In Reply to: Henry Ford's Sawmills & Mines posted by Tim Daley(MI) on April 11, 2010 at 08:45:13:
Tim, I know this was started awhile ago, thanks for the pics and info. Around 1972 or so I worked with an older gentlemen, Fred who at one time worked for Ford Motor in Detroit. He and his dad both worked in maintence there and got to know Henry somewhat on a prefessional basis. He said Henry would walk the grounds and plants looking for ways to improve allmost everythng going on. One day he came in the plant and questioned why so much black smoke was coming out of the furnace stacks (chimneys). He told the maintenance crew to look into it and get back to him on it. (This was in the days long before the EPA was even thought of). Henry went on to say that if there was black smoke coming out of the stacks then the fuel used in the furnces was not burning properly which meant there was waste going up the stacks and that could not stand. Another thing he told me was that the spokes and other wood items of the early auto's were built "Up North" and that Henry had the crates and pallets to ship these items built to a certain spec so that when they reached the assembly plant they could be broke down and used for floor and running board and other items not so critical in appearance to be used in the manufacture of his automobiles and trucks. There was a movie made several years ago on Henry Ford called "Ford, a man and his machine". Not the most flattering at times but a good movie just the same.