Wicked Bay City, Michigan

Bay City was the epicenter of Michigan’s lumbering industry in the mid-1880s, but the wealthy cadre of company owners wasn’t about to part with profits to improve the lot of their laborers.

In fact, by the start of the 1885 milling season, the owners of the one hundred lumber mills and adjacent salt blocks lowered individual workers’ pay levels by 12 to as much as 25 percent, said Thomas B. Barry, a Knights of Labor representative at the time.

As quoted in the Evening Press on July 7, 1885, the workers had been “unjustly dealt with.” Besides lowering wages, the owners raised the price of lumber, giving their profits a double boost.

He was commenting in the wake of activity in Bay City on July 6 in which a number of workers at several mills refused to work, demanding that the workday be reduced from eleven to ten hours at the same pay. They hadn’t just thought up the idea; the Michigan legislature had passed a bill signed by the governor setting the workday at ten hours. While some historians attribute the strike to organizers of the Knights of Labor, it appears men like Barry might have advised the strikers after it began but were not leaders of it.

The men began walking from mill to mill starting in Essexville. They talked to the workers and gave their demands to management, with the idea that if the demands were rejected, the workers would walk off the job. They proclaimed their motto: “10 Hours or No Sawdust.”

It was the beginning of one of the first major strikes to hit the Saginaw Valley, leading to the closure of every sawmill from Saginaw City to the mouth of the river, meaning as many as one hundred mills and associated enterprises went silent. The discontent of workers in other industries also became evident based on their activities and reactions.

The first few hours of the action found the size of the group of strikers growing as more men failed to report to work that morning. The men were encouraged when the management of J.R. Hall’s shingle mill, Folsom & Arnolds mill and Michigan Pipe Works all agreed to the ten-hour demand and stayed open.

The growing band of strikers continued moving south along the riverfront, stopping at each mill and talking to the workers. In most cases, the workers walked off the jobs and joined them. Even though a number of mill owners called police for protection and a squad of city police and sheriff’s deputies arrived, the strikers were peaceful and were allowed to continue their efforts.

It was emphasized early on when the strikers met with the men from the mills that it was not an operation planned and carried out by agents of the Knights of Labor, although several of their representatives had arrived in the city.

The men knew how large a disparity there was between the wealth of the owners and the day-to-day existence of the laborers who had been toiling eleven hours a day six days a week earning between $1.50 and $1.75 a day, although skilled laborers or those on more dangerous jobs earned a bit more.

If anyone needed proof, all they had to do was take a trolley car down Center Avenue eastward to the city limits and gawk at the mansions lining each side of the road, then return home to their modest dwellings.

Along the line of march, the strikers were told much the same thing by the owners’ representatives who would grant the ten-hour day only at more reduced pay. Another reason the owners didn’t mind shutting down for a time was because most mills had large inventories of cut lumber on the docks ready for shipment, which meant they wouldn’t lose a lot of money before the cutting season ended.

For the following two days, the strikers set out at dawn and visited a number of mills, some in operation and some already shut down to see if the owners would agree to the ten-hour day at current wages. Police greeted them in front of the Butman & Rust mill at 522 South Water Street and at the nearby Rust Bros. mill, 821 South Water Street. The men, armed with clubs, called to the workers at the first mill to shut it down and join them, which they did.

When the strikers, numbering about five hundred, moved to the second mill, more police blocked their path. This time, the crowd surged forward, threatening the officers and attempting to get inside the mill property. The police responded by pushing back into the crowd, and one officer arrested a man believed to be the leader. The strikers surrounded him and someone struck the officer in the head with a club. At that, other strikers attacked two more officers, hitting them in the head and knocking them to the ground. The officers got up, bloodied but in charge, and arrested several of the strikers.

A wagon arrived and the arrested men and two officers took them to the station for booking. The prisoners, identified as Godfrey Schultz and Jacob Franski, were charged with assault.

Meanwhile, police chief Murphy summoned all of the police and ordered them back to the mill but found the strikers had moved on to the huge McGraw mills at the head of Harrison Street farther south. As soon as the strikers came into view, the workers of the mill walked off their jobs and joined them.

Continuing south, as the growing crowd of strikers was seen coming, the mills shut down rather than have any confrontations. The police followed them, planning on making more arrests.

Another of the men who struck the police officers was recognized and arrested. He was identified as Joseph Geroski, who said he was a moulder by trade. By midafternoon, every mill not complying with the demands in Bay City was shut down. Mills across the river in West Bay City and farther south all the way to Saginaw remained in operation.

A meeting of police and city officials was held as another large crowd gathered in front of city hall on Saginaw Street, possibly aimed at causing trouble because three of their comrades were in police custody there. Mayor George Shearer announced that the charges were dropped and the men could be released, prompting a huge cheer from the crowd. Strike leaders told him they agreed their men were too aggressive in their enthusiasm to continue the strike.

The mill shutdown had its effect on other workers. For example, the stevedores, sometimes referred to as dock wollopers, went on strike in both Bay City and Saginaw, demanding a ten-cent-per-hour raise. They had been paid thirty cents an hour but said they could not live on that pay since they only were paid by the boat captains for the period of time it took to handle the cargo. The ship captains finally agreed on the increase to forty cents an hour.

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The N&A Barnard Co. mill in Saginaw City was one of the oldest and biggest mills to close down during the strike. It appears owners Newell Barnard and son Arthur are dressed for celebrations on their mill site sometime before the labor troubles began. Public Libraries of Saginaw.

About two thousand people, mainly the mill hands and some spectators filled Madison Park (now Birney Park) to hear speakers and be entertained by a brass band. One of the speakers was Barry with his Knights of Labor message. He acknowledged that most of the strikers were not members of his organization, although a few had joined.

In East Saginaw and Saginaw City, a procession of more than eight hundred mill hands and two hundred stevedores began visiting mills in those cities, and while most of the mill hands there didn’t join the strikers, they simply stopped working to see what would happen. The mill owners began shutting down their operations rather than give in to the demands. Among the first mills affected were the largest ones, such as the N&A Barnard Co. mill, one of the oldest in Saginaw on the west side.

Stonecutters at the Bay City Stone Co. on Water Street walked off the job on July 13, claiming they needed an increase of twenty-five cents a day from their three-dollar daily pay. The owners readily agreed to the increase to avoid any problems and the workers returned to their jobs.

The strikers in the city even had an effect on the shoe-shine boys, who posted signs that raised their charge from a nickel to ten cents.

In another bit of bizarre circumstance, the public was shocked to hear that a band of at least twenty men had arrived from Chicago claiming to be Pinkerton detectives hired by the mill owners. (It was common knowledge that the Pinkertons often were hired as strike breakers.) They took rooms at the Brunswick Hotel at 1008 Washington Avenue.

However, a letter was received by publisher Edwin T. Bennett in Bay City from W.A. Pinkerton of Pinkerton’s National Detective Agency claiming the men who came to Bay City were not from his company. He said a man using the name Matt W. Pinkerton hired the men but that Pinkerton had no relation to others of that name in the company and had no connection to the company.

Reports surfaced that at least eighty so-called Pinkertons had arrived in Saginaw, all armed with Winchester rifles ready to confront any mob of strikers intending to enter the mills. So some owners were willing to kill their workers rather than give in.

A week after the strike began, Michigan governor Russell A. Alger, fortynine, a Civil War hero and an unabashed supporter of the mill owners since he was one of the largest timberland owners in the state, arrived in Bay City for private meetings with local mill owners. Despite a large crowd of strikers outside the Fraser House, where the talks were held, Alger refused to meet with a striker delegation.

Instead, he stepped out onto the front of the hotel and stepped up onto a table that was produced as a platform. He addressed the crowd in general terms and admonished strikers from any violence or even threat of violence. What he didn’t tell them was, as he spoke, military units were on the march and would soon arrive in both Bay City and Saginaw to suppress the strike.

It was reported that Henry Sage, absentee owner of one of the biggest mills in the country in West Bay City, had arrived in town, possibly to meet with the governor. His mill eventually closed for the strike, but he refused to give in to the ten-hour demands.

In Saginaw, labor leader Barry was arrested twice, on two sets of warrants alleging he had instigated civil unrest and conspiracy. He was released on bail but mill owners were making it clear who had the power.

A number of mills in Bay City attempted to start up with makeshift crews, but when the strikers got wind of it and delegates paid visits to the mills, the owners shut down their operations. Meanwhile, the strikers gave the Knights of Labor representatives a larger role in negotiating with the owners.

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Henry Sage was one of the richest and most influential lumber barons and represented the deep divide between the mill owners and their low-paid, often exploited workers. Bay County Historical Museum.

Workers at both the F.W. Wheeler Co. and the Davidson Shipbuilding Co. had walked off their jobs demanding an increase in wages. Both shipbuilding firms closed down rather than hire temporary workers, but Wheeler claimed that he couldn’t pay any more because of a slowdown in business. The men were being paid between $1.25 and $2.50 a day. Davidson was out of the city and did not comment on the strike.

On July 13, the rifle-toting Pinkerton agents in Saginaw stationed themselves at one of two mills planning to be restarted, and the mayor reported that three companies of state troops, along with a Gatling gun, were to be deployed in the city during the day.

Quasi-martial law was imposed by Saginaw officials with Pinkertons and other special police roaming the streets to break up any gatherings and arrest all individuals.

In Bay City, 170 soldiers from the Detroit Light Infantry, Detroit Light Guards, National Guard and Scott Guards arrived by train, stopping at Center Street, where the men marched in formation into the heart of the city. They took over the dining rooms of the Fraser House, Campbell House and Portland House hotels for breakfast before moving on to the Peninsulars’ Armory at 715 Adams Street.

On July 17, two more sawmills resumed operations, agreeing to the tenhour day at no reduction in pay, which meant a total of five sawmills and a shingle mill were operating under the agreement.

With the West Bay City mills shut down and the workers from both big shipyards also out, the Knights of Labor organized a committee to begin distributing provisions to needy families of the strikers. The provisions were stockpiled at their headquarters on the corner of Midland and Henry Streets.

Officials in both Bay City and Saginaw had contacted Governor Alger requesting the troops be removed since they weren’t needed and little violence had occurred along the riverfront.

The shipyard workers’ strike ended on July 25 when all hands returned to their jobs with the same hours and pay scale, although Davidson confirmed he would pay above scale once the work was resumed, and Wheeler would pay at the old rate.

By August 4, there was a report that more mills were restarting under the ten-hour system and that the business picture seemed brighter. The S.G.M. Gates mill, one of the first to be shut down, was to reopen for work when the employees met with owners and agreements were reached. An accommodation was attempted again with officers of the Sage mill. The plan had no cut in wages for those workers earning $1.50 or less, while those above $1.50 would agree to a maximum reduction of 8 percent for a tenhour work day. The plan was rejected by Sage.

Strikers and police clashed in front of one of the Saginaw mills starting up under the old eleven-hour system, and as police charged into the crowd, several men were arrested and a few others injured by police wielding night sticks. By contrast, in Bay City, the workers at the F.E. Bradley and Co. mill, one of the earliest to accept the strikers’ demands, received their first pay under the ten-hour system with full wages as before.

All was not so calm on August 12 when a large crowd gathered along Woodside Avenue after learning that men were working at the salt block of Carrier & Co. in Essexville. Word was sent out by company men to the sheriff and he, along with deputies, arrived in time to intercept the strikers. As the confrontation grew, someone fired a pistol at the officers, hitting Sheriff Brennan in the head, a glancing wound but bloody.

He gave the order for the officers to charge into the mob with pistols drawn. Several officers fired into the crowd, hitting at least one man in the arm, and the strikers stampeded to get way. Officers arrested nine men and took them to the county jail.

In defiance of the strikers, sixteen mills in Saginaw restarted operations under the old eleven-hour schedule with only two on the ten-hour system.

Local citizens were aware that the Peninsulars, Bay County’s militia, were on duty at their armory and were ready to be called out if needed. Meanwhile, on August 14, separate trials were held for Alexander Beauchamp and William Sears, both accused of assaulting Sheriff Brennan during the confrontation at the Carrier mill in Essexville. Both men were sentenced by Justice of the Peace Daniel Mangan to pay fines and costs totaling $47.50 or spend three months in the Ionia Reformatory. Seven other men were awaiting a hearing on charges of rioting.

One by one, the mills in Bay City and West Bay City were opening and resuming their work. While, at one time, all of the mills were closed down, by August 24, fifteen had resumed operations, and eleven of those were under the ten-hour system, representing a bit of a victory for the strikers.

What was interesting to note was that as soon as the calendar reached September, the month when the ten-hour day became law, all of the sawmills on the river were back in operation. Some were still making the men work the eleven-hour shifts until September 19, when the law actually was to take effect and the mill owners knew they’d have to conform.

In tragic circumstances, as if to put a lid on the entire “10 Hours or No Sawdust” affair, Joseph Rabatoie, the gang sawyer at the Pitts & Cranage mill at the foot of Washington Avenue, suffered a severe injury pointing to the dangers of working in the mill. He had extended a hook onto a slab of wood, but when it hit the saw, it pulled him forward, his head coming near the gang of blades. A grate, which descended behind the blades, caught Rabatoie’s head and held it for several seconds as another hook descended, hitting him in the face. Fellow workers ran to his aid and released the grate and pulled him out before he was pulled further into the saws. They reported his face was a ghastly sight with so many cuts and gouges.

A doctor was called in and treated him at the plant and then at the injured man’s home. It was reported that Rabatoie possibly would survive but with extensive damage to his face.

Another serious injury occurred on September 9 at the Miller & Lewis mill at the foot of Thirtieth Street. As millworker John Vaughn was riding a tram loaded with lumber onto a dock, it broke through, plunging him and the machine with the wood into the water, much of it falling on top of him.

He suffered severe facial injuries and a broken arm, and a second man suffered minor injuries. Vaughn was taken to his father’s home on Thirtyfirst Street and was treated by a doctor. An investigation showed the tram equipment was rotten, causing it to break through and into the river.

While the strike was only marginally successful, the strikers proved they could shut down a large portion of the community’s economic livelihood.