About Us

Straits Wood Treating and Mauk Midwest Forest Products have a long history of being associated with one of the oldest railroads in Michigan’s history. The Detroit & Mackinac Railway, informally known as the "Turtle Line", was a railroad in the northeastern part of the lower peninsula of Michigan. The railroad had its main offices and shops in Tawas City with its main line running from Bay City north to Cheboygan, and operated from 1894 to 1992.

The location upon which Mauk Midwest Forest Products and Straits Wood Treating now sits is the original location of where D&M Railway would treat railroad ties using Pentachlorophenol, a common chemical used for that application still to this day.

Straits Wood Treating was then born in 1984, treating mainly agricultural posts and pilings using the original 50-foot pressure treating cylinder. In 2006, Straits Corporation acquired Mauk Midwest Forest Products and purchased a new 60-foot pressure cylinder. We now treat and distribute a number of different forest products utilizing two different chemical treatments: CCA (Chromated Copper Arsenate) and MCA (Micronized Copper Azole).