Leader-Post
March 13, 1951. p.2
By GEORGE MURPHY
CHAPLIN, Sask. (Staff)--Alkali, the stuff which prairie pioneers, cursed for years; today is proving to be the salvation of the Chaplin community, 104 miles west of Regina.
The 18-mile-long-Lake Chaplin is the source of one of the richest and purest sodium sulphate deposits in the world and the product is providing a livelihood for many residents of the community who formally were totally dependent on their grain crops or ca
ttle sales for their livelihood.
The soil in the Chaplin area is poor and seldom do farmers get bumper crops, but crop or no crop many of these farmers don’t need to worry any longer.
Since the Saskatchewan government sodium sulphate plant opened in 1948 there has been a steady improvement in the financial position of many of Chaplin’s residents.
Moreover the total business of the Canadian Pacific Railway at Chaplin has reached nearly the million dollar mark. In 1940 the C.P.R. did only $17,000 worth of business in Chaplin. By 1949 it had increased to $428,000 and this figure was more than doubl
ed in 1950 when total business done amounted to $890,000, most of it coming from the sodium sulphate plant.
C.P.R. officials said that 1,927 carloads of the finished product had been moved by the railway from the time the plant opened in 1948 until the end of 1950.
Lack of markets forced temporary curtailment in operations and layoff of men early in 1949.
Some of the workers, who believed they would be unable to find work in the plant again, moved away to greener pastures, but the plant soon was back in full operation and the pace hasn’t slackened since.
Premier T. C. Douglas said recently that the Saskatchewan government had approved an extension to the Chaplin plant which will increase its productive capacity by 50 percent. The alterations will cost approximately $60,000.
The expansion involves slight alterations to the main building. The installation of a third rotary kiln, which has been on hand as a spare for some time, and construction of an additional evaporator. Elimination of a large portion f the conveyor belt wh
ich now carries the salt in to the plant from a hopper will be made with the erection of a new loading ramp.
Minister of Municipal Affairs L. F. McIntosh recently disclaimed rumors that a second plant would be built just west of the present one.
“There is no thought of building a second plant, regardless of size, at or near the present one,” he said. “A fourth reservoir may be necessary to provide adequate reserves of raw salt to take care of the increased plant capacity, although long term mark
et prospects and other factors will affect this decision.”
The plant employees about 70 men and the operating payroll is 30 percent higher than a year ago. The plant now operates on a 24-hour, four shift system instead of three shifts.
Mr. McIntosh also pointed out that many Chaplin and district farmers had worked at the plant on construction work during the summer and fall months to increase storage facilities for the finished product.
During 1950 shipments per month varied from 2,700 tons to 9,100 tons, or from 45 to 175 car-loads a month.
The product is used almost exclusively as the chemical for digesting the wood pulp in the kraft process of paper manufacture.
Canada, U.S.
Shipments from Chaplin go to British Columbia, Ontario, Quebec and New Brunswick in Canada as well as Washington, Idaho, Minnesota, Michigan, Maine, Alabama, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Louisiana, Texas and the mineral area of Iowa and Nebraska in t
he United States.
The industry has expanded considerably in recent years and is continuing to do so at a very rapid rate.
The gross sales as reported in the legislature, for the period May 7 to December 31, 1948 were $361,-358. In 1949 the increase in sales amounted $425,513.55 for the year and sales in 1950, based on the more than doubled revenue of the C.P.R., indicate it
has been the most profitable year yet.
Not only has C.P.R. business increased from a freight shipments standpoint, but passenger business is nearly double what it was in 1940. That year passenger business amounted to $1,600. In 1950 it had soared to $2,800.
C.P.R. agent Gordon Cauthers handled all the business by himself when he first came to Chaplin 10 years ago. Now he has a full-time assistant and at least another full-time man could be kept busy at the Chaplin station.
The population has jumped from 250 to almost 500 in three years. Electrification of the community was speeded for need of power at the plant. Black-topping of No.1 highway to Chaplin has been done. Chaplin now possesses a curling rink, for 20 years onl
y dreamed of.
In addition, stores and garages have expanded, a modern theatre has been added, and last year, a fourth room was added to the school.
An old rural school was moved into town by the Herbert larger school unit and made into a classroom to accommodate the overflow of students. The school unit is at present considering adding two more rooms to the school. If this is done, the rural school
will be transformed into a teacherage.
