The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1906-09-04
of Salt with the palatine Of Hungary.


dimly to height of 100 feet. It's
walls Of salt rock glisten and flash
with exquisitely-hued crystals, and
there are symbolical statues here and
there, representing Knowledge"
Labor, "Vulcan" and "Neptune"
as we'll as a special throne of state at
one end, of course, hewn in the rock
salt and kept for the use Of the aged
Emperor Franz Joseph or the imper-
ial archdukes.
There is triumphal archway in
salt over the entrance to the great
ball room, surmounted by miner
saluting, and at his feet is carved in
salt crystals the Polish greeting
"Szcze sc Boze !"-the equivalent Of
the German "Gluckauf." When ever
an old working is exhausted and clos
ed, or q new "street" opened in the
subterranean city, the event is cele-
brated by a great ball in the Lentow
saloon. Then it is that hundreds of
Galician peasant women, wives and
friends Of the workers below, quantity
clad as a comic opera chorus, take
their partners in the vast, rough hewn
salt cavern while shrill pipes, quaint
sounding flutes and sweet violins
make merry music rs the couples
whirl in wild Slavonic dance. Another
vast chamber, aboNt $50 feet from the
surface, is the Michaelowicc Hall on
the second tier of the city. Rock
salt vas dug out of this for forty-four
years. 1t is about hundred feet long,
65 feet wide and III feet high. The
sides and roof are secured by hum
derds of tree trunks, placed one above
the other as pillars and strutted to-
gethcr. This reminds one of the ter
rible accidents that have happened
in the city Of salt. More than once
fires have broken out in the work.
ings and have burned for years, un-
til the wooden props have given out.
Or again, the strange, sullen-looking
saline lakes, navigated by boats in
these dark depths may rise suddenly,
probably fed by subtcrranean springs,
and drown scores of these patient
Woodworking men.
Worst of all. great masses of the
rock salt, often weighing hundrcLS OF
tons, may fall in avalanchcs from the
dumcd roofs Of the streets or the cell
inps Of new chambers. One notices
that the immense saloons, restaurants,
churches and other public buildings
hcwn in salt, are lighted by great
chandeliers of salt crystals. There is
one in the Michealowice chamber, 10
feet in diameter, 20 feet high and
containing about 240 candles.
The Kaiser Franz chamber, named
after the present ruler OF the dual
monarchy, contains two immense pyr-
amids with ornamental bases, com
mcmorating n visit Of the Emperor
and Empress many years ago. This
hall is nearly 200 feet long and about
105 feet high. Leaving this chamber,
one crosses wooden bridge over n
subterranean river filled with blind
fish, and in the dim light of torches
one beholds another public monument
An obelisk 80 feet high, carved in
rock salt, and recording a visit Of the
late Crown Prince Rudolph and Prin-
cess StephHnie in 1887.
One aay mention in passing the
DroZdowice and Archduke Frederick
chambers, on the way to the Central
Railroad station, which is named after
Court Goluchowskl. Here meet all the
little trolly lines Of the underground
city, and it was made a kind Of cen
tral Broadwny' three centuries ago.
Here converge many of the princi-
pal street or galleries of the East
Field. The lines are narrow gague,
and the little ears are drawn by Polish
ponies, most of whom have never been
on earth at all, and are born blind.
IN, platform of this "Grand Gem
trail dcpot' has seating accomoda-
tions for 400 persons, and on holidays
in cafes and restaurants are crowded
with visitors from the upper world,
who eat and drink and enjoy the wild
music Of the miners orchestra, which
echoes and rcverberates strangely
though the dim yet sparkling streets.
Nor must we forget to mention the
salt lakes of the city, in many places
20 or 80 feet deep, and navigated by
ferry boats containing twenty-five
persons. These lakes give access to
rnmntn mud ynrv nncinntS nartS of