The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1855-06-19

l d.a,, a.:. Ia as the Deus Oh gypsum, were
| desposltes into the assures of the fanlt from
the adjacent saliferous and ovnseons rooL
| which were dissolved by wafer percolatiI .
| ,nrough them after their disrupture and pro.
oaoie edgewlse upheaval or it NAV have
been as Professor a. d. Rogers suggests the
action OF jets of boiling water issuing conf.
ousiy through the rs yged ehinks of the frac.
tares. With such an agent, the dissol ,tion
: onid have been rapid, as the geysers or
ooiiing waters of Iceland are known to bring
up and deposite in quantities pure silica, q
nuGh narder substance than those dissolved
IN the Preston valley.
Whatever be their origin there those do.
pos,ts are, and we trust their owners will
maze the most of them. The brine is reach
ed ABOUT 200 feet from the surface. This brine
Is The strongest in the world, as we'll as the
puresf. lis usual pro portion of Sal. is about
20 per Ct, eighteen gallons yielding one bush.
ei OF pure salt. The Syracuse salt wells only
nave strength of II per ct-the Ksnawha
rarely exceeding 10 per CT, 1t has none of
tue chiorldes of calcium and magnesia, and
wnen eVaporated, no appreciable amount of
-fteFn, an ingredient that produces tender
to the absorption of moisture Therefore
put up IN osrfels, the form In which it is
transported this salt is exposed to the at
mosphere without detrimeut. There is some
gypsum 10 the water, bnt that becomes in
cfusted on the bottom of the kettles, and is
thus separated from the salt
Ibe brine rises in the wells which are
four inches in diatneter) to within As feet of
the surface, from whence it is pumped by
steam engines into the reservoirs. From
these reservoirs it is conducted to the kettles
IN the evsporatiDg houses by wooden pipes.
One of these houses is two miles from the
wells, Immediately ON the bank of the Hol-
ston. The others are at the wells. The
evaporation is effected in kettles, beneath
which are furnaces where heat is constantly
Kept up, from Monday morning to Saturday
night Ii l5 beautiful process, the CRYSTAL
ization of the salt which takes place on the
surface, after which ii falls to the bottom, and
Is scooped up almost as white as snow After
being left to drip awhile in split baskets over
the kettles, it is thro wn in bulk, wi ence it
is put up in barrels. The salt is bell ,ved to
be the purest that is manufactured. The
table salt is certainly the most beausiful we
ever saw. As to the supply from tn wells,
there is no telling its extent. There IS been
n falling off in the flow of brine for a long
series of years, and it is just as strd ~ now
as when first discovered. Moreover, he ex.
isterce of vast depths of rock salt baing as
certained, the capacity of supply may be
considered unlimited.
WYaDHAM ROBERTSON, Esq, is thu lessee
of the Salt Works, as well as the proprietor
Of an interest in them. He pays an AM ual
rent of $4,000. The annual producr Of the
works is little over 100000 bushels. The
chief market is East Tennessee and upper
Mississippi and Alabama 1t is taken down
the Holston in large fiat boats, and along the
Tennessee as far as Muscle Shoals, which is
the end of the voyage. The boats can only
float down the river, however, upon rise of
three feet at the land g. Last year there
was no rise and an immense stock accu-
mulated on Mr.. Robinson's hands, before
he was enabled to float off his feet The
price per bushel at Muscle Shoals, has been
latterly rs cents per bushel; at the works so
cents.
The wells can supply any demand; and it
is likely that after the Railroad line through
that country is completed the market for it
will be increased. Mr.. Robertson has com
menced boring on his own land at the upper
end of the Valley, for salt. He has bored 600
feet without finding any but is determined
to continue 600 feet further, when, if he has
not succeeded before, he will abandon the
enterprise.
Col. Preston and Mr. Robertson, each are
working Plaster beds and have Plaster mills
near the Salt Works. Their operations can
be extended in proportion to the demand
A branch of the Virginia and Tennessee
Rail Road, is to be constructed to the Salt
Works six miles long. We passed along the
embankment in our route to the Wells A
good portion of if is finished. 1t is confident
ly predicted, that Saltvile with its unlimited
supplies of Salt and Gypsum can load train
each way, east and west every day of the
year, if the demand will justify it
Man is lost In admiration, in contemplat-
ing the wonderful characteristics of this
basin. Its surface is incomparably beauti-
full, while the riches underneath the soil are
inexhaustible. 1t is source of wealth at
once inapprecia BILE. In its vast beds of
Gypsum, that part of Virginia has fertilizer
through all time; and in the Salt of the Pres.
ton Valley, a commercial commodity, that
will in all human probability be equally as
enduring
fear have wearied the reader with this
long account-yet | have omitted q great
deal.
their companions, after looking at the
works, and collecting a great number of
beautiful stylactites, which wers formed by
the water dripping from the reservoirs, land
none of which, believe, were brought
home = accompanied Col Preston to his
dwelling, called the Lick, situated as above
described There, after little rest from our
rambling about the ground, we partook of
an admirable dinner. At the conclusion of
the feast, we had great many good sayings,
some of which led me to believe, that the
Salt Wells yielded attic as well as table salt,
and that our party had imbibed some of that
as we'll as something else
In th6afternoon, we wandered again over
the Valley-ssw Col. Prestons fine cattle
the burr mill stone found on his land-went
down to the landiag at the Holston-thence
to the Plaster banks-exhausted all our
terms of heyrperbole upon the inexhaustible
things around us-and returned to the Lick
completely down at the heel. More than
one dignitary of the Board of Trade were
soon seen nodding assent TO things for
which their assent was neither expected nor
desired-and there were other signs of weari-
ness from locomotion and sight seeing, that
Col. Preston, kindly brought to conclusion
by inviting the gentlmen to bed And thus
ended our day at the Salt Works. e.
Correspondence Of the Dispatch.
Cold Heather - Queer Fire Agparasus CoGl-
Mortality, &c.
PHILADELpHIA, June IL.
The weather here was cold Friday morning,