Weekly commercial herald. (Vicksburg, Miss.) 1884-18??, 1886-01-29
A SALT MINE IN LOUISIANA.
A Saline Revelation on Petit Anse Isl.
and-Purity, 0O.A7 Per Cent,

A Saline Revelation on Petit Anse ISL
and-Purity, 90.47 Per Cent.
Arrived at New Iberia the engine was
detached, and alocal salt mine locomotive
backed the special nine miles up a heavy
grade to the salt mine on Petit Anse isl
and. If salt may be called a mineral, this
is a mineral discovery Of little less i'm
portance than the bonanza silver mines of
Nevada. Few people realize that at this
Isolated point in the Union is a mine of
salt superior in purity, richness and ex-
lent to anything yet found in the earth's
crust. None of the party was prepared
Tor such q saline revelation. The mine,
which is yet but partially explored, is sit
uated Oh the highest ground of all the
region round. Though Petit Anse is called
an island, it is hard to remember the water
boundary on one side at least. A little
bayou about as big as an irregular
ditch in California is the geo.
graphical surrounding. The salt deposit
is the con Of the hill, and it is believed to
cover 145 acres. Long anterior to the war
Petit Anse was the property Of the
Averys. They are people of Scottish de-
scent, but Americans of at least two CEN
turtles of ancestry. The island has about
5000 acres, and up to the time of the wal
was a vast sugar plantation. In 1862 a
man digging a cattle well on the estate
near the summit of the typographical
cone struck into a solid rock of salt. 1t
was explored in a limited way, and as 1t
wa then something like a dollar a pound
in the Confederacy the discovery caused
great excitement. The government
promptly seized the deposit and worke4
it for the benefit of the Confederate
armies. F~arragut's capture Of New Or
leans and the Federal operations in the
country between the mine and the Con-
tederate st%rongholds rendered the mine
useless, and it remained in allegiance for
ten years or more.
About ten years ago the deposit at
tracted the attention of capitalists. and q
company was formed in New York and
Galveston to work it. A contract was
made with the Avery family by which the
latter was to receive a royalty. Machinery
was put in, a shaft sunk, and for the past
few years the yield has been
Fully one-half of the salt production of
thc United States comes from this remark
able deposit. The mine is worked like an
anthracite coal mine. The present work.
ng shaft is dcwn ninety-seyen feet. On
this level huge chambers have been ex-
;avated, with pillars left standing to sup
port the roof. The rock salt is blown out
Of the drifts and chambers with dynamite,
loaded into cars, lifted to the surface, run
into rock crushers and hence into grinding
mills, where it is ground to all degrees Of
6neness from the needs of a pork packery
to the finest of table salt. The natural
product is pure c~rystallized saline, carrying
90.47 per cent. of salt. The product is put
INTO barrels and shipped all over the
world. So great is the yield and so mex
haustible the deposit, apparently, that the
railroad company has built u road nine
miles to the mine, and no less than twenty
freight cars were being loaded on the day
Of our visit.
The whole party visited the mine, being
lowered by the cage-load to the working
level. 1t was a beautiful sight, this crys-
tai cavern. Car after car came out loaded
with the pure, white substance, and the
blasts that were shot off in the various
chambers for the entertainment Of the
visitors reverberated and shook the earth.
From the working level a Wine has been
sunk yet another ninety-fve feet, its face
still in pure salt, showing that the deposit
is practically inexhaustible. 1t is a mine
of wealth, not only to those who own it,
but to the company who works it. For
several years the Ayerys have received a
royalty of $1,000 a month, and on the LIST
of this month this was increased on a new
contract to 81, 900 a month.-New Orleans
Cor. Chicago Herald.