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SALT PARK
I HAVE BEEN PUT ON ACTIVE DUTY WITH THE NATIONAL GUARD, SO IF YOU E-MAIL ME, IT COULD TAKE AWHILE FOR ME TO GET BACK WITH YOU
The cache is near the walking beam pump. Should be any easy find. The cache is a plastic container with a screw on lid. It has a logbook with pencil, magnet clip, partooper, pocket puzzel, key chain, toy chopper, set of side cutter, duster, deck of cards, GI Joe, and a compass.
A little about the salt mine taken from Saltville web page.
The Saltville Valley Was first surveyed on December 12 1748 by members of the historic Patton-Walker Expedition, which was returning from the discovery of the Cumberland Gap. The existence of saline springs upon the property caused the 330 acre tract to be called Buffalo Lick. On October 23,1753 the land Included In that survey was granted by Lord Dinwiddie to Charles Campbell, a member of the '48 expedition in the name of King George II.
Upon Campbell's death In 1767, the property passed to his only son William, who would later gain fame In the Revolutionary War as "the hero of the Battle of King's Mountain." He, like his father before him, would die without realizing the potential of the Salt Lick property. Indeed, not long before his death In 1781, he as a county official in charge of distribution, hauled salt by wagon from Williamsburg to Washington County.
The first commercial development of the salt was undertaken by Col. Arthur Campbell In 1782 acting as guardian of Gen. Campbell's two children. Arthur and William had been both cousins and brothers-in-law by virtue of Arthur's marriage to William's sister Margaret. When the Virginia General Assembly awarded 5000 acres to William's children for their father's service to the commonwealth during the Revolution. it was Arthur who chose land adjoining the Salt Lick tract in order to provide ample fuel for the infant salt works.
Over the next few years Gen. Campbell's son died at age five, leaving his daughter,Sarah, as his only heir. His widow, Elizabeth, a Sister of Patrick Henry was remarried to Gen. William Russell. Russell and Arthur Campbell were soon quarrelling over the management of Sarah's estate and in 1788 Russell constructed a log house on the northeast side of the valley and began manufacturing salt.
In 1789 to settle the family dispute which was continuing the court appointed Thomas Madison as Sarah's guardian. He was a cousin of James Madison and his wife, Suzannah, was Elizabeth Russell's and Patrick Henry's sister and Sarah's aunt. The following year he moved to Saltville, constructed a log house on the southeast side of the valley and assumed the management of the salt works.
The early -salt works" of Campbell. Russell. andMadison consisted of wells from which the brine was drawn, furnaces in which the brine was boiled in kettles, and salt houses in which the salt was stored. The kettles used were the camp kettles of the day which had a capacity of 8-12 gallons. In 1793 Sarah Campbell married Francis Preston who that same year was elected to Congress. He constructed the first frame house in the Saltville Valley In 1795 and in 1797 he retired from Congress after serving two terms to devote full time to manufacture. The works were, thereafter, called the Preston Salt Works.
In 1795 an employee of the works named William purchased a 150 acre tract of land on the western end of the valley, constructed a log house, and began to manufacture salt for himself. In 1799 he dug the first salt mine in the United States near the eastern boundary of his property, but, unable to keep the water from filling the mine, soon reverted to the use of wells & furnaces.
The market for Saltville salt at the turn of the 19th century was limited, entirely because of the lack of transportation. The works supplied the immediate area covering parts of five states. Beyond that it was limited to the market which was open via the Holston River, from Knoxville, Tennessee to Muscle Shoals, Alabama. and beyond.
The production of two salt manufacturing firms,. the Preston Salt Works and the King Salt Works, was very quickly more than the market could bear and everyone agreed that the competition promised nothing but ruin for both. The problem was solved in February 1801 when King leased the Preston works for ten years at $12,000 per year.
Over most of the next six decades the two estates were operated jointly with the owners of one leasing the other. However, there did occur one ten-year period of competition from 1840 to 1850 in which the price of salt fell from one dollar per bushel to 12½ cents. Operators of the works from 1801 to 1861 included two of Preston's sons, William C. who would later be elected U. S. senator from South Carolina, and John S. who would attain the rank of general In the Confederate army and Wyndham Robertson, former governor of Virginia.
Throughout the period of the Civil War and for a quarter of a century thereafter, the saltworks were operated and owned by George W. Palmer, William A. Stuart, and others under the firms of Stuart, Buchanan & Co, Palmer, Stuart & Co., and the Holston Salt & Plaster Co. During the war there were 38 furnaces operating over 26oo kettles, and production rose from about 250,000 bushels per year before the war to almost 4,000,000 bushels In 1864. Salt sold for $25 per bushel.
The coming of the railroad In 1858 had expanded the market and the Holston Salt & Plaster Co, after after the war, operated at about twice the antebellum levels, employing around 200until 1892. In that year the firm was sold to the Mathieson Alkali Works which continued to manufacture salt until 1906. Thereafter, the company made a variety of salt byproducts. ranging from baking soda to rocket fuel. In 1969 hydrazine made in Saltville powered the rockets which placed the first men on the moon.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Ybbx haqre gur ovt rnef