Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1878-10-02
WON ALL THE PRIZES.

have space here TO mention only instance out Of
many The butter sailed with Higgins salt took all he pre-
mins at the fair Of the Northwestern Darymcns As
sociaon held In Chicago last year These were the wood
Creamery" Of Huntey, ILL.,. first premium of slOO the
Booth Creamery " Of Salem, WIS., second premium Of $685.
the Houston Creamery" Pleasant Prairie, WIS.,. third
premium Of $780, and Booth Dairy" nrsi premium for
dairy butter sjO-eaving only the inferior premiums OF
s2j s5 and $40 for dairy butter To be taken by all the
other brands Of salt combined.
1t may be interesting to darymen to know how the two
leading brands-fggn's and Ashons-are made and whit
the difference between them We wish had the sr,te
reprint entire the letter of Mr. H. II. Thurber member
of the firm OF H. X. a Il. +. Thurber & Co, New YORK;
to the Amer1can Grocer; be content to give few
extracts After describing the scenery the salt
works he says:
Before proceeding To describe the usual process Of salt
making perhaps ought to state what salt mine II. In
strata Of solid ALI rock and II IL sposed that these
tend under great part the county OF Cheshire The
rs upper found depth of sQ To 200 feet he
low the surface and about 30 feet thick Then comes
layer OF rock $50 400 when the second lower strata
of salt rock reached this Is about twice the thickness Of
the upper strata and of better quality being cleaner and
free from impurities. The quality OF the salt rock IN the
found AT the bottom OF the strata In opening salt mine
SHAFT is sunk until rock salt OF satisfactory quality Is
The salt rock Is about hard anthracite coal and Is
Of salt tconsideTaSy larger than Lots wife fancy are LETT
as supports for the roof but the salt SO solid and homo
that there is less danger than with coal and these
pillars are less frequent than I'm any coal mine have ever
visited. The air In this salt mine also much better.
being pure cool Ascending again TO the surface,
we witnessed the treatment of the salt rock Much of this
shipped IL when raised from the mine direct to Dem
mark, Norway and sweden (whose customs tariffs dis
cminate against refined salt where Is refined for USE
Some crushed raised from the mine and used
in Its natural state for agricultural and manufacturing
purposes and more 4 refined and used for various purposes
Tie best and by far the greater quantity OF salt inanuac-
ture In the Cheshire salt District however, Is made by
pumping the water which has come in contact with the
salt strata IN many places dlssolvng the rock ana becoming
strongly mpregnated with saline matter. In this most
of the earthly and nsolube matter remains below ground
and the SAT- manufactured turns out pure and white. As
be inferred from the above description of differences
In the quality OF the rock salt the quality Of the brine also
differs that from the lower strata being generally the best
1t Is pumped by steam power into reservoirs for the double
purpose OF allowing II 10 settle and TO have supply In
case OF the pump breaking down. From thence II 4 run
high; under these furnace ue and In about three
hours begins to boil, in u hours much salt has pre-
cpitaed and about Ave tons Is usually taken out Of each
pan. This Il done with sieve spade tshoVel WIN per
fornted bottom. The salt II thrown into conical
moulds left to drain one hour and then taken Ia the drying
room, where 1t remains five six days In temperature
$50 1870 degrees thence the brekngro0m broken up
fine, and packed for shipment. In witnessing this ap
paenty simple process, was tempted TO say, Well any
of the processes required much skill and cN
perence almost any other branch of business and that
quality of production depended l the quality of the
brine; End, ON improved appliances and utensils ana 3D. on
the experience. skill ard devoted TO the business. For
instance, the Ashton and ggin Works the only
using iron floors for drying which, although more
penslve than brick, dry quickly uniformly and
Clearly. They also dife en form OF mould from the
Others and Higgins Works stand pre-eminent
brine preliminary heating and treatment which precpi-
taies all sediment and Impurities before running into the
heas evidence of the and cleanliness bestowed upon
their product every mould of salt is carefully scrped be-
fore breaking to remove any SCOT or dirt which may have
settled upon IL the sacks the best that be procured
and many similar items small and unimportan In them
selves carefully looked after and doubtless In the
gregate have something to do with the popularity OF TINS
brand,