El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1917-07-21

and they would not reach the bottom
[ Nr. Dumble estimates that the salt
/ thus brought to sight in the Damon
mounds equals more than 600 100000
I tons. and that the great mound
al South Dayton. Texas. contains b6-.-
. 00O. 900 tons The Damon mound
Is $50 feet from the surface OF
the earth, and the Blue Ridge Is 645
I feet down
At High island they first struck
salt at 1900 feet. and when the drill
I had gone down TO "a depth Of double
/ that. or almost half mile from the
I surface. they were still iu The salt
The Damon mound Is ON the Brazos
T river. not far from the southern Pa
+ cific railroad. 10 rises right out OF
] the prairie. and has height of 50
7 feet The area is about 5000 acres.
] To was discovered I'm drilling for oil
I The drills first went through DIue
and red clay. then through clay and
I sand and then passed through a beu
] of gympsum SIS feet thick After that
/ there were sulphur and gypsum. and
I then the pure salt was reached. Texas
] also has salt lakes and there IS
I great deal OF salt mixed with the
/ marshes Of southern Louisiana
There are different theories as TO
D. tie origin of the salt DR. uumbie
says that for a long time it was SUD-
posed that it came from large laEOOn5
/ lying along the Gulf of Mexico These
T lagOouS were protected from the
tides by low sHndha bat the storms
] filled them with sea water. The hot
sun eVanorated the water and thus
/ built up layer after layer of salt until
this enormous thickness was reached
one objection Of this theory Us that sea
water is not pure sodium. or common
salt. and also that there is "a great
deal OF lime and gypsum on top Of the
] salt deposits
Another theory is that the mounds
Z were caused by currents OF hot
I saline solutions forced up through the
] earth. These solutions cooled as they
came in contact with the colder strata
and the salt crystals were formed
I There IS no doubt. however. but that
the deposits were formed ages go
They date back for thousands ana
probably tens Of thousands Of years
Nations salt supply Abundant.
At any rate the United States may
feel sale as TO its salt supply. We
have enough salt in different parts Of
the Union TO supply ourselves and
our children's children TO any num-
[ Der Of generations TO come. and TO en-
able us TO export vast amounts TO
other parts of the world Our present
consumption is about l17 pounds a
year for every man, woman and child
IN the country II amounts TO about
ten pounds per week for every fam
lily, ana "A large part OF this goes into
manufactures such as the packing
of meat and in other preservative
works which are now Important on
account of the war The salt mined
in 1915 was valued at the average
price of 81 cents a barrel, OF in the
neighborhood OF one tenth OF q cent
per pound We used a little less than
Sl2.0Uu0H0 worth that year
That salt came from "a different
states. and IL VAS sold iu all grades
from the big Jumps used for the salt
ing OF cattle TO 1he finest of dairy
and table salts More than two thirds
Of the product came from the salt
wells of Michigan and New York Al
most 100000 barrels came from
Ohio. while the mines of Kansas sup
piled almost 100000. More than a
million tons came from California.
and there was quite O. lot uauufac-
tIred on the shores of the Great salt
AXE.
The Great salt lake is SIX times as
salty as the oceans and the Dead
the Great salt lake Nevertheless the
waters Of the oceans have SO much
mineral salt that the amount is be-
yOnd human preheuSlpu- The
scientists who have made chemical
analyses OF sea water estimate that
every 100 pounds of it contains nearly
31z pounds Of salt
They estimate that a cubic mile OF
ocean water contains salt TO a weight
Of $50 coo 600 tons. which would be
enough 20 load 10000 steamers OF 49,
geo tons each
Would Cover Earth 500 Feet Deep.
They have figured out what would
happen If the salts we're all taken
out Of the ocean, that Is. If IT were
eVapOrared and laid uOWn on the bot
tom Of the sea The result would be
that the seabed would be built up
with salt TO a height Of US feetOr
10 a height something like that Of a
Is or Il story fiat Vow. the surface
that Of the oceans. so that If the salt
in the oceans were spread out over
the land. the earth would be buried
i'm salt TO depth Of over 500 feet or
as deep almost as the Washington
monument is high. If IL were dropped
down on the United States 10 would
cover every bit Of this country
mountains, valleys and plains-to a
depth Of between one and two miles,
and leave enough TO form deep salt
bed on all Of our outlying possessions.
Nevertheless. there are parts of the
world that have practically no salt
az all 7 have been in some Of the
wet lands Of Africa where salt was
so scarce that the children sucked 20
like candy. and there are regions
where salt passes as money. In China
salt is a monopoly Of the government.
and the man who gets "a concession
for selling IL in almost any large dis
trict is soon able to lay up a fortune.
A large part OF the salt Of China
comes from the brine Of the ocean,
and in the western parts OF the coun-
try. about q hundred miles from the
city OF Chengtu. there are salt wells
which have been pumped for more
than thousand years Some OF the
wells are about a half mile iu depth.
The salt is conveyed from them to
the evaporatinE houses in bamboo
tubes. The production OF the district
is something like 300 600 tons per
year and it is carried ont over the
country i'm boats and on pack animals
and on the backs OF coolies The cost
OF producing the salt is about a half
cent pound, OF about five times as
much as the average wholesale sell
ing price OF our salt. The salt tax
IS almost 1 cent per pound and in adj
dition comes the squeeze" exacted by
the merchant who gets the conces-
sion.
One Deposit Worked For 700 Years.
There are mines in Europe where
they have been taking out salt for
seven or eight centuries. visited
some at SalzburE. on the frontier be-
tween Germany and Austria. where
they have been getting out salt since
the days OF the Romans. There is
great mine at Wieliczba. near CracOw.
where the deposit is more than 1000
feet deep. II is 90 miles wide and as