Salt and the salt industry

by Albert Frederick Calvert

The subject of the formation of rock-salt deposits will be treated in a later chapter, in which a description will be given of rock-salt mining in Cheshire. The primitive methods that characterized the brine industry have been adhered to with equal tenacity in the winning of rock-salt. It is extraordinary that, in the manufacture and in the mining of salt, each successive generation of salt-men, in inheriting their methods from their forefathers, or adapting them from the miners of another country, have always preserved the intense conservatism that appears to be inseparable from the industry, and have resisted all innovations that have promised to simplify or expedite their labours.

ANCIENT SALT WORKS

A. Sheds. B. Painted Signs. C. First Room. D. Second Room. E. Third Room. F. Windows. G. Window in Roof. H and I. Wells. K. Casks. L. Pole. M. Forked Resting Sticks

From an Old Print

Published in 1556·

It would be an interminable and unprofitable undertaking to conduct the reader upon a tour of the salt mines of the world, and explain the different methods that are adopted to conform with the local and geological conditions which obtain in the various salt regions. The systems followed in most countries are governed by traditions that have their origin in immemorial times, and the disposition to perpetuate the operations without change through succeeding ages is, perhaps, traceable to the races that work the mines rather than to the deposits in which they work. The process of solar evaporation which is employed to-day on the shores of the Mediterranean and the Adriatic is practically the same as it was when the civilization of China was in its infancy; the implements and methods in present use in the salt mines of Austria, Russia, and Rumania were introduced by the discoverers of the lodes in the darkest ages. We cannot even fix the comparatively recent period in which it was decreed that the Rumanian mines of Tirgu-Ocna and Ocnele-Mari should be exploited by convict labour, while the Slavic mine was to find employment for free workers only. Every country, every salt district, and almost every mine has its peculiar and distinguishing rules, customs, and methods of work, which are interesting in themselves but of insufficient importance to warrant detailed consideration in a treatise of this scope. There are, however, certain salt regions and mines which, by reason of their magnitude and the possession of unprecedented features, have obtained rank among the lesser wonders of the world, and for this reason we must devote a little space to “the Great Salt” of Wieliezka, in Hungary, and to the great Rumanian salt deposits.

The famous mines of Wieliezka, in the lower Carpathians, about eight miles from the city of Cracow—with their underground roads, houses, and monuments; their churches, ball-rooms, and restaurants; their lakes, bridges, and railway stations—constitute a city commemorative of the art and industry of bygone periods, and present a spectacle, weird and splendid, that reminds one of the marvels of the Thousand-and-One Nights. The Wieliezka system, which has been in operation since the thirteenth century, extends over an area of about twelve square miles, and reaches a maximum depth of some 12,000 ft. The various galleries at present accessible have an aggregate length of 65 miles, and the total length of mining railways is about thirty miles. Each mine consists of five storeys. The first storey is about 200 ft. below the surface, and between the different storeys a body of earth or salt from 80 ft. to 100 ft. thick is left. As in Northwich, many of the old workings in Wieliezka have fallen in, and whole chambers and streets have been engulfed in the holes. Broad staircases connect the various storeys, each of which boasts its distinctive chambers and thoroughfares. The air in the upper levels is much more moist than in the lower excavations, with the result that the salt statues in these apartments are gradually losing their shape. The head of one is nearly gone, the arms of another are wasted; while the deeper furrows, which are observable upon the sculptured bodies, give them a grotesque appearance. The smoke of lamps and wicks adds to the moisture of the air and darkens the surface of the statues, which might be carved in black marble. Onward and downward one proceeds, the stairways appear to be innumerable; the visitor loses all sense of depth, distance, and direction; chambers and passages lead to further chambers and passages, until the tour of the workings leaves one with a dominating impression of limitless repetition. Everything is of solid salt, except where some insecure roof is supported by huge timbers or a wooden bridge is thrown over some vast chasm. As depth is attained the air grows drier and purer, and the points and faces of the rock become more crystalline and beautiful. Onward and downward still, through labyrinths of shafts, galleries, and chambers, up crooked passages, and under vaulted archways, that lead into innumerable, unnamed smaller apartments.

WIELIEZKA SALT MINES, GALICIA. THE BEAUTIFUL FRANCIS JOSEPH BALL ROOM, MADE OF SALT. THE CHANDELIERS ARE MADE OF POLISHED SALT CRYSTALS