From Bread Cast on Water, a New Career

MT. CLEMENS, Mich. â€”  After 32 years in the wholesale carpet business, no one would blame Max Simon if he just kicked back and enjoyed life.

But at age 75, this feisty entrepreneur is working harder than ever to launch his Mt. Clemens Mineral Products Co. With the help of a free-lance chemist, Simon has developed a line of health products containing the mineral-laden water that once made Mt. Clemens, Mich., a mecca for invalids.

Between 1873 and 1950, Mt. Clemens’ mineral baths and resort hotels attracted pain sufferers from all over the world. They believed the water, which contains 30 identifiable minerals, could cure all sorts of ailments.

“It’s as much a mission as it is a business,� said Simon, who first visited the Detroit suburb with his parents in the late 1940s.

Using the water, which flows from a 1,400-foot deep well, Simon has developed 18 products for human use and nearly half a dozen others for horses.

According to letters Simon has collected, many people believe there is something magic about the water.

“I came to Mt. Clemens on Aug. 5, 1917, from Toronto--a perfect cripple . . . “ Mrs. G. W. Kelly wrote the town fathers. “I was carried on and off the train on a stretcher and brought to the hotel in an ambulance. Am leaving the Medea (Hotel) today after taking 23 baths, completely restored to good health and indeed feel very grateful to these wonderful waters.�

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More recent praise--for Simon’s products--comes from Lynda Huey, a Santa Monica sports specialist who develops water therapy and rehabilitation programs. Huey, who has written a book on the benefits of water therapy, said she uses Mt. Clemens’ bath salts to soothe her sore muscles. She said Simon is downright evangelical about the benefits of his products.

“He wrote to me when he saw a story about my work in the New York Times,� Huey said. “Then he surprised me by flying from Detroit to Chicago to show up at a seminar I was giving for 30 physical therapists.�

Though she was a bit embarrassed by his unexpected appearance, Huey allowed Simon to pass out samples and speak to the group for five minutes.

Simon decided it was time to put Mt. Clemens back on the map after the mineral waters helped his own sore shoulder. In 1986, he registered the business name and committed $65,000 of his savings to getting the company started. Today, Mt. Clemens offers a range of products for horses, from bath salts to poultices.

Getting the products on the shelves in local drug stores has been expensive. When Simon’s money ran out, he turned to 48 friends and relatives who chipped in nearly $600,000 to keep the doors open.

Like most successful small-business owners, Simon says he keeps operating expenses to a minimum. His wife, Rosalind, helps when she can, and a friend, Murray Liberman, works part time.

“I’m a retired meat processor,� said Liberman. “I agreed to help him out for six months, and it’s going on two years. But I don’t mind, because it’s fun and exciting and the stuff works.�

Diane Schwartz, director of sales and marketing for the CMI Health and Tennis Club in Southfield, Mich., said the spa has been using Mt. Clemens mineral water in a whirlpool bath for the last six months.

“The clients love it,� said Schwartz. “It’s primarily for people who have arthritis. They say it really helps them a lot.� The club charges non-members $10 for a guest pass and $5 for a 15-minute soak. About every three days, a truck delivers the water from the well, about 45 miles away.

Meanwhile, Simon is working hard. He said the company is not yet making money, but he is confident his efforts will pay off.

“If I had to do it over again, I wouldn’t,� he said with a laugh. “But in spite of the frustrations and disappointments, I love it. We’re helping people, and that’s the most wonderful thing.�

(For further information on Mt. Clemens Mineral Products, write the company at 10824 W. Nine Mile Road, Oak Park, Mich. 48237.)

Briefly . . .

The National Federation of Independent Business, the largest small-business group in the United States, recently celebrated its 50th anniversary in Washington. Legislators and policy-makers met with NFIB members to discuss the nation’s small-business agenda. . . . Erskine Bowles, the new administrator of the Small Business Administration, will open the first of a series of small-business town hall meetings at Hartford, Conn., on July 15. Dates for Los Angeles, Portland, Cleveland, Houston, Atlanta and Des Moines have yet to be announced.