Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1846-12-04
TFrom tie Parkersbnrg Gaz TEL
THE SALT WORKS OF KANAWHA


nawha, has made The writer acquainted with some
facts tending 10 show the extent and importance
of that manufacture which may interest the read
ers OF the Gazette.
Passing UP the river from Charleston, a stran.
ger is struck with The extent Of ground covered
BY The works. For The distance OF seven or eight
miles The river on both sides is lined win them,
each surrounded by The dwellings OF The work.
men, &c. One unacquaintec with The truth OF
The case, would readily imagine, on approaching
them that he was about entering The suburbs ol
large city, and could hardly be persuaded that
The numerous clouds OF smoke which occupied SO
large a section OF his horizon arose from furnaces
devoted 10 single branch OF manufacture. Ills
surprise would not diminish on being told maj
there are in all torty-seven furnaces, each en-
ploying, with few exceptions 10 be presently no.
liced, one or more steam engines 10 raise The salt
waller from depths varying from one sixth 10 one
third of mile, (rom 900 TO $500 feet) and hav.
ing produced during the last year an aggregate OF
100000 bushels, or 100 600 barrels OF markela-
BILE salt
The above quantity gives an average daily
product OF more Than forty barrels 10 each iur-
mace, allowing them TO work every day in the
year. II is more than one.lhird OF the annual
importation into The United States, and mere than
one half OF The whole quantity produced IN lo40
II is one.lourih more than The State oil New York
produced in that year.
Each furnace, with the exceptions before allu,
ded 10, employs from 20 10 IS hands; making an
aggregate Of nearly OF quite 900. But in order
TO form correct idea of the value OF this manu-
facluIe in poliiico economical point oil view The
families OF The workmen, and The number en-
ployed in digging and transporting coal, being
probably 300 al this time, must be added; and il
should be stated in this connection, thai Charles
ton has population oil some fifteen 10 eighteen
hundred, and the village of Maiden or Saboro',
six miles above, about six hundred, all perhaps
more or less benefited by this manufacture, and
The larger portion dependent on il Tor employment
and the means Of subsistence.
The capital actually invested in these works,
was slated 10 the writer at halt million, which
sum may include portion OF the coal mines. u
! gives an investment oil less than fourteen cents 10
each bushel oil salt produced The past year. BY
The census Of 1910, il appears that the capital then
invested in the salt manufacture, in The United
States al large, was about lib cents 10 each
bushe annually produced, and in The Stale oil
New York 1876 cents
On The other hand, il appears from The same
| document that for each person employed lhere
was produced, in the year 1910, in The United
States, 27l2 bushels, in New York S6OS, and in
Kanawha county $500. The data given above
show that the later is nearly correct al the pre-
sent time.
The disparilies between The New York works
and those of the Kanawha are accounted Tor by
their different modes of manufacture, and other
| we'll known circumstances. A calculation found
ed on The facts above detailed and The prices oil
ablr value OF capital, &C., in The TWO sections,
will show that salt is produced al the kanawha
works Tor not exceeding One-haf IFS Cost al tnoSe
OF New York. In this, repairs, renewals ana
other contingencies are disregaIded for want Of
materials for an estimate; but there can be no
doubt that the kanawha salt can be produced lot
| less than the other. But Notwithstanding TINS,
the later now enters into competition with The
former in Ohio and perhaps other Western
States. The facilities for transportation musl be
the cause OF this; and The reader will b surprised
10 learn. as was the writer that the James River
and Kanawha Companycollecis annually The sum
of ID OGO dollars in tolls charged upon The navisa-
| ton OF the kanawha as a compensation lot
| erecting a few sideways and wngdams, when
the river is susceptible OF, and furnishes suffi-
cient waller at all times for lock and dam navi-
cation. This is all The citizens OF kanawha, or
indeed any part of The Wesl, have yet realised
| from that company, and is lair sample OF The
care Virginia takes OF her most important inIe-
rests. if located this side The mountains.
| Blu, have wandered into statistics, and almost
into politics, when intended 10 coniine myself
to description. | must yet delain The reader
while | endeavor TO convey 10 him some ioea q
a few of The works, (the exceptions before men
toned where Madame Nature has kindly taken
upon herself The offices OF water pumper and
funisher of fuel, FIRE, tender, &C., TO The exciu-
sion of steam horse and man power, and does
her work admirably.
When arrived at the furnace, which more
particularly examined, there was no person EN-
ployed about it in any capacity. A negro was
summing himself near by; but il ne was connect
ed with it, his office, al least while siad, was
perfect sinecure. The gas contained or gene
rated mewhere this side OF The anlipodes forces
up with itself through the bore or well, from
depth OF a thousand or more feet, continuous
stream of salt water, and also forces il through
wooden pipes 10 an elevated reservoir, where the
two fluids speedily separate. Other pipes lead
from the top OF this reservoir, through which The
gas rushes INFO the furnace or oven prepared for
il, where, being once ignited, it maintains
constant combustion without The aid Of
particle OF other fuel. The water is conveyed
from the lower part ofthe reservoir 10 watts placed
over the oven, where is boiled 10 separate il
from the impurities or foreign substances ii con-
ains, and is thence drawn into other vats where
il is slowly evaporaed by The heat Of steam con-
veyed through il in copper pipes. Al this Stage
the aid Of The woIknen is first required 10 raise
The salt from the walls and convey il 10 The pack
ing house al the rate OF some sixty barrels per
day. The process OF manufacture after The waller
reaches The vats, is, believe, the same al all the
furnaces.
The gas rises with considerable force. Frag-
ments OF rock are sometimes ejeced, and in one
instance The augur with its apparatus some eight
hundred feel in length, and weighing probably as
many pounds, was shot from The top OF the bore,
and its fragments distributed al considerable dis
ances. II was some lime before The woIkmen
succeeded in attaching the pipes 10 il, and in the
interval all The vegetation for many yards around
it, including several large Trees, was killed by The
spray oil the salt water.
The flow OF The gas is probably continuous,
but at intervals il rushes with greatly increased
vehemencc. Indeed, in approaching one of the
wells, the jets were so regular that | al first
thought they marked the revolutions OF an
engine. This is particularly perceptible while
looking into The furnace, NOT only by the noise il
makes in entering, but by The changes which The
vast volume Of fame undergoes from lime 10
Time | have heard no cause assigned for this
remarkable circumstance.
Il is also worth Of notice that the pipes through
which gas and waller are conveyed become in
| crusled with a mineral substance, while those
which convey only wafer do not. The usual acid
tests appjed 10 some specimens OF this, indicated
sulphae of lime while others seemed 10 be caibo-
nate or nitrate II is supposed that the formation
If this substance in The assures OF the rock whence
the pas is presumed to issue is The cause that some
ortbe wells have ceased discharging it lfthis isso,
some gsoloeist or chemist, or even some "smaTt
Yankee" may one day apply remedy. A.
ARETHESE SIGNS OF THAT RUM
The Two large Anthracite Iron Furnaces, recent
" erected al Allentown, Lehigh county, BY
Messrs. Bevan, Humphreys g. Co., Of Philadel-
pbia, were successfully blown in week before last,
by MIR. Benjamin Perry, and continue 10 work
prosperously.
The Lock Haven (CinloE CO Democrat says:
"a company fully competent to The undertake
ing are now busily engaged in reiilins The Iron
Works al Farrandsvile, and, we are informed,
will do an extensive business.
"Peer Rlner g. Co. are al making extensive
arrangements for going into large Coal opera
ton on the lands OF Anthony Grafus q Co., al
Tangascoolack. All the Iron and Coal opera
tors in this county are driving on their business