The Washington bee., 1907-02-23
.HARVESTS Of SALT
THOUSANDS OF TONS ON CALI
FoRNIA BEACH.
Water, Air and Sunshine Make For
tune in Pure Saline Material for
Two Men-Wealth Taken
from Ocean Water.

Los Angeles, Cal.-The most won
deTful harvest ever reaped in southern
California and the largest of its kind
in America is lying glistening and
white in the sun on the fiat lands be
tween San Pedro and Long Beach.
1t is salt; 10000 tons of it. Pure
white and heaped in windrows, it re-
sembles a great plain of snow. Acre
after acre of it is there, and a hundred
or more industrious workers dig and
shovel among the shining heaps, max
ing still more white mounds.
It is not the salt of the earth, but of
the sea. 1t is from the waters of the
Pacific, with the assistance of the sun
and air, that the crop has been har-
vested. Not a human hand touches
the salt from the time the inTushing
tide of the ocean sends it in solution
coursing through an automatic gate
over the 500 acres of fiat lands until
the beautiful crystals are loaded by
automatic machinery into waiting
freight cars or ground and dried and
placed in bags for domestic use.
The harvesting of this crop near the
Los Angeles city limits is truly great.
The 10000 tons lying on the ground is
valued at about $1S0,000. and it is
simply condensed sea water" The
only three elements which are consid-
cred absolutely free to man-water,
air and sunshine-have been used, and
by the ingenuity of two young men,
OrtOn and Linley Dunn, brothers,
these three elements have been con-
jured into obedience to their purpose,
and the result is this fortune in pure
salt lying at their command.
AS a result the Dunn boys have be-
come known as the salt kings" Their
supply, the Pacific ocean, will never
diminish; their means of manufacture,
the sun and the air, are likewise IN
limited, and the limit placed upon the
tonnage of their plant" is only bound
ed by the number of men they care to
employ. Everything is automatic, and
it is ridiculously simple how salt is
made at San Pedro.
About the middle of March the great
gate at tide water is opened. 1t is in
reality great valve. 1t will let water
enter, but not a drop escape. AS the
tide rushes in the gate opens, but
when it recedes the gate closes auto
maucally. and the salty water remains
imprisoned. The next tide does like
wise; and so on.
The property of the company COM
prises about 500 acres, and the highest
point is but a foot or so above tide
level. The acreage is divided into Is
ponds or Enclosures, bounded by dikes
of about two feet in height Each Of
these ponds is connected with the
other. The highest pond, No. 1, is
where the tide water rushes. When
this is filled it is allowed to drain of
slowly by gravity into No. 2 and No.
is again filled by the next tide. From
No the water, considerably con-
densed by this time, is again drained
off by gravity into No. 8, and so on.
By the time the bTiny water reaches
No. 13 it is a powerful solution of salt
water. The sun of the summer months
has evapOrated thousands of tons Of
water, and the ocean breezes playing
over the surface have also helped to
eliminate the water.
In the center of the vast field there
are 26 watts or small ponds, each COW
ering $4,000 square feet. These are
the crystallizing Vats. Into these the
heavily charged salt water is admit
ted, and there it stays until the bot
toms of the watts are from six inches
to one foot deep with salt. By this
time there is but little water in the
vats, and the salt is fast crystallizing.
It does not settle, as is supposed, but
crystallizes, and the dirt in the water
keeps clear of the salt crystals, as
nothing but absolutely pure salt will
crystallize.
The last water to be drained off is
called 'bittern" This contains about
one per cent. of sodium bromide and is
concentrated about 200 times from
ocean water. From this bittern water
the powerful element bromide, one of
the most perfect caustics known, can
be manufactured. Experts from Ger
many have tested this bittern water.
and say that if the bromide were taken
out it would be worth over s230,000,
but at present the entire United States
consumes but $4,000 worth of bro
mide, and there is no market for such
a vast amount.