The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1863-08-15
A REMARKABLE.sALr NINE,
HOW THE REBELS COT THEIR SALT.

. s.
] HOW THE REBELS COT THEIR SALT. si.
We find in the New Orlear.s Era of TIL
10th an account of visit to the remark
able salt mine of Petite Anse, where sal
is quarried out in solid blocks From thi
vast and valuable deposit the rebels Dire,
a large part OF their Supplies s'-l! =
The mine Is not far from the town o
New iberia. The visitors left this plac
/ and travelled in a south southwesterly d
rection over q most brautifui level prair
plain about six miles distant. Thii plai,
Is so much of dead level that the land
although a very rich soil is deemed by tn
farmers almost vaIueless, because tn,
! water falling upon it finds no declivity b,
which to run off from its very fiat surface
! The writer says: '" 'i a'l-5a
"a We then approached the celebrated
raised plankroad, which had been bull
| through a sea swamp, abont two mile
hong, extending from the dry or main lant
! through the swamp to the salt island o
Petite Anse This road is the only lanl
I passage to the island, and is so narrow tina
! the teams or vehicles cannot pass upor
| 1t. .
j" sgnboard at either end designate.
J
way upon the road BY this crossway We
! island, and then, by winding road over
! its undulating yet cultivated surfacc, n
| distance OF about two miles 70 its most
southwes,erly border; Ne approached the
great salt deposit Of North America A.
we neared the saline ned,. we could see
through the scattered trees and bnshc-
white heaps Of the d..arlied rock sat
stacked mp in piles about ten to ff.eir
Zee, high, short distances apart, giving
evi'erce Of the wells, OF shafts, excayatd
within .he earth below, and ad;acentito
,hcse seyeril piles OF qiarried blocks of
salt,
now THE sALr Is N.y2D.
-" These wells or shafts, FOR tie blasting
and excava:ing thiS rock deposit, are about
twelve in number, OF different sizes, aud
located within n radius oi about foGr hun
dred feet they consist Of = square or oil
long excavation down from the suIfac.
into the earth-a depth, on the average,
Of about nineteen and a half feet be!oqy the
surtace-to the nagd, smooth rock-salt de
post below. These pits are sunk and
walled up-someth similar to q Golfer
dam either by p!auks thoroughly braeed
i
bank or either side, or sort Of frame
work OF logs doyctaiIed together AZ the
ends like the walls Of !og house, and ex-
tending from the surface o. ,hy -round
down 10 the salt quarry below ana made
20 tight that the crumbIug, falling earth
was thereby entirely excluded from the
pits.
These shafts are, on the average, about
twenty :r"t square Oue OF thep.s, io9
ever, which has teea made and worked
by the rebels, Is much larger than either
one OF the Other pits, Is made in the form
OF AZ l., and Is bout eighty feet long on
its outer i.ue, and about sixty feet loI.g N
its in.eT line and atout twenty f-ct vide
Fror1 IA Of these pits there has been ex~
cay2teI more or les salt down ii)o the
rock !. deptI q. from ten - thirty .ise It t
below It's sa'faCe. his Ltrgcr pit !lad
been worked mach more ;hau either one
the othe.s Tn-. sa'. .ocll has been blast
ai ...d taken from tGe shaft 20 The depth
Of about thirty >three fcet, and iaI into The
rock below, outside OF The vail, OF The pit
aud under the earth. aad s2tt i5nls left
sanding above. large column q the
salt rock. about six feet in dianlater, re
mains staudiE: under the inner elbow or
apex of the III 10 sustain the r-cl, arch
OF salt aGd earth above u. Over and
around there pits there were erected, ,lu-
lIn- the last year, several buildings, sheds
and much machinery for drlliing blasting
hosting and bsTreiiug the blocks of salt
lust as eXcaYated irom the mine, without
any graduation whatever.
'' was Informed that from four hundred
10 six huudTed men were constantly en-
pioyed dl?iac a portion of the last year
a part Of the time both day and niglr-to
exhuu5e and barrel the S.it, and load II up
on from one hundred 10 i've hundred
teams, cCu>,5ntiy there cn the ground
and driven from almost every section OF
the rebel states, each teamster staniing
atuut and in most anxious waiting, with
cash in hand, the next turn for their luac
wished Cor load.
Some Of these pits were worked by the
owners of the soil; others were worked by
parties, who furnished or de-
frayed their own expense, with the neces-
sary labor, ana paid 10 the owner a stip-
ualed sum per pound for the salt
The average selling price Of the salt on
the ground was ! (, cents per pound
Il Will here remark 10y way Of contrast
That the average price in the city Of Ne~
Orleans for Liverpool ground alum salt in
sacks, [connonly called coarse fne.) has
been, from on s!ipboard, during the last
fifteen years, about fifty cents per sack of
about three bushels, or one quarter of
cent per pound, including the cost Of the
sack. | - 4r.-
r" have been assured by persons who
know the facts, that judge Avery has re-
ceiTed, within the last year, over one mil,
lion two hundred thorsand dollars for this
salt, in addition to the many smaller SUMS
which have been received during the same
time by the other contracting parties at
the mines.
L. 1t is said to me that there has prob>
ably been received in all for this salt will b.
in the last fiscal year, at the works, the
sum of from two to three mil
lions Of dollars Such another prolific
source of money. making has never yet
been discovered within the United States
since the formation of our government-l
| was told on the island that J udge Avery,
with his family, had left the plantation to
reside FOR the present more securely with
in the rebe!lioas districts of the South
The only way to quarry out this salt is |
by drill and powder blast; and ! am as
sured by Mr.. Robertson. an interested ,
party that the drilling is quite as hardand I
as difficult as the drilling of granite rock;
the blasting is, however Il little more free |
:. All Of these buildings and the ma
chnery works have been entirely destroy
ed by our army Nothing remains but
one or two frail sheds, the lining of the
pits. and several small stacks Of the salt
blocks piled arou'.d upon the earth near
the wells. ! amassured by Major General
Banks tifat the Confederate guns were
loaded with this salt, and fired upon our
soldiers
'lhis body Of land, or island is called
b. the French appellation, Petite Anse,'
which, in cur English tongue, means Lit