The Sifto Discovery

Sam Platt, the owner of a flour mill in Goderich, Ontario, set out to discover oil in 1866. Luckily, he ended up with salt. And lots of it. Platt's discovery, the first recorded salt bed in North America, planted the seeds for what would become one of the world's largest suppliers of salt - Sifto Canada, Corp.

By the end of the year, the mine was producing salt and profits were skyrocketing. Once word of Platt's discovery spread, a salt rush ensued. By late 1867, 12 independent salt wells dotted the Maitland River Valley across Goderich Harbour and Lake Huron. Salt was gold in Canada.