East Saginaw courier. (East Saginaw, Mich.) 1859-18??, 1862-12-16


pacity of about $4,000 gallons.
The brine is allowed to stand in the
watts FIVE or six days where the iron he
comes precipitated, a process facilitated
by sprinkling in the brine a small qnan.
tity of lime, perhaps pailful. The ket-
ties are placed in two parallel rows close
to- each other, with an arch under each
and partition wall between, or, as il
would more properly seem, two arches.
At the mouth Of the arches when the
fires are kindIed the distance from the
bottom of the kettles to the bottom of
tho arch IL three or four feet, while as
the arch proceeds back the bottom grad
ualy rises until under the back kettles
the intervening space is no more than
or ten inches. This graduates the
heat as we'll as possible, keeping the FIRE
at some distance from the trout kettles
and bringing all the heat in dirert con.
tact with the back ones. Nnt particle
at heat is thus wasted Most of the
companies have fifty Kettles To block
and, of course, one half of this plumber
tn each arch, though some blocks have
~ macy as fifty six and even sixty ket.
ties The arches are enclosed in sub
stantiaI buildings 100 feet by'40 with
shed on each side for the reception of
the salt, where il is barreled after be
coming perfectly dry. The brine is con
veyed into the building from the set
tling watts by logs placed on the partition
wall between the kettles, whence 1T Is
drawn at pleasure into them. Very
many OF these companies have surmount
ing these logs another set Of logs for
tho conveyance of fresh water used in
cleaning the kettles As the brine be-
comes heated the other impurities not
removed in the settling watts arc precip
itated and are then removed by large
shallow pans placed in the bottom of the
Kettles, which catch these foreign sub.
stances as they settle, and being care
fully removed, take these "btterns," as
the boilers call them, with them.
The evaporation of the brine is much
more rapid in the front kettles directly
over the fires. These have to be filed
every four or five hours, while the back
kettles evaporate once only in fifteen to
twenty four hours. The time of evap-
oration, however, depends much upon
the state of the weather, tho quality of
the wood used, and othe, circumstances.
A the evaporation proceeds the sat
chrystalizes and falls to the bottom
whence it is dipped into baskets, allow.
ed to drain until the baskets are needed
again, when it is emptied into tho bins
at the side, where it is allowed usually
twelve or fourteen days to drain, when
it is ready for packing. This process is
renewed as often as the kettles are
enpted, boiling being kept up day and
night for two or more weeks, when the
free are allowed to go down, the ket.
ties cleaned, repairing done if necessary,
and, after stop of two days, including
Sunday, everything is ready for another
start, and the fires are rekindled. The
amount of salt produced in twenty.four
hours is usually tritis less than bar
rel to kettle; that is, block of fifty
kettles will produce from forty To forty.
eight barrels. The quantity, however,
depends much upon the strength of the
brine, the state of the atmosphere. the
quality Of the fuel, AMI the kind of fire.
men and boilers employed. Occasion.
ally, under favorable auspices, as high
as barrel to kettle is made, but the
average is not above forty five barrels
to fifty kettles Saginaw salt weighs
So 2 lbs to the bushel.
THE KANAwHA PLAN.
The plan above described is usei y
,,na t.nth. th.. /, ,r,r.s in, fh,.
Saginaw Valley, if No: by nineteen
twehtieths, aud il is the only one IN
vogue at Syracuse Mr.. Lcavitt how.
ever, of the Forest Valley Salt Compa.
ny, at Saginaw City, aud Williams
s. Co of the same place, have erected
aud have in operation "A plan for evap
Grating by steam, which. being the same
as that employed at the Kanawha
Works, is popularity known as the Ka
nawha plan. Large watts or troughs
are made, varying from SO to 100 feet
in length, AMI from to 10 feet wide
some of which are fiat upon the bottom
and Of no more tina: ten inches in
depth, while others are made in he
shape of letter V, except that the
tuHit VI Luc bttlSS 70 tiuCu iCoo dCuJc.-
through these troughs run from three
to five pipes, through which steam pass.
es, and thus the whole quantity of
brine in the vats is evaporated, and the
salt, "a it crystalizes, falls to the bottom
Aside from this, the process is much
the same as with the kettles. This pro.
cess is held in high favor, and mum.
Der of the new works now going up
are designed for the Kanawha plan
1t is claimed that it manufactures
better article, while tie saving in fuel
is very large. The plan was designed
originally for the evaporation of brine
not very strong, but It is found that it
works we'll with the best kind Of brine.
Many salt men on the Saginaw, even
those already largely interested in the
kettle manufacture, express a decided
preference for it, and predict that it
will eventually supersede all other
modes of manufacture in that region
Among others who express decided
preference for it is DIR. IL. @. Potter,