The West Virginia journal. [volume] (Charleston, W. Va.) 1864-1877, 1869-04-21

Total -. .........,. ...l l3.a0i bush. - lbs.
Tho average product. S*i,iiu per nnnHim.
This quotation Of one year (l827-28) is
under the old dispensation OF kettles and
wood fires. Let w look at the steam cvap.
Grafton and coal Of Snow Hill Salt Works
this rainy morning The rain and tho steam
give but n misty outline, but you hear the
clnmping sound Of many shovels, and several
tongues scoopins up the salt, ind salty per.
sonnl remarks, md you hcnr, but do not SEQ,
the filters md ptrhe,s nj work shoycling,
wheeling md Lnrrclins salt. Wondering
what gave the name Of Snow Hill to these
works, it occurred to this mind that William
Shakswnrcs eye, in fine phrcnsy rolling,
caught II glimpse Of Knnnwha Snlincs, and
saw the lifting Of the pure mineral, snowy
white, from its briny bath, in perfect love-
lincss, aud that reminding him OF something
more lovely still, he was inspired OF that SON.
net beginning with
"IIidr, oh hide those hills of snow
That thy frozen bosom bcnrs."
These works have operated forty years.
and are considered the largest in the ka.
nawha SalincS. 1t has seven wells Of about
nine hundred and fifty feet. Between the
reservoir md tho point where the brine first
secs the Sunshine is Poplar avenue" Of
bored logs, tllrc hundred yards The rcscr-
voir is sixty feet long, eighteen feet wide and
nine feet deep. TO this receptacle is COIL
ycycd the brine in poplar logs. and tho water
pours ont cioar, sparkling as II living spring.
Still, n little bit Of the inevitable oil uf Ia.
nnwhn can now md then bc stirred and
pninly seen, and it seems almost impossible
10 prevent its getting into tho joints Of tho
salt wcl.tuhinS, no moro than "any other
man can escape being t!attercd and feeling
good.
From this receptacle, down Poplar street,
the brine now approaches the furnace, in log
pipes, for hcntirS. Between the door Of the
furnace mud the stack or chimney is dis.
lance Of ono hundred anil two feet. Within
this space are forty.,wo metallic pans
grouped by nine. ten, eleven and twelve each,
above the fiery oven. and covered by steam
chest. Near the top Of these sectional pans
arc the copper connection pipes: and after n
little season the heated brine enters tn: "sct.
tiers" through black pine logs, wlicrt it flows
aud renowS the entire length Of the tankS-l
hundred feet back and forwarl-havinS the
submerged copper pipes heated by steam, and
raising the temperature OF the briny element
enormously.
Through another compartment or tank
this offspring Of the first settlers enters the
granting" or crystalizing process. Herein
you look down close to the reddish. looking
water, and will see the formation OF fakes
for all the world like snow, consrcgatins on
the surface and falling by their weight to tho
bottom. Would you sec likely sight,"
look at these beautiful sult-crystals accunu.
lating on tho iron.clad floor like the torrents
Of ballots which werc dropped in, black anl
white, ut n recent election in Cincinnati
But, like my other "snlty" election day,
the fogs and clouds Of yapor hang over these
steam cvaporators, and the worry mir is dense,
and in these works Of forty years is an old
foggy atmosphere.
Here come the lftors and packers, who my
above these grainins tanks braids, so rs to
permit free percolaton of, .briny water, and
drain the salt before it is packed Of much Of
its moisture. These lads now III, shovel and
,oleei about, and fill up by weight tho works
OF az. Cooper in mo. and I mo. barrels
lGO tny, or G0,0OO yearly, with excellent
Kunawha salt; md these works arc filled
with American and African Wit md humor,
as have heard tell.
East KanawlIa Salt Furnace mines its
coal. Snow Hill brings Zoo bushels daily
from its own banks Of bituminouS coal upon
tranway, thrcc.fourths OF r mile. The
"colorcd relation Of coal keeps the superior
Caucasian race Of salt running through the
furnace.
Closely piled upon the barges in tho strcam
arc salt balrclS arranged like those algcbraic
problems in "plinS balls"-fvc bushcI and
seven bushcl barrels. Accepting the kind
invitation OF Capt. Murdoch, Of the steamer
Charleston, to dinner we learn that, waiting
better stage Of water, he has four bnrgcs,
8,2l4 barrels Of salt, to tow rs fir MS St
Louis and Nashville. He proposes 10 return
with Iron Mountain orc, and Maranec river
blooms from Missouri, to supply the Ohio
river furnaces, which mix their ores. $50
barrels Of tho five bushcl denomination art
slowed upon three barges, and the fourth il
a seven bushel barge, conveying 1888 barrels
OF Ralt.
It il thought by the chsrcoal-iron mer
that two things nrc rarcly improved BY mix
ing-sood whisky and bad ores Of iron!
T. S. O..