The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-11-25
Island o. FAMOUS RIP
JEFFERSON's PURCHASE OF SOUTH
ERN MARSH LAND WILL YIELD
A FORTUNE
BLOCKS OF CRYSTAL SALT
Property He Bought Two Years Ago
for r Winter Residence
Proves OF Immense
Value.

Bob Acres Station, La, is two miles
from Jefferson Island, which is owned by
Joseph Jefferson, the veteran American
actor, says the Cincinnati Enquirer He
bought the property a few years ago for
! winter residence, and it was entirely
by accident that he discovered, recent
ly, the fact that the piece of real estate
In question was situated directly over an
immense mass of solid salt-the largest
block of salt known to exist anywhere
in the world. 1t is of the utmost purity,
too, being wholly composed of the finest
quality Of table salt, without the slightest
adm1Xture of any other mineral, and It's
quality is such that one may take a
block of it and read newspaper through
1t, just as If it was so much glass.
Apparently, the whole island, which is
about 800 acres in extent, is underlaid by
one great body of salt, which is struck at
depth of 100 feet or so. Mr.. Jefferson
came across it while boring hopefully for
mineral waters, and since then it has
been penetrated through vertical dis
lance of 2,1G0 feet, or more than a third
of mile directly downward, without
reaching the bottom Of 1t. This was
accomplished by means of drills, which,
yielding cores, made it possible to study
the material through its successive strata
with the utmost accuracy. But there
quality of the stuff, which throughout
was pure crystalline table salt
WILDERNESS OF MARSHES.
All the southern edge of the state of
Louisiana is a wilderness Of almost i'm
passable marshes, traversed by natural
t1dewater canals, as they might be term
ed, which are called ''bayous.' The water
comes in from the Gulf of Mexico with
the tide, and flows out again on the ebb
so that there is an inundation twice in
every twenty-four hours Nothing grows
Oa these salt marsh lands except salt
grasses and other semi-aquatic plants,
and for a distance of ten to twenty miles
from the coast the whole country is a
dismal and unvarying level. On the
edge Of the marshes, where the arabic
land begins are sugar plantations.
Along straight line, running from
northwest to southeast, a series of five
peculiar looking hills rise out of the
marsh lands. They are called Islands"
though, except in one instance, surround
ed by marsh and not by water, and the
one farthest toward the northwest is
Jefferson island The others, strung out
for distance of fifty miles, are Petite
Anse, Grand Cote, Cote Blanche and
Belle Isle. The last named is on Atcha-
falaya bay, and is surrounded by bayous
On every one of these islands," which
are elevated from so to $50 feet above the
marshes, great salt deposits have been
found at no great distance below the sur
face, similar to that Of Jefferson island,
but less Remarkable The deposit on
Petite Anse has been mined ever since
1862 and was considered to be without a
rival until the recent discovery on the
actors property.
WORTH AN ENORMOUS FORTUNE.
Like his favorite character, RIP Van
Wrinkle, Mr.. Jefferson woke up to find
himself exceedingly surprised-in this in
stance rather agreeably, however, in as
much as he discovered himself to be the
possessor of block of salt worth an
/ puzzled to know what to do with his Won
derfuI mine, but before long doubtless it
Will be. opened up in much ths same way
as the similar deposit on Petite Anse.
The method adopted is very interesting,
a shaft being sunk 100 feet or 80 into the
body of the salt, when a series of cham
bers are excayated along a level the
| pickax being aided by blasting. A cham
| Der thus made, geo feet long, Is feet wide
and 65 feet high yields about $4,000 tons
| OF. salt, mined without the use of a single
stick Of timbering.
Pillars nine feet square are left between
the chambers for. support, and, as soon
as a given level has been worked out
on this plan, the shaft is sunk another
1O0 feet, and another series or story of
chambers is excavated in the same man
ner. The great vaulted rooms constructed
! by this process, with their piers and
| arches of pure crystalline salt, present,
strong illumination Of a calcium or cleo
| trio light most impressive appearance,
not paralleled by underground views in
ordinary mines. They might easily be
| fancted to be the subterranean abodes
Of fairies or other supernatural beings.
CONTINUOUS RIDGE OF SALT.
Now, the origin of the salt deposits de-
| scrlbed Is a profound mystery, no salts
| factory theory having yet been worked
| out by biologists. It is imagined that
| the five ISLANDS are merely humps, so
| to speak, on a continuous ridge Of
| Atckafalaya bay, fifty miles northwest
| to Jefferson island. and perhaps beyond.
| But how did such immense bodies of salt
] come to be deposited? And what is to
| account for the astonishing purity of the
! material? All other rock salt beds known
| In the United States have layers Of salt
| from two to eighteen feet thick, al
| ternating with limestone, sandstone, gyp-
| sum and other mineral strata, so that the
| product Of the mines is more or less
| impure as it comes out On the other
block of solid salt more than 210O feet
| thick, and containing no impurity what
| ever. 1t is simple table salt Of the finest
| quality, and that is all.
| The salt, after being dug out, is all
| equally pure, and so has to be put only
| through SUCH processes as render It
| available for various uses. The coarsest
| crushed salt is utilized principally by
| meat packers; the second and third sizes
| are largely employed in refrigerati ting and
| in sailing hides, and tt ere are four grades
| with emery wheels, screening and blow
| Ing. the finest of all being sold for 70 l.