El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1917-07-21
Texas and Louisiana Salt Mines Fl E
Sufficient For Needs of World es 4s5 Frank
Avery Island Coast Resemble Cavns
Silver; Coast AbOunds Salt Deposits.


. seem TO be in palace OF silver. the
walls of which sparkle like diamonds.
I The white crystals throw back the
light and everywhere we look the
walls glisteu and shine We walk
slowly. The carpet of this vast sub
terrauean palace Is this thick layer of
ground salt Il is like walking over "A
dry sandy beach We sink into the
salt half way to our shoe tops. We
cannot walk fast
Here is "a spot where they have just
finished blasting Some of the Jumps
are as big as cart There is one that
weighs a half a dozen tons Some Of
these Jumps are sold TO the ranchers
of Texas and neiEhborinE states. s.
chunk NJ salt Weighing "a half ton
almost Is dropped down into a field
for the cattle to lick During the cot
ton exposition of about a generation
ago they showed a statue OF Lots
wife carved out OF "a single block of
salt from this mine. That statue
was ten feet I'M height. but DO could
easily have been 100 feet high and
prOportionateiy large in other direc-
tons
During my trip through this salt
mine I was accompanied by Dan
Avery. the owner and the son. I think
Of the man who discovered the great
salt deposit. He tells ME that they
have already gone down through the
salt with diamond drills TO a depth Of
more than 1000 feet without reaching
the bottom. The island is underlaid
with a great block Of salt which is
about two miles long. half a mile
wide and almost half mile deep.
This salt is Joined together in one
great rock. and by chemical analysis
it is more than 99.S pure. ] have
Clipped off pieces OF it. They look
like the finest quartz and much Ike
rock candy. The salt crystals are Of
different sizes. Some are as large as
a marrow fat pea others as big as
my fist and larger The salt is taken
by the elevator 20 the shaft house,
put up in bags and barrels to be
shipped TO the market
But One OF Many salt Deposits.
This rs only one Of the great salt
mounds Of southern louisiana Four
others are known TO exist, the five
forming great row OF mounds.
which begin at the mouth Of the
Atchafalaya river and run westward
through the marshes at wide inter
walls apart. The first is Belle isle. the
next Cote Blanche. the third Avery IS
land. the fourth Weeks island and the
last the one which Joseph jefferson
owned and where he had his winter
home. They are now mining salt on
Weeks island and the block there IS
said TO contain something like $780,
600. 900 tons of pure white rock The
depth of the deposit Is unknown The
shafts have already gone down 500 or
700 feet and the bottom is still to be
reached.
There are vast deposits Of similar
salt just across the boundary Of
Louisiana in Texas ] have before me
report made by Prof. Z. T. Dumble,
who was formerly the state geoIOgist-
He has Investigated the salt deposits
near the Southern Pacific railroad.
and he estimates that they alone con-
tain more than 1900 million tons OF
pure salt
The Avery island deposit IS sup
posed to contain at least 1000, 100000
tons so that We have here along the
Gulf of Mexico known bodies Of salt
which are enough 10 give more than
two two horse wagon loads Of salt
TO every man woman and child IN
the world
Vast Deposits in Texas.
The Texas deposits are measured by
the depths of the wells already sunk
bur none of them has yet been gone
through There are four domes. OF
mounds lying down under the earth,
each Of which is known 10 have a
minimum thickness Of more than 1000
feet. Tn other words you could sink
two Washington monuments one on
top Of the other into these salt beds,