Martinsburg gazette. [volume] (Martinsburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1833-1855, 1843-04-13
Fyom the Baiaimo,s Patriot.

CHARLESTON lsA) SAIL WORKS.
A correspondent, Of the Portsmouth
(Ohio) Tribune, hss furnished The editor
with very interesting account the Salt
Works at Charleston, Va, situaie on the
Kanawha rv,r. In speaking Of the vii
lage, he siys:
Charleston is nourishing town of a.
bout 1900 inhabitants, with FIVE or six
churches. and bank with a capital Of
$4,000. The society is good, not arts
tocratlc, bu. a general cultivation Of kind
feelings towards strangers which IS worthy
Of remark. The trade Of Charleston is
limited, confined principally to the COM
mcrcial action Of salt. Az the present,
business is depressed, bu, the mercantile
community sre solvent"
10 directing attention to Hr. As salt
works, the writer says,
"THey burn $50 bushels II coGl per
day they make 200 barrels per week I;
have engaged in all seventeen hands, six
of which work at the coal bank. They
have q furnace that is some hundred feet
10 lengih The fire goes under 81 kettles
which hold lao gallons each. They have
steam boiler, the bottom OF iron the
sides Of wood. They have sienm en-
CINE TO pump tho sal, water up; a cistern
10 hold the water in before it cones to
the kettles. There is u good deal OF nov
city about it. The salt is OF an excellent
quality. They bore from 800 to 1900
Zee, for sal, water. They manufacture
from the Salines, for about 10 miles in
length up the river, 5000, 900 bushels Of
salt per year. The price now averages
from Ia to 20 cents per bushel. This
commercial commodity has been Of great
revenue to The Kanawha country. Some
hivs become quite wealthy by it. The
workmen are mos, intnlerabIy dirty; their
faces are so black that you can hardly
distiEa uish them from the colored popua
ton"
Some distance up the river there are
40or 50 furnaces, where the surrounding
scenery Is spoken Of as grand. AL some
OF these furnaces, 500 bushels Of salt are
made per day. Among the salines the
furnaces are 100 10 800 yards apart. a
small town has been built here Tor the &C.
communication of the woIkmen. The
mountains rlso up quarter TO q haif mile
from the bank OF the river; they ara in
height 10 10 compared 10 the Cumberland
mountains.
Two miles further up the river are the
works Of Mr.. Thompson where they burn
the carbure,ted hydrogen gas, for The pun
pose Of eyaporating the salt water. This
gas, with the salt water, cones from a
well which is 1858 fee: deep. The gas
prnpsls the water out Of the we'll, through
pipe leafing to tight cssk about the
size Of a hogshead, where the water and
g,s are separated.
looked, says Tho writer, "iuto the
furnace when they had but little coal in,
aod the way the gas was burning was
singulsrly grand. The heat that i, makes
IS whi,e-red. Before the introduction Of
this gas into the furnace. they burnt $50
bushels Of coal per day; ba, since, only
100 bushels. Mr.. Thompson is fitting up
another we'll which has gas in il, aud he
will then apply two wells to one furnace,
which will make 500 bushels of salt per
day. They have here ht the rivers edge
burning springs. Natures God has
through ART done much for the proprietor
nf this furnace FIRST, 10 force the sal, wa.
taf Oh, of the well, md then the combus.
,"n Of the chrbaretted hydrogen gas To
cvapornic i. From conversation winch
! had with Mr.. T., in many pluccs the
river waite, apparently seems to boil,
which is gas escaping from its confined
position in the earth. He says the minds
of eeologists differ as to Tho real condition
Of tho salt natter in ihr earth.