2001 - Saginaw County

Board of Commissioners May 22, 2001
promoting the history, traditions, principles, discipline,
evangelistic, financial and general well being of the Church’s
heritage.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, That the Saginaw County Board of
Commissioners does hereby welcome to Saginaw County all delegates
of the 58th Annual Lay Convention of the African Methodist
Episcopal Church. We extend best wishes for their continued
spiritual fulfillment and hope their stay in the great County of
Saginaw will be most enjoyable.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That this expression of recognition be
spread upon the minutes of the May 22, 2001 meeting as a permanent
record and duly inscribed upon parchment and presented to them.
Respectfully submitted,
SAGINAW COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
Robert L. Fish, Chair
Carl Ruth, Commissioner (Dist. #8)
RESOLUTION OF THE
SAGINAW COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
- In dedication of the Deindorfer Woods
as a Michigan Historical Site -
WHEREAS, The Saginaw County Board of Commissioners is proud
to join the Oil and Gas Association of Michigan and the Saginaw
County Historical Society in commemorating the discovery of the
first commercial oil field in Michigan; and,
WHEREAS, For years many believed that geological evidence
pointed to the presence of oil and gas in the Saginaw region.
Based on this, a group of Saginaw businessmen formed the Saginaw
Valley Development Company and drilled ten test wells during 1912-
13. For various reasons these wells were not commercially viable
and the investors lost a great deal of money, in addition to
having to endure a great deal of ribbing from many of their
friends and relatives; and,
WHEREAS, Nevertheless, clinging to the belief that oil and
gas existed in the area; in 1925 some of the same investors, along
with some new ones formed the Saginaw Prospecting Company, and on
August 22, the same year, the new company discovered oil at a
depth of 1,873 feet on the Deindorfer Woods property; and,
WHEREAS, A headline in the August 23, 1925-edition of the
Saginaw News Courier proclaimed that a small amount of oil was
found in the well that the Saginaw Prospecting Company is sinking
on City property in the Deindorfer Woods. The discovery
immediately attracted the attention of Standard Oil and the Sun
Oil Companies who sent scouts to Saginaw; and,
WHEREAS, It was this discovery that heralded the birth of the
gas and oil industry in Michigan. As it stands, Michigan is now
the tenth largest gas producer, and the seventeenth largest crude
oil producer in the country.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, That the Saginaw County Board
of Commissioners hereby adopts this resolution in recognition of
the historical significance of the Deindorfer Woods Oil Well, and