Daily Yellowstone journal., 1888-06-17
SAGINAW SALT MANUFACTURE.
Making n Salt weiI-A "saIt ~Biock"-The
Various Processes.

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Various Processes.
In making a salt well IL Is necessary to
keep ou the surface water. To obtain
this result a five or six inch hole is made
down to solid rock, on which a
shoulder" is made. upon which rests the
iron tubing or casting" Below that
the hole is narrowed to two or three
inches, and carries tina, size down to
brine or sat. Where rock salt is the ma
terial at bottom fresh water is forced
down from the surface. 1t dissolves the
salt, loads itself with all il can take up,
about "a per cent, and by the same
downward pressure of surface water
flows into the ''cisterns" through an in
side pipe, as clear as distilled water. A
good well will yield from 400 to 600 bar
rels of brine per day. But constant
pumping will clog up the pores of the
salt rock, produce constipation OF the
well, so to speak, and the yield fails to
such an extent that il becomes necessary
to remove the pump and administer a
catharuc in the form Of a nitro-glycerine
torpedo.
The water as it comes 10 the surface
empties into huge cistens built On
trestles high enough to admit of draining
them into the ''settlers" inside OF the
.'saIt block" The brine is clear as
pumped. but as the air acts upon il the
iron il contains in solution takes on a
rust color. To get rid Of this the brine
is ''limed" in the cisterns. A wash of
lime is stirred into il, which precipates
the iron, and in a week the water stands
perfectly and permanently clear. Then
il is drawn into other large cisterns in
the block that are called settlers. These
are fitted with four-inch galvanized iron
pipes, through which a current of steam
flows. heating the water to l75 dogs.
Fahrenheit This heating does two things.
II throws down the gypsum which exists
in the brine as a sulphide. and it evapor-
ates the water, rs per cent. Of which
must be thrown off in vapor before
crystallizalion takes place. But the
reader will understand me better If ]
first show him a salt block.
One having capacity of 225 barrels
per day may he described as follows;
The ''block" is EOS feet by 90, 40 feet
high under the center, which includes
the ventilator running the entire length
of the gralners, and 10 feet high in the
posts. 1t contains Two settlers, each
$40 feet long, 0 feet wide and A feet
deep. AS the cisterns outside are high
enough to drain into the settlers, so the
latter are high enough TO Dram INTO the
''grainers," OF which there are four. each
100 feet long, 10 feet wide and Is inches
deep. Through these also run galva-
nized 4 inch steam pipes. To heat set
tiers and g%rainers there are 3, 7i4 feet of
such pipe, and other pipes connected with
the works make a total of 1900 feet.
The grainers stand about or 8 feet from
the ground, and over their center runs a
platform upon which the salt as Gifted
is left To drain before being dumped into
the ''bins," Of which there are about
twenty. Connected with the bins are
the packing rooms, and adjoining the
block is the ''shed, " 230xl50 feet, with a
capacity of %. 900 barrels of salt.
Now let us 60 into the block again.
The settlers are full. 1t is, say 8 o'clock
a. m. The block is so full of steam that
you will have to strain your vision to see
the floor on which you walk and guard
against missteps. The grainers are nearly
empty of brine, but their bottoms are
covered with the salt that has been
quietly falling there for twenty-four
hours under a heat Of 1856 dogs. Along
each side of a grainer the gang Of eight
men Is strung out each with his ''stent."
These men are naked TO the waist, over
the lower limbs are drawn old wooden
drawers. red being a fancy color, and on
the feet old shoes or boots with the legs
u away Each man has a hoe and a
shovel. With the one he pulls the salt
from the center to the side Of the grainer
and with the other he lifts" il upon the
aforesaid platform. On every man per-
splratlon stands in great beads or trickles
down his skin IN tiny streams. 30 need
Of Turkish baths for these fellows! They
are as clean, solid and hardy as well
trained athletes.
The salt lifted, the grainers are refllled
with brine from the settlers, its tersper-
AZURE raised to 1856 degrees. and in a
short time YOU will see a film forming
over the surface of the saturated brine.
That is salt Watch it a few moments
and you will see this film break into
pieces and take a ''header" down below.
So the process goes on for t~wenty-four
hours. when the lifting operation is re-
peated, and so from day TO day through
the season. By II O'Clock the men have
wheeled the salt 10 bins and there settles
over the granting room a silence as pro-
found as that which must have brooded
over the abyss Of nothingness ere il was
SAID there should be light. Yet in that
silence goes on increasingly from hour TO
hour a mystery as wonderful, as beau
uful, as divine, as is seen in the evolution
or dissipation Of a world. The heat un.
folds the wings, as It were. of the mole
cules Of water and they rise through
the air, but the sodium is too heavy, too
earthly, and cannot soar. Having got
the mitten, as It were, IL turns to the
atoms OF chlorine hanging round. They
embrace and materialize in tiny crystal
cubes. Charles Ellis in Chicago Herald
How peonls Hecome KnoUn.