The daily morning journal and courier., 1906-07-07
SLIDING DOWN A SALT MINE
LIKE SLIDING DOWN THE BAN-
 IsTERs, ONLY MORE so.

In the Bosom of Mountain of Rock saIt-Importance of Wearing Aprons
 ut one's Bacl1--Vari-COlored Cham bers of the Mine--On a Salt Sea, In- deed.
 How ardently would pr. Mary Walk CT enjoy a visit to the famous mines of Bavaria! Here is a description of the costume she and all other visitors would wear:
 A pair of white duck trousers, stiff as paste board, reaching to the ankles, a black alpaca coat reaching to the knees and fastened around the waist by a leather belt, than very heavy leather apron three-quarters of an inch thick and worn at the back; finally a lantern attached to the side of the belt. we tried to believe that clothes do not make the woman" writes one of that sex in Lippincott's Magazine, and with an air of great dignity went forth to meet the rest of the company, only to be greeted with shouts of laughter The guide lighted our lanterns and with a last hysterical giggle we follow ed him.
 Through long, narrow damp sage-Ways we went until finally we came to lighted chamber, the en- trance to the shaft. The flickering lan- terms showed us the end of a great, smooth wooden beam which, at an angle of 45 degrees, disappeared in the dark ness below.
 "The miner placed himself astride the great beam keeping his position by holding on to rope. took my place also astride Behind him, and clasped my arms around his waist. The others mounted the beam in like manner, each one clasping tightly the person in front of him.
 '7There was a moment of suspense. Then with sharp cry the miner loosened his hold of the rope and we shot with velocity not to be described 240 feet into the earth. The miner, act | ing as brake brought us to q stop gently enough, so that we felt very lit- tie shock,
 Tt was in adjusting our attire that we discovered the value of our back aprons. Had we been plunged into a pool of water at that moment we should have sizzled
 ''Fhe aprons were piping hot from the friction of our descent. They speedily became our most cherished possessions; for we had three more of these shafts to slide down and we grew faint at the bare thought of losing our aprons.
 We traversed many long galleries at different levels. Through these ran the aqueducts; one bringing in the fresh water others carrying out the salt wa ter.
 We were in the bosom of a noun tain of salt rock. which is constantly forming, and is therefore a never source of wealth. For centuries this nine has been worked
 "The rock salt is quarried and carried out in the form of rock salt. Another method of obtaining salt is by convey ing water into the large, excavated chambers, and when it has become iIn- pregnated, drawing it off and boiling 1t down.
 "This water attracts and dissolves the saline matter, but, as water cannot so effect the slaty portion of the rock, 1t leaves it often in most fantastic shapes, sometimes as pillars or depend- Ing curtainllke sheets. These cham bers kept full of water are constantly changing their level on the withdrawal of the liquid,
 After three or four weeks two feet of the roof will he found to have been dissolved and two feet of debris found upon the floor. Curiously enough this debris in time acquires the property of the salt rock.
 There are chambers above chambers, some of them 500 yards in circumfer- 1 ence and miles of galleries. One of these chambers, which was Illuminated, showed floor walls and ceiling of pure rock salt salt, very lovely in color, | though not so brilliant as in the mine