Salt: The Necessity of Life EarthCache
Salt: The Necessity of Life
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You will be visiting the site of the the areas first salt works and
then the site of the nations first salt mine.
In a town named Saltville, you would expect to find salt. Millions
of years ago, the area you will visit was a shallow, inland,
salt-water sea. Massive quantities of salt settled to the bottom of
the sea. Over time, tremendous changes were occurring to the
surface of the planet with mountains ranges were rising from
plains, the continents separated to form individual land masses.
During this time of change, the massive salt deposits formed veins
of salt that run through the rock and form vast salt caverns.
The salt found here has attracted both humans and animals over
time. During the last Ice Age, 10 – 20,000 years ago, the salt
deposits drew in animals such as the Wooly Mammoth and Mastodon.
The lake environment of the Saltville Valley was the ideal habitat
for a wide range of animals. Archaeologists are consistently
finding evidence of our past in various dig sites in and around
Saltville. The dig sites produce existance of animal and plant life
in the area from tens of thousands of years ago.
Commercial salt production in this small town can be traced back
to the 1780’s. The salt that is recovered in this area is
considered the purest salt in North America. Each month hundreds of
tractor trailer loads of salt is taken out of town to major
corporations for food production. If you ate or drank anything
today, you probably consumed salt from this area.
Your first stop will be a visit to the original area of the salt
works. The early salt works consisted of open wells from which
brine was extracted, furnaces that were utilized to boil the brine
to evaporate the water while leaving the precious commodity of
salt, and buildings to store the salt. This site is now a small
inland lake. This is where the original salt works was located and
boomed during the 1780’s. If you look out across the small lake,
you will notice what appears to be posts sticking up at various
spots in this lake. I never knew exactly what these posts were, but
they are in fact the original salt wells. On top of the posts is a
number that indicates the well number that lies below.
The above coordinates will take you to a convienent parking area
but to claim a find for this cache I would like a pic posted of
you with your gps and a capped well in the background. There is
a well near the entrance to the parking lot that would be ideal to
be photographed at. You may notice some construction around the
lake. A hiking / biking trail will be completed late summer / early
fall of 2007. This trail will give people a better view of the
original salt wells and archealogical dig sites.
Now travel to N 36 52.184 W 081 46.717 which is the site of
Saltville’s Salt Park. This is the site of the first salt mine
in the United States. Miners used pick and shovels to remove the
salt from the vast salt veins that covered the area. This mine
proved to be less efficient than recovery of brine and boiling off
water to harvest the salt. As a result, the mine closed but it was
another historic milestone for this small Appalachian town. While
at this site you will see a wealth of information on various
markers. Take a moment to learn of the historical significance of
the town and it’s salt reserves. This is your final stop to gather
the necessary information to log a find on this earth cache. To
claim your find e-mail me the following information: 1) How many
salt furnaces operated here during the Civil War? 2) How much salt
was recovered in 1864? 3) Post a photo of yourself, gps, and the
salt furnace at this site.
Many thanks go out to Harry Haynes, Manager of the Museum of the
Middle Appalachians, for educating me on the history of Saltville.
Charlie Bill Totten was extremely helpfull in taking me to various
historical and geologically significant sites in the area. Without
these fine gentlemen, this and other caches that will be educate
cachers would never have been possible.
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