The Washington union. [volume] (City of Washington [D.C.]) 1857-1859, 1858-10-09
THE sALr MINES or cRAoo ".
a BY BAYAHD TAYLOR.

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fat more and we were In 4 world f alt Level palle
ries brached off from The foot t the staircase. overhead
ceiling of solid salt ,nd,r foot 4 loor Of salt and ON
either side dark gray walls Of salt SPARKLING here and
there with minute CRYSTALS. LIGHTS glnmered ahead
and on, turning the corner we came ,non a gang of work
men, some hacking away at the solid floor others trun
ding wheebarros VS. fun OF the precious cubes Here was
the chapel of St. Anthony the odes. IN the mines-a
byzantine excavation sunnorte Inv columns with aItar
crcx and life size statues of saints apprently In black
marble but all as salt as Lots wife as discovered by
putting my tongue to the nose Of John the Baptist The
humid afr OF this upper story of tho mines has damaged
some of the saints Francis especaliy il running away
like dip candle and all Of his head Is gone except his
chin
The limbs Of Joseph are dropping of as II he had the
Norwegian leprosy and Lawrence has deeper scars than
his gdiron could have made running up aud down his
back Bengal light turned at the altar brought into
sudden Hethis strange temple which presently vanished
into darkness as il il had never been seen
cannot follow step by step our journey Of two hours
through the labyrinths Of this wonderful mine II Is
bewildering maze of galleries grand halls stacses and
vaultei chambers where one soon loses all sense Of dis
tnce or direction and drifts along bndly In the wake
OF his conductor Everything was solid salt, except
where great piers Of hewn logs had been built up to sup
port some threatening roof or vast casm left in quar-
rying, had been bridged across As VIC descended to
lower regions the air became moro dry and agreeable
and the saline walls more pure and brilliant One hail.
lOS feet in height resecd Grecan theatre the traces
Of block taken out in regular layers representing the
seats for the spectators Out of the single hall OO0
40, 600, 600 nhabitants in Austria one year.
Iwo ooesks q sal. conlnenoiea te vs. q rIanels
., a I , ", pos =, ~ - - I, i h speu e .e - e., 80 ,;I 'S
at;as ~ r;ar W ~ az ..,a,no ~ I @ LEA
as"1oa ~ pt0is =. az " t; 's' t ~ rau @
,. Z, ., w $1,000 , ~ u. w .'VSn, Z, : =, ~ = - -
aois 'nc p,Niso noove WIN burning pensa nsn',
~ asiea - puo ~ wy open.0, ~ ~
Walls m vs. acnes .no eh.sace 70 ueepcr nas'
a eo ~ as ar ss ,a h MA pre-
~ yo' t q, - 81 i,'ot sio 1
, a, ~ M o i ~. =, - ,.oiSo ev0s, e,, YN'
~; ~ = { ny sAy vi W. -
~ , .i,y . NJ os.t 1, n, 'iy W ~ si ah sly ~ ~ = 81 =, ~ .i,
~, yawhts uowhylu ho tle noun - noli, WIN
4, o . aio d, .i ps ps s use - ,s s % ..I -. I - =
e ,,oe ~. a,I ..A Y ' , ii , ihu, "i ~ -
h's, wiz o.ies ~ anu .o ,lii R y us,
lNi'eh ioio ao ~ ouo y ~ WV o
~. .s ei !. ~aa9 Wy, - se
s - so Nv ~ o pcons . Z. ny n
ca ~ ,iou' VIZ sns ''ie ioS' ih1 eoos nus. ~ " iiieu
uapei1n Iycn we, uncxpep..ohaoo Gna,,cels y we
VIZ ~ a;, say LILY W ~ m ~ Iui BnosnS sao'
a'i ,;,I nsit $50 Z. tr,.., e, c,,o
z heo iu.oi M W re.uol up.ii Z aAo iout h''VnS
uesp, upol ".yn ~ n - . iey q'.o po's,
M a.a ~. -
was ihscrioeu V selt ies'c'l soou iirA 70 vow -
saon Z paoe uio io,eo heenieu ,s l'o.A, Aoliuon
iiopv 81 " WY oe' WIN v oeii , III
Way ~ .lis tuiloi, aiu hails ~ c'.nol ela
s au J,ss ~ :, ~
po.o,'uB sl,ioubA S ioV" , .ui.', svn wy
r anu Wtc, i suc wlsc .ha1 or poa. mao noe ceasca
n,ouoiins =, "Aiei "Aiei W Au Au - ny oo ~ iu'noi h1 i1'
ue iasso
L fireman 10 spazio5e atrc &
~ Der eieeo IN ques rnH'or r'nocns6a
If you want to hear the sound Of IT, tablet inscribed
sheartily welcome T. salntcd us on landing. Finally
at the depth Of $50 feet our Journey ceased although we
were but half way to the bottom Tho remainder is a
wilderness OF shafts galleries, and smaller chabcrs the
extent OF which we could only conjecture We then re-
turned through scores of toous passages to some vaults
where lot Of pnomes naked 10 the hns were busy with
pick malIe and wedge blocking out and separating the
i solid pavement
The process is ouitc primitive scarcely differing from
that Of the ancient Eayptians in ,afryin granite hs
Iloks are frst mark ed ont on the surface Iv ear;s f
grooves Ono side Is then deepened to the reouiret
thickness anJ WEDGES heinz inseted ,nder tbo hlocr
IL a soon spIit off II Il then snt transycrselv into
pieces of one ewt each in which form II Il rcalv for
sale lose intended fr I,nssi arc rounded On t,e oes
and untl they acquire the shane Of large
for the convenience Of tansporaton into the interior o
1 the country
/ The number OF workmen enployed in the mine IL
500 all Of whom belong To the noper crust ~ that Is
they i've on the outside of tho world Ihev arc ivided
into gangs and relieve each other every six lours Each
gang ouarries ont on an average little moro than 600
cwt Of salt in that space of time making the annual
Weld 500 O00 owt The ne,, we saw were fine nus.
oular heathylookinr fellows and the ofer n answer
to nv question stated that their sanitary condition was
one eaual to tbat Of the field laborer Scnrvev docs
not occur among them and the equality of the tcmpera
turc of the mnes-which stands at "a deg of Fahrcn-
heit all the year round favorable effect upon such
as are pesposed to diseases Of tho lungs He was not
aware Of any peculiar form OF disease induced by the sub
stance in which they work notwithstanding where the
air is humid salt CRYSTALS form upon the woodwork The
wood i NAV here remark, never rots. and where un
touched retains its quality for centries The officer ex-