Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1886-12-23
SYRACUSE sALT-woRks.


SBnSA0OSe St&e vN<sss>Os
Interesting Description Of How tho Salt %
Obtained aud Purified.
1t win no doubt be surprise to many
persons to learn that, although tho
waters of Lake Onondaga are fresh. Il
is from the bed of this picturesque sheet.
of water that the Syracuse. N. T.. Salt
works obtain the material which they
successfully manipulate in the manufac-
ture of enormous volumes of salts Of
all grades. from the coarse salt in which
pork is packed. to the hour-like pro-
duct with which we fill the pretty Se-
ceptacle on our breakfas. tables. AL
though. as has been said, the water OF
Lake Onondaga would yield no atom Of
salt. boil it never so long, it has been
discovered that by boring to depth of
about two hundred feet below the bed Of
the lake, a very richly salt-impregnateG
water is obtained. The water from a
subterranean salt sea, is pumped up by
powerful machinery, and is stored in
enormous reservoirs. from which it is
drawn. off into smaller reservoirs con-
nectedwith the different Syracuse SALT
works.
A trip through any one of these salt
works is full OF interest. The water is
moderately heated in its passage from
the reservoirs into the enormous kettles
which constitute the basis of the salt
works. and from which. when they are in
full blast, dense steam continually
arises. making it impossible for the work.
ing men to remain longer than few mo-
ments at time in their vicinity. These
kettles are arranged in double rows.
every seventy kettles constituting what
is called '.block." They are support
ed upon arcaways of brick. and at the
end of each of these archways is a fur
mace, from which a current of hot air
is driven through under the kettles by
means of powerful steam-fans.
The average yield of each kettle at a
single boiling is between three andfour
bushels of salt, the required time of
boil NO being about five hours. When 4
kettle is freshly filed, an iron plate
with long upright handle is lowered
nearly to the bottom. The salt in FORM
ing passes under this plate, which. how
ever, arrests and catches all the inn
purities in the water.
After a boiling, the salt is removed
from the kettles by means of long
handled shOyels, and it is weird sight
to see the workmcn moving dimly
about in this atmosphere of rising
steam. with their long shovels in hand,
salt-encrusted from head to foot. One
man is supposed to attend 10 a ''block,"
and the work. though not injurious to.
health, is extremely laborous. From
the boiling-ketties the salt passes
into the hoppers, and then to wash.
which thoroughly cleanse
it. After rece wing this washing it is
loaded into a large heated, revolving
drum, in which i. is perfectly dried. 1t
is then in condition to be sent to the
mills, where it is of course ground to
any required degree of !ineness. Every
particle of salt leaving the works is
carefully weighed by wcigher in the.
employ of the United States Govern
ment for the Government levieS a tax,
in the shape of certain percentage of
the salt, upon every pound of salt taken
from the earth or the waters under the
earth at these Syracuse works.
In addit on TO the methods just de-
scribed, there is also another, but
slower, form of obtaining salt in use at
Syracuse. viz, through evaporation by
exposure to the sun. The lowlands
running back from Lake Onondaga to
the city are for many acres covered by
latge salt watts. from VIII. Gu the output is
enormous. Weekly.