The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1905-07-25
.SAlTv|LLE AND
.|TS.ENT'.E| /: R:|. ! {.
Second Largest Mahufactory i'll.
the State Of Wiz 5#
gii1ia.
THE FAMOUS SALT WELLS Is.
Furnished the Confederacy With.
Salt Now Produce Immense
Amounts Of Soda.

1 gCilC& IN OW "l>fOQuCC immense 3&
Amounts Of Soda. NJ.
Especial from a staff Corrcspondent)
sALTvrLLE, sMYT1t CO, VA, July
24,-The readers Of rho rimos- Dispatch
Wi be surprised to learn. rs vas tl,at
there is hidden away In this little South
i west Virginia town nh enterprise which,
handles more raw material every day thar,
/ Is handled in any mandatory in vir-
i ginla. with ono exception. The plant Of
the Newport News shipbuildlng and Dry
Dock Company Is the exception. The con
Germ occupying second place is tho Ma :
thleson AllSali Works, here at saltvillc.
ityfoe Mr.. w. p. Mount the general SUI
porintendent Of the alkni works Ten
minutes conversation with Mr.. Mount Is
enough to convince he Is the kind OF man
| who will not make Il careless statement.
Xxx Six hundred men are employed in the
! alkali works. could not ascertain the
quantity and value Of the output. OF
/ course 1t Is large.
Tho nlkall, chiefly the soda ash of com-
| 1ncrce, comes from the brine pumped from
the salt wells In the valley, a mile below
the works. Not SO many years ago the
Mathieson Company Is scarcely more
| than 4 dozen years of ase--that Is. IT has
| not lived at Satvle but about That
length Of time--the brine from the wells
Hin Snltvile was converted Into salt.
Confederate Salt.
! Soon after the outbreak of tho war be-
tween the States the Confederate govern
mont purchased the works, and salt was
made here under governmental superVi5-
ion for the entire Confederacy, A distln-5
guished citizen of Virginia. residing q
long way from Saltvllle. told mo the other
day aforementioned very vivdly how as a
boy In Albemarle county during the war
between tho States he would go to car
lottesville to receive the famly's share OF
tho salt being distributed to the people,
The officials would notify the people o.
a. county OF the date when salt would be
distributed. The amount allowed for each.
household was regulated by the number
Of persons it contained. SO far as J.
know, this Is the only Instance OF any
government on this hemisphere taking
over the control of n table necessity. t
is said the experiment was SATISFACTORY.
The Union army made an early attempt
to capture the salt works. twas unsuc-i
cessful but an attack made In the talli
or 1864 succeeded, and thenceforth, until.
the fall&of the Confederacy at Appomat-
tox, In the succeeding April salt was
an article of exceeding scarcity In the
South. 6ss. , y
Tho old salt works were for years IN
the nossession Of the Preston family.
There is a story current at Snltville 10
the effect that one of this family, probably
Colonel r'rom" Preston, whose memory.
is so highly honored In this section, con =
tracted with certain people to pay them
one dollar q bushel for all the SAT- 'ney
would produce at his wells. IN q few
months the stock of salt on hand was
enormous. Salt became glut In the
market. The demand was far behind the
supply. and Mr. Preston had to make
over a large tract of land to his salt
makers to satisfy their, claims.
IT IS said that a hundred years ago or
more. there usedsto be In the mountains
near saltyile what was known as a
Click" a spot which deer and other
Illuminating animals frequented to lick ne
earth, which was strongly lnlPrebiiu,eu
with salt. II cannot learn how the DIS
coverv Of the saline springs was made
nor when. The brine is obtained from
wells bored to the depth Of 1000 or 900
feet. In the old days the wells were not
nearly 81 deep. Butt has ben found that
The deeper wells yield q much stronger
brine.
Open Kettle.
Tho salt was originally obtained by
boiling in open kettles Some Of these
old kettles may be seen about sa!tY1ii =
today. enormous cast Iron affairs, heml-
spherical In shape and holdlhg seventy
five or ono hundred gallons
Although the old method OF salt making
was very crude and primitive, yet many
hundreds OF tons of salt were made -
this way and sold all over the southern
section Of the country. While the salt
making Industry was at It's height IN this
valley, 1t was also flourishlng ever ~
the Kanawhu Valley, near Charleston ~
what was then Virginia. But there was
and is rs much salt in Ohio, IN the
Pomeroy district, Natural gas was DIS
covered in tic latter territory, and TINS
economical fuel caused the salt industry
to leave the Knnawhn Valley, Natural
gas has since been discovered along Inc
Kanawha and has been generally applied
to commercial purposes but the manu-
racturc of salt ha snot been resumed.
Some tima during the decade preceding
the war between the States, Colonel
TON" Preston who then owned tho snlt
wells associated With him u New YORK
man, Colonel George w. Palmer. The Two
engaged In tho manufacture OF salt Tor
several years, at the end OF which time
the property passed into the possession
of Colonel Palmer. It was from him that
the Confederate government purcha sec
the salt works. But they reverted TO his
ownership after the war.
Alkili Works.
The MathIeson Alkall Works, purchased
the property In the early ninetles. BY 1875
1t had greeted a nextensivn plant on the
bank of tho North Fork Of the Holston,
mile west of tho VOLS, The first pro-
duct of the works was turned out IN that
year 1t at once took first place In the
market, and that place It holds to-day
The plant covers an area of Twenty-Five