New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1899-05-07
PROCESSES OF MAKING SALT
ANCIENT AND MODERN SYSTEMS OF RE-
DUCING BRINE
goI.AR EVAPORATION AND OPEN AND
VACUUM PANs-ANTIoUITY OF THE DE
POSTS - IMPROVED QUALITY OF
THE AMERICAN PRODUCT

sprinkling salt on their tails has never attained
the development which II once promised to
achieve there are enough other demands for
this article Of commerce 10 make it's production
an extensive, If not a profitable, business In
round numbers, 3,50OOO0OO0 pounds of salt are
needed every year in this country to offset the
Inherent freshness of Americans, and of other
people 10 whom we sell cured hams and the
like or this amount-about fifty pounds per
capita-an eighth more than an eighth, is
imported. and all the rest is homemade AS yet
scarcely than l per cent of our Ameri-
can product is sent abroad but this branch
OF the trade is slowly increasing and the i'm
portation Of salt is steadily diminishing
There are two general sources from which salt
Is obtained, natural brines and solid deposits
number of theories have been advanced 10
account for the latter The general impression
among scientific NEIL is that rock salt has been
formed by evaporation from ancient seas, which
had become nclosed in some way. In confirma-
ton OF this notion 1t is pointed out that de-
posts are being made to-day at the bottom OF
several well known salt lakes. But doubts nave
been expressed as to the applicability OF the
explanation to such thick strata as those at
Stassfurt, Germany. eighteen hundred feet deep
and at Sperenberg, near Berlin, thirty-slX nun
dred feet thick. However this may be, the SUD
stance is found, in greater or less purity, In al
parts Of the world The minerals associateu
with it are those which are apt to exist IN the
ocean What is commonly known as SAT- Is
principally chloride of sodium. But chiorioes
Of lime and magnesium, sulphates OF lime anu
magnesium, and even minute quantities OF
iodides and bromides are usually nlhsieu WIN
the chief constituent.
q" ROCK SALT
For a long time Turks Island in the West
rihn
try's supply of rock salt. But number OF
mines are now being worked In the Unlteu
States The most famous at present are those
at Iivona ~ Y The salt is taken out in solid
chunks ground passed through sleeves OF on-
ferng mesh-to be graded according to coarse
ness-and put up in bags or barrels Ihere is d
famous deposit in Louisiana, much nearer the
surface of the ground and more easily WORKED
which will be an important producer some Gay
There are many salt deposits in this couh-
try which are made available, not by mining |
but by the pumping of brine from thelr VI
cnty Through large part of Michigan Tor
instance and from the central part OF New
York State out as far Buffalo, there are
beds varying in thickness from 112 to 800 feet
and living from 600 to 1900 feet below the sur
face All through these two regions, as well as
in Northern Ohio, wells have been SUNK ana the
brine is pumped up like oil. Fresh-water springs
.upnIv the water no doubt, and this, flowing
over and through the solid salt, dissoIves the
latter and puts it within mans reach. In a
few places there are salt springs which eject
their mneral-Iaden fluids without coaxing.
FIVE PRINCIPAL METHODS.
There are five principal methods OF treatlhs
brines in order to get the salt from them one
~ .be oldest systems is that so extensively en-
nloved at Syracuse The brine is poured into
enormous shallow wooden watts, and exposed
IN the sun and wind 70 dry. Whenever there is
n rainstorm covers are drawn over them 10 e1-
clude additional water. Precautions are also
taken against the admission Of dirt. Inc proouc'
obtained in this way is called solar SAT- wv
ing 70 the slowness Of the evaporatiVe process
the grains thus formed are coarse
To hasten matters artificial heat Is often
psed For instance rows Of kettles are arranged
30 that coal fires may be maintained onu
them As the water boils off the salt crys,ai-
Lies in the bottom Of the receptacle by Ioeu
hitting the degree Of heat applied, and proviolng
for marked differences Of temperature In TWO
cots OF kettles grains of different sizes can De
secured-the finer ones resulting from the more
ranid evaporation This method is an ancient
In Wyoming County, n. Y, artificial neat
e used IN another way. Metal pans, ABOUT
125 feet long % feet wide and perhaps 2h feet
aeen are warmed by furnaces directly under
them Coal is used in the latter The neat De
inc arnplied directly the system is known as the
direct heat" PLAN 1t is further characteristic Oh
the process that it is conducted with open pans
10 hAn n