The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1902-01-10
WONDERFUL SALT FARM
THE MEN WORK UNDER TERRIFIC
CONDITIONS OF TEMPERATURE.

An Old Colorado Industry NJ which Mon
Work An Temperature ~ fdO 49, A
Thousand Acres Of solid sait-most OF
the Laborers Are Indians.
One Of the most curious pieces Of
real estate In existence Is now the sub
ject Of a suit brought by the Govern
ment to recover the property. II Is a
salt farm-1000 acres of solid salt.
which Is plowed and hoed and billed
up like so much earth. 1t lies In de.
preston 204 feet below the level of
the sea, IN the midst OF the great Colo
RADIO Desert, just north Of the Mexican
line, fl the State of California, and the
town which has grown up on It's border
takes It's name, Salton, from the Hys-
tai deposit
For many years salt has been taken
from this district, but on q small
scale. In 1892 a temporary stoppage
was put to the local industry, the over
flow Of the Colorado River, forming
what was known as the Salton Sea.
In time the water receded, evaporation
followed, and there was left a resi-
dunn of almost pure crystal salt, q Wis
ia Of unlmaginable and almost unbear-
able brilliance and beauty. From a
distance the effect was that of a sheet
Of the purest snow, glittering In the
sunlight; but when the first explorers
ventured upon the newly formed crust
they were unable to endure for long
the fierce refraction Of the light, and
fed blindly with aching eyeballs from
that insufferable radiance. Equipped
with colored glasses, they returned,
and soon a company was working the
richest salt crystal field in existence.
All that was necessary was to
plow out the salt and grind it up. A
salt plow was devised and built. It
has four wheels and a heavy and pow
erful steel beak, or breaker and the
motive power is steam. Then grind
ing mill and drying plant were put up,
a dummy line run up to connect with
the Southern Pacific Railroad. and the
work Of taking out five and a half
tons daily at from Sc to $50 ton be-
gan. The great difficulty, however,
was to get labor. Probably nowhere |
else on the earth's surface do men
work under such terrific conditions of |
temperature as at the Salton salt |
farm. The normal heat Of the Colo |
RADIO desert, which is such that few |
white men can live in that region. is
enormously increased by the refracted |
and reflected rays of the sun. For
weeks at a time the temperature of |
the field reaches 40 degrees every
day. Under these conditions, Of |
course, no white man can work. The
salt blowing is done by japanese
and Indians, mainly the latter, who
seem to endure the rigors Of the eli
mate without evil effect.
To watch the steady, stole perform
ance of the red-skinned toiler, as he
hoes, shovels and scrapes the field, or
operates the engine that propels the
plow, is to appreciate the qualities
Of the Indian as a worker under the
lost trying conditions. Some of the
Indian laborers even work without
glasses, but all the Japs protect their
eyes from the baneful glare with the
darkest of spectacles, and even so
they are often laid up with optic in
flammatiOn. In addition to the other
discomforts Of the salt fields the flying
particles generate q particularly irri-
tating and persistent thirst The work
ers drink great quantities of water
and this serves as a safeguard against
sunstroke, as it keeps them perspiring
freely.
The deposit of salt varies in thick
ness from one to eight inches. 1t forms
in a crust, and the plow breaks this
salt covering by throwing a broad but
shallow furrow of salt Jumps up in
parallel ridges on either side Of the
machine. Here and there underlying
the crystal plain are springs of water.
When this crust is broken the springs
seep forth their dirty brackish water;
and the Indian lads follow the plow
with hoe in hand, knocking to and fro
the clumps Of salt and mud in this
water until the earth is dissolved, and
then the crystal salt is stacked in
conical pyramids to await transpor-
tation to the mill
The salt crystals do not dissolve dur
ing the washing, doubtless on account
OF the quantity of salt already in the
water. No sooner has the pIow gone
over the field than the crust begins to
form again; therefore, it would seem
that the salt fields of Salton are il
exhaustible The salt is allowed to re-
main in the pyramids until complete