LINDBERGH – When one of the many former employees of Windsor Salt’s Lindbergh plant received word that its administration office would be permanently closed at the end of 2022, the need to preserve even more of the history of the 74-year-old industry came to the forefront.
Gordon Fakeley, whose father Alf was part of the construction crew when the plant was built in 1948 and continued to work there until his retirement in 1976, followed in his father’s footsteps, working at the plant during summers of his high school years and returning full time at age 23, retiring 45 years later.
In 2021, Fakeley enlisted the help of Elk Point Historical Society member Marvin Bjornstad, whose father Elmer served as the plant’s chief engineer from 1959 to 1992, and who had also spent his high school summers working there, to create a history book of the plant’s first 60 years. Published by the Historical Society, ‘Canadian Salt Plant 1947 – 2008: How I Remember and Lived It,’ is a volume filled with pictures and stories told by a man who declared: “Salt runs in my veins.”
But Fakeley and Bjornstad both knew there was much more that could be added to that story and were determined that none of its history should be lost. With closure of the office imminent, Fakeley contacted the plant’s general manager, Mohammed Shadpour, and was invited to come to the plant one final time. He and Bjornstad spent more than an hour on Dec. 30 perusing the many photos of the plant over the years that were showcased on the office building’s walls, pointing out the homes in the company town where their families lived and reminiscing about the many additions to the plant over the years.
Pointing out the row of train cars in one of the earliest photos, Fakeley told Shadpour, “There were no trucks hauling from the plant for the first 10 years, the railroad had a monopoly. Trucks delivering salt to businesses in other towns along the line had to go to the sidings in those towns and pick up the salt when the train came through with it.”
He recalled long ago winters when the thermometer dipped to minus 72 degrees Farenheit, one year staying at minus 65 degrees for six weeks, a time when some workers stayed in “a few shacks on the side of the hill” because they couldn’t travel home between shifts in the extreme cold. Years later, when Fakeley made his rounds checking the 23 natural gas wells across the country that powered the plant, driving 5,000 km a month, heavy snow was one thing that kept him from completing his rounds a time or two, he noted.
Although he has only been at the Lindbergh works for two years, the plant’s importance to the area isn’t lost on Shadpour. “It’s unfortunate that it’s come to this. It hurts me when I think about it. This is the purest salt, Mother Nature gave you the best.” However, with the company-owned gas wells no longer providing sufficient fuel for the plant’s needs, adding significant cost to production, and the need for updated equipment, continuing to operate wasn’t considered feasible by the Morton Salt head office.
Tanner Shankowski, who has worked at the plant for five and a half years, and Shadpour say they will be around for a while, to continue the process of shutting down the facility and that they may find more interesting material during that time. But for now, they sent Fakeley and Bjornstad home with two bins of photos and a stack of the plant’s ‘Windsor Salt Licks’ publication to add to their collection of history of this longstanding landmark in the Lindbergh valley.
An official decision to close the facility was made on June 1, 2022, with staff being notified two days later. Production at the plant was then scheduled to be shut just six weeks later.
Head of communications and engagement with Morton Salt, Brett Gregorka confirmed "The facility stopped producing in August." He also noted in December email with Lakeland This Week that "As of this writing, the plant has not been sold."
