 cast iron kettles, carrying 120 to 140 gallons of pumped brine each, on wood-burning furnaces. This evaporation process produced a fine flake salt. However, as wood fuel was consumed the cost escalated.

To streamline the process, mine managers replaced the shallow steel pans with kettles and introduced coal. Still the process proved too expensive and the salt too coarse.

By 1910, managers modernized operations with the vacuum pan process, consisting of one vertical steel tank with internal heating tubes conducting steam. This cost-effective operation produced granular salt crystals widely used for table salt. 

Surprisingly, mining directly in Goderich didn't occur until the late 1950s. Engineers finished construction of a mine shaft in 1959 so miners could descend almost 550 meters to crush rock salt for winter roads and water softeners.

A second shaft became operational in 1968, and a third shaft was added in 1983. Since then both the Goderich evaporation and the Goderich salt Mine have both operated in the Town of Goderich. 

 Compass Minerals’ Goderich salt mine, located 1,800-feet under Lake Huron, is the largest underground salt mine in the world. The mine is as deep as the CN Tower in Toronto is tall. It has operated since 1959 and was acquired by Compass Minerals in 1990. 

 The rock salt produced at the mine is used to keep citizens in North America safe as they travel through winter snow and ice.

The salt is shipped to hundreds of communities around the Great Lakes and along the St. Lawrence Seaway. Some of the salt is trucked to the Compass Minerals plant less than four kilometers away, to be packaged for distribution and sale at retailers in North America.

The salt is also sold in bulk to manufacturers that make plastics, detergents, disinfectants, and other important products. 

The Goderich Evaporation Plant uses mechanical evaporation, the plant produces high-purity, fine- and coarse-grained salt products in packages and in bulk for commercial, agricultural, and industrial applications.

The plant also packages rock salt from the mine that is used for de-icing and water conditioning. 

 The salt mine is currently owned by Sifto Salt and its parent company Compass Minerals.

The Goderich salt mine is the largest underground salt mine in the world.

The mine extends for three kilometres from the shoreline under Lake Huron and produces nine million tonnes of salt a year.