The Washington union. [volume] (City of Washington [D.C.]) 1857-1859, 1858-09-19
TOUR THROUGH .VIRGLNLA AND THE
RI SOUTH
lFr0m the correspondence Of the Richmond Enqu'rrl

lFrom the correspondence the Richmond Enquirerl
Satyie of the estates and residences Of Col 1hos
L. Preston lies in smyth county, the north fork of
the Holston and eight miles north OF Glade Spring de-
pot ON the Virginia and Tennessee railroad with which
1t is connected by asubsanta branch road known the
Sat Works branch 1t is rich and magnificent estate
truly the richest in Virginia, perhaps OF like and
Improvement in the world and without exception il
naturally of the most beautiful locations that have
Saltville originally the property of Gen
William Campbell, the hero Of Kings Mountain, and.
through his only daughter, descended, by marriage to
Gen Fncs Preston the ancestor of the present owner
by whom it has been extensively improved and extended
Salt first manufactured here about one hundred years
ago. During the revolution comparatively large quant
ties manufactured for that early day when all be-
yond the New river Wilderness and when salt
considered precious article II then sold at tho
salt works for five dollars per bushe and frequently for
much higher but then the cost Of manufacturing
it much greater than now, US important develop
ents its extent have been made its first dis
covery, and many improvements have been intro
ducod in the mode of manufacturing. The salt is
sold at the works for fifty cents per bushe and from the
purity and density of the brine and the with which
it is manufactured, it may be sold at much lower
with profit to the manufacturer particularly when min
eral coal be obtained, antisipate, for fuel
Like many other interests In the State this too suffers
for the want of substantial and economical fuel
The Salt Basin plain extent Of about TOO
mile in circumference, and is completely
honmed in by conicaI limestone hills and those in turn
overtopped by the towering ranges of the C!inc on
the northwest, and Walkers mountain the south
east On the northeast the salt formation approaches the
surface, and salt water obtained at the depth OF few
feet, but to the southwest it inclnes dips until It OBJ
tans the depth of nearly If not fully 800 feet and then
appears to terminate suddenly We believe the deepest
well from which salt has been obtained is 270 feet deep
and the southwestern termination of the salt or
ton But within few yards of which explorations have
been made to great depth and at immense cost to
obtain salt water without 1t might appear
the first glance that so small depose of salt myM be
exhausted, providing it manufactured a largo
scale But few figures will demonstrate such proba
bty to be- in fact, impossiblity by any ordinary
process within Thousand years. " Ct ~ sE@ s-7l
The salt basin, before said is known to exist
under plain of hundred in extent and since
may extend under the hills there is possibility of it
being still greater; but the hundred is
enough for our calculations w E
The salt formation salt rock has been found to
exist from seventy to hundred feet in thickness
will put down the average thickness at sixty feet anil
will assume that every cubic yard to produce on
forty bushels Of SALT which in fact below the real
ty since cubic yard twenysevon solid feet OF salt
rock will weigh $500 pounds. This will give l00
600 TONS 1000 600 bushels to the acre. which in
EN- hundred would be TO- 900 TONS 2,s00,
900 900 bushels sss8 "8a5#.3
In the carly stages of manufacturing salt the Hol-
son very small quantities annually made in
pason to that which is now produced which, however is
still less than 300, 900 bushels per and, up to the
present time total amount of less than 10 900 900 bush
els of salt have been made here Yet btracing what has
been made and allowing great centage for waste los
&c. there would still be enough of the fossil salt pure
chloride fsodiu yield 1000 900 bushels per year for
two thousand years Therefore may call
The territory which naturally depends these salne
includes the whole of southwestern and part of
Virginia, most of Tennessee large part of North Caro-
lima and Kentucky and parts of Georgia. Alabama and
Mississippi embracing population at present of between
two and three millions of people, and consuming, at
estimate of half bushe to each person. over mil
lion of bushels per annum. Ihisamount large por-
tion of it, might be manufactured md sod by tho
introduction of the contemplated improvements and IA
citie at the sanes and by corresponding reduction of
prices both of salt and Of the charges for freight
railroad TRANSFORMATION. The brine at those salnes is al
most as dense it be made by satdratonthat is
rock salt will dissolve in it but slowly at
temperature of $40 Fahrenheit. One-ffth of tho
brine 20 per cent is SALT which stronger than the
found in most of the salt wells known. 3sE
When coal be obtained for fuel at this place, t
viii be when contemplated improvements completed
salt be manufactured cheap it In any part
of this country. The salines situated in produc-
tive agricultural country and in tho midst OF estate
containing about 10, 600 acres, most of which Is fine
farming land between 800 and 400 of which, on
the Salt plain, cannot be excelled if equned by any
tract of like extent in the world. On the estate
the celebrated Saltville Presons Plaster Rnks which
contain unlimited quantities of the purest gypsum and
which, probably is still valuable than the salt
which it accompanies This plaster is extensively used in
the region OF country through which the salt finds
y market The old King interest in those wells is
in the hands of Col. Preston. DKBOW.
SATvILLE 1858. #d & ai't